Olympiacos wins Super Final as Van der Drift continues to impress
JARAMA, Spain, 20 June 2010 – Kiwi driver Chris van der Drift has today won the Super Final race of the Superleague Formula by Sonangol on the Spanish circuit of Jarama. The impressive 24 year old Superleague by Sonangol rookie, driving for Greek club Olympiacos, grabbed the lead out of turn one and kept it to the end of the race increasing his first lap lead of 2 seconds to over 4 ½ seconds at the finish flag. “Winning the super final is really fantastic!”, said a jubilant Van der Drift.
The weekend didn’t begin without it’s problems though. In the second free practice session on Saturday morning an oil leak was discovered. The New Zealander’s team GU Racing eventually solved the problem, the Kiwi loosing a small portion of the qualifying session. “I didn’t have a chance to test with new tyres but fortunately qualifying went very well”, said Van der Drift who eventually earned a very impressive third placed grid for race one after initially gaining the second fastest time in Qualifying Group A.
The Kiwi converted his grid three start position cleanly into a third placed podium finish, a result the Olympiacos driver was clearly pleased with.
Under the Superleague race format start positions for the second race are determined by the reverse order of the first race results, meaning Van der Drift would start from 16th place. During race two the New Zealander sat in a train of cars vying for third position. But despite many drivers attempting passing moves, there was very little change in the race order. “You have really only one chance to make a passing move stick and that is at the end of the pit straight”, said Van der Drift. “But if both you and another driver use the ‘push-to-pass’ button at the same time you gain nothing.”
Ultimately the Kiwi gained enough points from both races to be eligible to compete in race three, the Super Final; a race to be run over five laps with the six highest scoring drivers striving for the prize money on offer. The Kiwi was in an ideal position at turn one, passing Dutch driver Yelmer Buurman coming out of the corner and taking the lead which he never relinquished, and taking out the fastest race lap in the process. The New Zealander’s continued impressive form netted Greek club Olympiacos a €100,000 prize as winner in round four of the 2010 championship. “It is really too hard to believe, but this is an incredibly good result! This is for the team, who were able to solve my problem in the testing session allowing me to be able to stand here now. This is absolutely fantastic and it gives me a lot of faith going into the races at the Nürburgring next week. It’s a circuit that I know well, so hopefully that will help”, finished Van der Drift.
The New Zealander now lies fifth in the championship, and as best rookie.
Results Race 1 : Superleague Formula, Jarama - Spain, Sunday 20 June:
1 John Martin (AUS), Beijing Guoan - 33 laps in 45:47.162s
2 Yelmer Buurman (NED), AC Milan - +0.464s
3 Chris van der Drift (NZL), Olympiacos - +13.019
Results Race 2 : Superleague Formula, Jarama - Spain, Sunday 20 June:
1 Franck Montagny (FRA), Girondins de Bourdeaux - 33 laps in 45:59.602s
2 Julien Jousse (FRA), AS Roma - +3.563
3 Craig Dolby (ENG), Tottenham Hotspur - +42.932
12 Chris van der Drift (NZL), Olympiacos - +48.369
Results Race 3 Super Final : Superleague Formula, Jarama - Spain, Sunday 20 June:
1 Chris van der Drift (NZL), Olympiacos - 5 laps in 6.48.119s
2 John Martin (AUS), Beijing Guoan - +4.589s
3, Yelmer Buurman (NED), AC Milan - +9.421s
4 Max Wissel (GER), FC Basel - +24.762s
5 Julien Jousse (FRA), AS Roma - +26.967s
Retirements:
Craig Dolby (ENG), Tottenham Hotspur /0 laps
Championship Overall : Superleague Formula (after four rounds):
1 Craig Dolby (ENG), Tottenham Hotspur, 322 points
2 Yelmer Buurman (NED), AC Milan, 263 points
3 Max Wissel (GER), FC Basel, 239 points
4 Davide Rigon (ITA), RSC Anderlecht, 230 Points
5 Chris van der Drift (NZL), Olympiacos, 211 points
