Chris van der Drift grabs superior wins in Formula Master Valencia, 18 May 2008
- The first race weekend of the 2008 season started with a bang! Kiwi driver
Chris van der Drift proved his favourite status by winning both races of
International Formula Master on the Spanish circuit of Valencia.
The 22 year old New Zealander showed his intentions early on by taking pole
position, and then followed it up with two race wins and two fastest race
laps.
On the Tuesday and Wednesday prior, Van der Drift took part in the
collective test days in preparation for the first race weekend of the 2008
season. During these sessions he proved to be one of the clear favourites being
consistently at the top of the timesheets. With huge faith in his car and in his
race-team, he completed two test sessions on the Friday, and just as with the
official collective tests his name was one of those with the quickest laps.
In
the only qualifying session late on Friday afternoon, the JD Motorsport driver
grabbed pole position for the weekend’s first race. After ! a fantastic
lightning start the Kiwi seized the lead of race one and by the end of the lap
was already a second clear of his pursuers. Lap after lap, van der Drift saw his
opponents gradually disappear out of his mirrors, and unthreatened the 2007
runner-up crossed the finish line with both hands in the air in triumph.
In
addition to setting the fastest race lap, Van der Drift was no less than 10
seconds in front of his nearest competition at the end of the 19 lap race.As the
positions of the first eight finishers are reversed for race two, Van der
Drift’s start position was Grid 8 for the race on Sunday.
This proved to be
absolutely no problem for the New Zealander. However instead of sun, the second
race began with rain slightly before race start. Despite this most drivers, Van
der Drift included, chose slick tyres, the race being started behind the safety
car. Once the field was released after two laps, Van der Drift began on a heroic
challenge first passing former team-! mate Kasper Andersen into turn one.
Then
it was the turn of Fabio Leim er and former F1 test driver Michael Ammermüller
two laps later. However next was fellow competitor Pablo Sanchez Lopez, who
proved to have a quick car despite the fact that the left hand portion of his
front wing was missing from an earlier tussle.
After several laps pressuring
Sanchez Lopez, Van der Drift made a move into turn two on lap 11, the young
Mexican valiantly trying to retake his position and briefly coming into contact
with the Kiwi driver. Van der Drift withstood the challenge, fortunately not
sustaining any damage. He was now in 3rd position with a gap of over 4 seconds
to Czech Filip Salaquarda in front of him.
Within 4 laps the New Zealander had
caught and passed him, his sights now firmly set on former GP2 Asia competitor
Harald Schlegelmilch. It seemed an impossible task but as the track got better
and better, Van der Drift’s race pace was substantially quicker than that of the
Latvian driver, who was 9 seconds clear at that point with 9 laps to go.
This proved to be no obstacle, the Trident Racing driver seeing the fluoro yellow
coloured front wings of Van der Drift’s car closing by over a second with every
lap, and soon filled his mirrors with four laps to go. A brief attempt at
defence, and Van der Drift was through opening a gap up of 5.5 seconds at the
chequered flag.
Chris van der Drift: “The weekend really could not have been
better getting pole, two wins and two fastest race laps. The second race was
really neat. It looked like it would be a huge challenge having to start behind
the safety car due to the weather, but after the safety cars lights were turned
off and we could begin racing I gave it the full 100%. We were so fantastically
quick, and I need to thank my team so much for giving me such a fast car! With 9
laps to go and with 9 seconds to catch-up and pass for first place, and then to
finish with over 5 seconds lead is just fantastic! I am looking forward already
to Pau in two weeks, as I enjoy street circuits. Last year we went well there
with a win, so that is the aim!”
Results : Race One - International Formula
Master, Valencia, 17 May 2008: 1 Chris van der Drift (NL) J.D. Motorsport, 19
laps in 28:31.718 2 Kasper Andersen (DEN) Trident Racing, +10.094 3 Michael
Ammermüller (GER) Iris Project, +13.797 4 Fabio Leimer (SUI) Jenzer Motorsport,
+17.492 5 Arturo Llobell (ESP) Cram Competition, +20.083Fastest race lap: Chris
van der Drift (NL) J.D. Motorsport in 1:29.295.
Results : Race Two -
International Formula Master, Valencia, 18 May 2008: 1 Chris van der Drift (NL)
J.D. Motorsport, 25 laps in 41:15.151 2 Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT) Trident
Racing, +5.555 3 Fabio Leimer (SUI) Jenzer Motorsport, +10.960 4 Sergey
Afanasiev (RUS) J.D. Motorsport, +11.559 5 Michael Ammermüller (GER) Iris
Project, +13.941Fastest race lap: Chris van der Drift (NL) J.D. Motorsport in
1:28.791.
Drivers Standings : International Formula Master after two races: 1
Chris van der Drift (NL) J.D. Motorsport, 20 points 2 Fabio Leimer (SUI) Jenzer
Motorsport, 11 points 3 Michael Ammermüller (GER) Iris Project, 10 points 4
Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT) Trident Racing, 9 points 5 Kasper Andersen (DEN)
Trident Racing, 8 points Chris van der Drift is proudly supported by: Racing
Pool, National Meats Ltd and BMW Ekris.
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