Chris van der Drift, 21, J.D. Motorsport
“This
weekend’s qualifying was a typical case of
wrong-place-wrong-time for me. The first part was good but then I had
red flags on one of my runs, which stopped me from improving my times.
After
that, I had to be careful as there were yellow flags and on my final
run I had the chequered flag on my fast lap!
“I
don’t think there is anything in particular that is wrong
about how I qualify; Anderstorp was good and so was Oschersleben, but
I’ve had my share of bad luck or mistakes throughout the season too.
“Having
raced both from pole and from low down on the grid,
I’d definitely say that the way you race is very different depending on
whether you start from the front or not. When you start on pole,
you’ve already half won the race and then the fight is to keep everyone
behind you and not lose concentration.
“When
you are coming through the field, the challenge is about
keeping your rhythm and recognising when you have reached drivers that
are as fast as you. From the back of the field, some cars tend to be
slower
than you so it’s quite easy to pass them. Once you get closer to the
top, you need to approach them slightly more carefully.”
Spinning around
British
driver Michael Meadows’ first Formula Master race was cut
short on Saturday with the 20-year-old Euronova Racing driver spinning
out of round 13 shortly after the start. Fighting hard for position,
Meadows
was attempting to catch third placed Norbert Siedler when he spun and
hit a barrier, breaking his rear wing in the process.
Michael Meadows, 20, Euronova Racing
“It
was my error unfortunately. I was behind Siedler and thought I
could get closer but the rear of the car started sliding and it caught
me out. I probably would have been OK after a few more laps on the
track when
the tyres were up to their best temperature but unfortunately that
didn’t happen!
“It’s
such a shame because I know we had the pace and had I
passed Siedler I would have definitely been challenging Gatto as much
as possible. I would have loved to have been at the top, racing
D’Ambrosio! I don’t think Gatto was racing to beat him; I think he was
busy making sure he kept second place, which is fair
enough.”
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