News
Beijing Guoan is Superleague Formula's first champion
23/11/2008
One race before the end of the first Superleague Formula season, Beijing Gu'Aon is mathematically the winner of the championship. A tenth place for Davide Rigon was enough to assure him the title.
One lap before the end of the race, it seemed that the title would decide this afternoon in race-2, because Liverpool's Adrian Valles, third in the overall standings, was firmly in first place.
But a technical problem to the car of the home driver just a few miles to the end brought Valles to lose the lead, making Beijing sure of the title. Rigon did a solid race from his last starting position.
“It was hard, because I had to struggle throughout the race with problems to the braking balance and the hydraulic pressure of the gearbox,” explained the new champion after the race. “When they told me that I was champion, at the last turn, I couldn't believe it. I'm so happy and I thank my team, the Beijing Gu'Aon club, my racing engineer Giorgio Breda, my athletic trainer and my girlfriend Elisa who was always next to me.”
The win in race 1 went to AC Milan's Robert Doornbos. “When I heard of Liverpool's problems, I didn't say anything, because I was afraid we could have similar problems,” the Dutch confessed. “Throughout the race I had difficulties with the hydraulic pressure of the gearbox, so I'm very happy for the win, even if today I wasn't the fastest. I want to make anyway my congratulations to Adrian and to the new champion Davide.”
On the podium alongside him stepped Tristan Gommendy (FC Porto) and Duncan Tappy (Tottenham Hotspurs).
In race-2, scheduled at 14:00 (local time) there is still to decide the second place in the standings, which sees AC Milan, Liverpool FC and PSV Eindhoven tied at 317 points.
