SUPERLEAGUE FORMULA - 15.10.2008
Race Report Zolder, 04-05 October

PERFECT 2nd PLACE HAT TRICK


For our home race at Zolder and on the back of the fantastic weekend for RSC Anderlecht at Nurburgring we got the full support of RSC Anderlecht and it's supporters. Craig was presented to the Anderlecht fans on Friday night and he was invited to do the kick-off at the home game.
The entire management of the club as well as several players were keen to attend the races on Sunday which of course was great to know not only for Craig but also for us, the race team.

FREE PRACTICE

The weather for the weekend turned out to be typical Belgian with rain and low temps.
Both drivers got a feel for the circuit in these difficult conditions. Towards the end of the second free practice the track was dry enough for slicks. Unfortuntely a problem occured on Craig's car and so Craig didn't get the chance to get a feel for the circuit in the dry.

QUALIFYING

Tuka just missed the cut in qualifying for Flamengo to progress to the quarter finals.

The mechanics did a fantastic job thanks to a concerted effort to fix theproblem with the differential/gear box on Craig's car only just in time for Craig to go out and have 1 quick lap. The trick Craig pulled out of the bag was really astonishing. With a 1.18.3 in his first ever quick lap with this car around Zolder he got P4 in his group. It left not only the team but a lot of onlookers with a sense of almost disbelief and amazement.

Quarter final
With this one lap in qualifying Craig now had a little more experience, enough to beat Robert Doornbos (AC Milan) with a 1.17.3

Semi final
He went even quicker with a 1.17.2 eliminating Adrian Valles (ex GP2, Liverpool).

Final
The adrenaline probably got the upper hand this time as Craig pushed the car just a little bit too hard and spun. But a front row starting position on the outside at Zolder is not necessarily a disadvantage...

RACE ONE

The weather on Sunday was maybe even worse than on Saturday. The start was given behind the safety car (as normal when it's raining).
Craig was able to brake so late staying on the outside at Turn 1 that Meyer (Borussia Dortmund) on the inside was forced into the corner so deep from the inside that he was slow on the exit, giving Craig the chance to get by on the exit of Turn 1 into Turn 2. We were building up a nice lead untill the safety car had to come out. When the safety car went in again the pit window had just opened and a lot of cars came into the pits for their compulsory tyre change. We dediced to leave Craig out for a few laps with the intention of building up a small lead again which would give us a cushion for the pit stop. It turned out that Liverpool were able to put in some really quick laps after their pit stops, enough to just get ahead of us after our pit stop.
In the remaining laps it was impossible for Craig to get past Liverpool again and so we got a third consecutive 2nd place, the perfect hat trick.

Tuka had been having a pretty good race as well, having started P13 he had been up as high as P7 and eventually finished P9.

RACE TWO

Tuka was again doing well untill about mid-race and had already made up some places midfield when a problem with his front wing stopped his progress. A good result was definitely on the cards.

Craig, having started P17 was making really good progress and when he was running P7 with still several laps to go another differential/gear box problem left the car with no gears. It was a bit of an anti-climax although quite quickly the positive feeling got the upper hand again as once again the potential of Craig Dolby and Team Astromega had been clearly demonstrated again. The biggest shame was losing out on valuable points for the championship.

The whole team and Craig are now really looking forward to the next round at Estoril, Portugal. Tuka will feel a bit more at home there as well so good things are expected from him for Flamengo.