SLF: Double delight for Dolby at the Nurburgring
By Andy Darley
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Anderlecht’s Craig Dolby salvaged some British pride in Superleague Formula’s second race weekend as Liverpool, Spurs and Rangers all failed to make an impact.
Dolby finished second in both races for the Belgian club, finishing behind ex-F1 racer Robert Doornbos in the first race and former GP2 pilot Yelmer Buurman in the second.
His efforts moved Anderlecht up to fourth in the overall series standings as Liverpool and Tottenham fell from joint second to seventh and eighth. Rangers are 11th after grabbing fourth in the first of the day’s races.
In the first race Doornbos, competing for AC Milan, led from start to finish. Dolby jumped from fifth to third at the start, then gained second after Corinthians stalled during their pit stop.
James Walker, standing in for the absent Ryan Dalziel in the Rangers car, qualified 12th but worked his way up to fourth after the final pit stops and retained the place at the flag, three seconds back from Galatasaray.
Spurs and Liverpool were classified 13th and 14th after neither Duncan Tappy nor Adrian Valles completed the race.
In line with Superleague Formula rules, the day’s second race was run with a completely reversed grid – but Dolby and Doornbos were able to overcome their back row start to finish second and sixth respectively.
Tappy was knocked out of the race on the first lap in a collision with Al Ain, Valles retired from second place on lap five, and Walker span out on lap 16 while defending fourth place from Beijing Gouan, bringing out the safety car.
Enrico Toccacelo led most of the race for AS Roma but fell back with just a couple of laps remaining to allow Buurman’s PSV Eindhoven, Dolby, and Beijing’s David Rigon to fill the podium spots.
Beijing Gouan retained their series lead on 151 points, ahead of PSV on 127 and Seville on 120.
- Superleague Formula works hard to impersonate soccer in many areas
- The drivers take part in a soccer-style draw for their qualifying groups
- Liverpool's Adrian Valles gives a thumbs up from the cockpit
- Duncan Tappy takes time out to centre himself before driving for Spurs
- James Walker put on a good show as stand-in Glasgow Rangers driver
- Craig Dolby (right) and race-winner Robert Doornbos compare notes
Regular Rangers driver Ryan Dalziel missed the race as he had returned to the US to compete in the Grand Am Series SunRichGourmet.com 1000 for Michael Shank Racing. Teamed with Mark Patterson and Oswaldo Negri, his car posted the fifth quickest time of the morning practice session and then ran as high as third before an oil pressure warning forced the team to retire from the event.
Related posts:
- SLF: Valles takes Belgian victory for Liverpool
- SLF: Spurs and Liverpool chase Beijing in the rain
- SLF: Super-sub Walker wins as Liverpool’s title dream dies
- SLF: Reds renew rivalry with AC Milan
- SLF: Beijing continue Superleague dominance
Read more about Adrian Valles, Anderlecht, Craig Dolby, Duncan Tappy, Glasgow Rangers, James Walker, Liverpool FC, Ryan Dalziel, Superleague Formula, Tottenham Hotspur.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Superleague Formula. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Author: Andy Darley. Ex-journalist, fan of David Coulthard and anyone who ever drove or tested for Minardi and didn't say rude things about the team afterwards. Owns a Triumph Spitfire and hopes that, one day, it'll be on the road again. Andy has written 606 articles for us.
