Superleague Formula hits Donington (photo gallery)
By Andy Darley
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Superleague Formula, the football-themed racing series currently in its second season, has put on a demonstration at Donington Park featuring the Liverpool, Rangers and Spurs cars to promote its upcoming British race weekend.
The three clubs’ drivers, Spaniard Adrian Valles for the Reds, John Martin from Australia in the Rangers car, and Tottenham’s local boy Craig Dolby, took their cars out to run some laps for the cameras and practice a few pitstops.
Also on hand were Brits Duncan Tappy and Jonathan Kennard, who drive for Turkish club Galatasaray and Italian giants AS Roma.
We were there with camera, recorder and shorthand notebook to capture all the action (and the promotional spin). Here are our photos, and we’ll also be publishing more interviews and features over the coming days.
Superleague Formula will be at Donington for two races on the weekend of August 1-2, tickets are £10. Before then, the series hits Zolder in Belgium this weekend.
A note on the images: because of persistent problems with our website software you may find you get a 404 error if you are viewing this in a feed reader and click on a link to see a full-size photo. You should be fine if you visit the page itself and click from there, however. Thanks!
- Craig Dolby is interviewed about his local links
- Championship leader Adrian Valles adopts the casual look
- It's a glamorous life in the media
- Rangers' John Martin reflects on Australian sporting prowess
- Fierce Italian rivalries await AS Roma's Jonathan Kennard
- Duncan Tappy transferred from Spurs to Galatasaray
- The Rangers / FC Porto transporter truck
- Craig Dolby switched from Anderlecht to Spurs
- A media moment as the Liverpool car is prepared
- Rangers, Spurs and Liverpool all put on a show
- Waiting around: there's a lot of it going on
- Superleague shared Donington with a bikers' track day
- Twin rear underfins, but no dodgy F1 double diffuser
- Angloan oil giant Sonangol is the league's title sponsor
- Racing and football make for odd bedfellows sometimes
- Jonathan Kennard is grilled by Brits on Pole's pitlane reporter
- Liverpool have nosed ahead in the championship
- Jonathan Kennard has tested for the Williams F1 team
- Donington's facilities are not quite F1 standard yet...
- Uncovering the tyres to leave for an installation lap
- Craig Dolby is wheeled out for his installation lap
- Bringing the Liverpool car out to start the day's action
- Adrian Valles is in his second year driving for Liverpool
- Even if you don't like the footy theme, the cars are beasts
- Duncan Tappy talks about life in the fast lane
- Spectators in the pitlane await Craig Dolby's departure
- Great brand exposure for the teams, who don't fund the cars
- John Martin practices pitstops in the Rangers car
- A collapsing front jack recently cost Martin a possible win
- John Martin powers past the Donington Park pitlane
- Craig Dolby's turn for a pitstop under the TV cameras
- Not saying it's loud or anything, but...
- The helpful yellow sign says: "Think! Cold tyres? Fuel?"
- The down time between the pitstops
- Another run through for Martin and Rangers
- Valles stops further up the pitlane among the bikers
- All in a day's work for snapper and driver
- Bikers attending a track day check out the cars
- Straight on for the track - remember to look right...
- Remind us again which track we're at?
- The Tottenham crew: practice makes perfect
- The chequered flag comes out to end the session
- Craig Dolby said the day was fun, not work
- Donington pitlane
- Debriefing time for Dolby at the end of the session
- Wheeling the Tottenham car back into its garage
- Plenty of useful data to discuss, even if it is a PR event
- Kennard and Tappy were spectators for the car demos
- John Martin hands over control to his crew
- Craig Dolby, flying the flag for Britain and Melton Mowbray
Go here to read about they day.
Read more about Adrian Valles, Craig Dolby, Duncan Tappy, Glasgow Rangers, John Martin, Jonathan Kennard, Liverpool FC, Superleague Formula, Tottenham Hotspur.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 3:50 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 602 articles for us.
