News
Superleague Formula Scuderia Playteam had a hard first round under Zolder rains
05/10/2008
Scuderia Playteam started the first race of the third weekend Superleague Formula race at Zolder (Belgium) with its cars seventh and eleventh on the grid. It was a tough 44 minutes race under constant and regular rain, the first time of the weekend for the cars to be on a wet track. Race one of the two event round had a compulsory pit stop between the 8 and 20th lap.
Unfortunately Robert Doornbos - AC Milan car had a short race with the Dutchman not finishing the first lap going straight into the gravel bed in the first minutes of the first race. Alessandro Pier Guidi (Galatasaray SK) carried the flag for the Scuderia and held onto his 11th position.
In the end though Alessandro Pier Guidi driving the Galatasaray SK car also did not finish the race. Guidi was running in 12th place after SC Sevilla went off and blocked the track and managed a trouble free first part of the race. Towards the end of the race, though, he was not able to hold off the fierce attacks by Flamengo and Olympiacos. As the rain got stronger, on one of the last corners of lap 19, Pier Guidi went off and could not restart.
Robert Doornbos (AC Milan) commented: "Overall the weekend was … well,” paused and continued in a more analytical manner. “The start of the first race occurred under constant rain on the wet track.” Conditions were wet, but not as wet as Donington. Just constantly wet and a bit different from last weekend where I won the first race. Unfortunately I followed Davide Rigon in the car from Beijing Guoan, the current leader of the championship, and also went straight off in the first corner ending up too deep in the gravel bed. Of course, I am bitterly disappointed. But at least I did not do any damage to the car so the mechanics will be able to have it ready for race 2. The good side of it is that I'll start race 2 from pole!"
Alessandro Pier Guidi (Galatasaray SK) added: "I had a decent start despite the water and the visibility that was really poor. There was virtually no possibility of overtaking on this narrow track. I was pleased because the car was well set up, but I did not know what to expect on the rain tires front. Then as Sevilla went off against the barrier the safety car was out on lap 5. I found myself a bit surprised to be on the track with the tow truck.
At that point of a race the safety car is not welcome because our tires quickly get cool off with a temperature this low quickly becoming dangerous. This is a worrying situation to be in. I was just hoping that the water temperature would not get too cold. The safety car went in on lap 8 which would leave 25 minutes of racing ahead of us. We decided to pit right after the safety car came in, on lap 9. It was becoming more slippery and more cars went off: Kaspar Andersen - Olympiacos, and Tuka Rocha - Flamengo both spun and we had to be careful. After my pit stop, I rejoined in 13th place and was still on the track with a pace of 1.42.223 that was quicker than my previous fast lap 1.43.479 and I was now progressing to 11th place. With 11 minutes to go Tuka Rocha passed me and then went off through the chicane and lost the advantage. Behind him Kasper Andersen (Olympiacos) was pushing as well. The rain was coming down stronger and some more cars went off in a dangerous place and I suffered the same fate. After that the safety car was out but my race was over.”
