FORMULA RENAULT 1.6 - 16.10.2006
Final round Belgian F. Renault 1.6, Spa-Francorchamps

We are the champions...
So we did what we set out to do at the start of the season. By agreeing to come back into this championship - after a 3 year absence – with Craig Dolby we only had one option; winning the championship. With Craig’s proven speed and experience we knew we had a winner. The professional relationship which developed between Craig and engineer Jan De Maeyer worked really well and with the help of all of the other team members the championship was won in great style. Even the Italians were beaten on their home soil at Misano which gives this champuonship win some extra flavor.

Qualifying
In almost perfect conditions for Qualifying 1 which was run at 8.30 in the morning Craig immediately set a sereis of fastest laps which eventually led to a 2.33.6. This was not only 1.3 sec. faster than P2 but by far also the quickest ever lap set by a F.Renault 1.6 round Spa. Qualy 2 was again almost a non event as most drivers opted to save their tires for the race.

However, in the coarse of the afternoon it transpired that we would be disqualified because of an issue with the differential. The whole team was taken by surprise as we were totally unaware of it and really had no idea the diff we had was actually illegal. The stewards believed the explanations given by the team and decided to not exclude us from the meeting, we had to start from the pit lane.

Race One
Needless to say Craig was really pumped up to show that this issue would not slow him down in the slightest. At the end of lap 1 he had already caught up the field and could set about overtaking his opponents one by one. The further up the field he got, the more risks he had to take and after some brilliant moves he got to P2 with one lap to go. A remarkable performance as the championship was at stake and it had been apparent that for some reason his only rival, Pierre Combot would not be a real threat this weekend. After some quick calculations we realised we had won the championship. To do it in such great style and with the anti-climax of Saturday afternoon most of us were perhaps a little too overwhelmed for a real celebration.

Race Two
Starting from P5 was not a problem as Craig soon took the lead and controled the race to take another win and finish the season in style.

A word of thanks goes to Jan, Jelle, Sam, Jan’s dad and everybody else who contributed to this great team effort. Thanks guys!!!