Chris van der Drift in great form scoring race win. Brno, 15 June 2008 – Kiwi 22
year old driver Chris van der Drift was once again very quick over the past
weekend, this time at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.
After having completed a test day and the weekends two free practices achieving
the best lap times in all three he went on to claim his third pole position of
the season (of the three race weekends held to date!). To add to this was the
convincing triumph in the first race, including the fastest race lap which was
almost a second better than his fellow competitors! It seems all very simple,
but the competition in International Formula Master is strong. Both in the free
practices and in the qualifying sessions, where Van der Drift was head and
shoulders above the rest, the other drivers fought for the remaining positions.
In spite of the fact that Van der Drift is driving in this class for the second
year, he was able to keep a large gap in front of former F1 Red Bull test driver
Michael Ammermüller.
In the only qualifying session, the New Zealander put up a
time that was almost a second faster than the German driver who was in turn
almost 5/10ths quicker than his nearest rival. The JD Motorsport driver began
the first race of 14 laps over the 5.4km circuit with just as much speed as he
had demonstrated earlier in the weekend. At the end of the first lap he had
already built up a small margin, but due to a safety car intervention this was
lost. At the restart Van der Drift had some pressure but was able to pull away
and then remained unthreatened to the finish with a safe gap of 8.6 seconds back
to second placed Ammermüller.
As the first eight finishers in race one are
reversed to determine the grid for the second race, Van der Drift had to begin
the 19 lap race on Sunday on grid Eight. Immediately once the race had begun,
Van der Drift claimed two positions, but then something happened “mysteriously”
meaning that he had to hand one position back to Ammermüller as he went by. “We
examined the data to see if we could understand what had happened, because it
was disappointing to see that Michael could pass me so simply in a straight line
after this problem” said Van der Drift.
A safety car period of three laps then
followed after three cars came into contact half way through the first lap.
After the field was once again released Van der Drift attempted to pass
Ammermüller, but the experienced German drove a defensive line which made it
very difficult to make a clean pass. Not much later Swiss driver Fabio Leimer
made a mistake and the New Zealander grabbed the opportunity and moved up a
position into sixth. Danish competitor Kasper Andersen proved to be the next
victim, and after several attempts he was through into fifth position.
The gap
to Ammermüller was then 1.4 seconds, but after setting (at that moment) the
fastest race lap the Kiwi quickly closed the gap. A fight for third position
ensued with Norbert Siedler, Ammermüller and Van der Drift, allowing a further
three drivers to make contact with the competing trio. Passing on the circuit
proved to be difficult at such a point in the race and Van der Drift remained in
fifth position.
“The circuit is made up of many fast corners and you really need
down-force in order to make a clean pass. But just as you are right behind
someone in the corners you lose too much down-force. On the straights you can
then chase hard again, but then it is too late” explained Van der Drift.
“But
all in all we are extremely satisfied. Immediately from the beginning we were
fastest, and the gap that we had in qualifying has not gone unnoticed.
Afterwards there was the win in race one for the taking. The JD Motorsport team
have done a terrific job this weekend and we are now looking forward to the next
races at Estoril in Portugal where we haven’t competed before. But considering
the testing we did there in April, there should not be too many problems” said a
self assured Van der Drift.
Chris van der Drift is proud to be one of New
Zealand motor racing's Black Bullets. To find out more about our Black Bullets
go to www.blackbullets.com
Results Race One : International Formula Master,
Brno, 14 June 2008: 1 Chris van der Drift, (NL), J.D. Motorsport, 14 laps in
27:41.075 2 Michael Ammermuller, (GER), Iris Project, +8.632 3 Vladimir
Arabadzhiev, (BUL), J.D. Motorsport, +9.164 Fastest Race Lap : Chris van der
Drift in 1:49.899
Results Race Two : International Formula Master, Brno, 15 June
2008: 1 Harald Schlegelmilch, (LAT), Trident Racing, 19 laps in 42:00.176 2
Pablo Sanchez Lopez, (MEX), Cram Competition, +0.832 3 Norbert Siedler, (AUT),
ADM Motorsport, +10.078 5 Chris van der Drift, (NL) J.D. Motorsport, +10.941
Drivers Standings : International Formula Master after six races:
1 Chris van
der Drift, (NL), J.D. Motorsport, 34 points 2 Michael Ammermüller ,(GER), Iris
Project, 30 points 3 Harald Schlegelmilch, (LAT), Trident Racing, 20 points 4
Kasper Andersen, (DEN), Trident Racing, 20 points 5 Sergey Afanasiev, (RUS),
J.D. Motorsport, 18 points
Chris van der Drift is proudly supported by: Racing
Pool, National Meats Ltd and BMW Ekris
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