www.petrolheads.co.nz

Latest Articles

Van Der Drift on a roll

Chris celebrates his second big win in seven days

For the second time in seven days, New Zealand driver Chris van der Drift has won the Superleague Formula by Sonangol super final. Just as at the last rounds super final at Jarama in Spain a week earlier, the 24 year old Kiwi driving for Greek football club Olympiacos had a brilliant start from fourth place in the weekends Super Final at the Nurburgring, diving down the middle of front row starters AC Milan and Galatasaray and leading into turn one.

This superb move gave the Superleague Formula rookie a lead which he never relinquished, improving his two second lead after lap one to over 5.8 seconds at the chequered flag, and becoming the first driver to win two Super Finals this season.

The basis for the weekends success commenced in race one, the Kiwi starting from grid five and holding this position from the rolling start until his pitstop on lap 10. The tyre change was expertly done by the Kiwi’s team, GU Racing, picking up a position and then another spot the following lap when another driver pitted, leaving him in third place for the remainder of the 45 minute race.

“In comparison to two drivers in front of me I continued for an extra lap”, said Van der Drift. “This lap was very important to me in that I wanted to pick up some time and after a great pitstop it was enough to give me third on track after all the pitstops were completed.”

Vettel wins while team mate Webber survives huge shunt

Red Bull gives you wings - and brown trowsers

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel beat McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to win the European Grand Prix in Valencia. World championship leader Hamilton bounced back from a drive-through penalty, but German Vettel proved equal to the challenge.

McLaren's Jenson Button was third after escaping with a five-second penalty for an offence under the safety car. The safety car was used after a massive crash for Mark Webber's Red Bull from which the Australian emerged unhurt.

Webber had made an early pit-stop to get himself out of traffic, after he had found himself running down in ninth place after losing places on the first lap following a poor start. Webber was trying to pass the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen when he hit the back of the Finn's car. The Red Bull reared into the air, before crashing onto the circuit upside-down.

It flipped the right way up before Webber sledded at high speed into the tyre wall. Amazingly, he emerged unscathed. There had already been an incident on the opening lap, as Hamilton tried to pass pole-winner Vettel for the lead at Turn Two.

Mixed fortunes for Halliday in Spain

Halliday took 12th after a troubled qualifying

New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday has experienced mixed fortunes in the latest round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup held in Valencia (Spain) last night. The Californian based Kiwi star knew he was going into a tough weekend on the difficult street circuit and finished in 12th place mainly owing to a set back after Saturday’s qualifying.

Although he had never driven the circuit before, qualifying provided initial elation for Giltrap Racing when Halliday recorded an impressive lap time after saving his new tyres for a last minute single lap attempt. However, disappointment was to follow when his fastest time was disallowed by officials adjudging him to have driven over a curb and restricting him to 15th place on the starting grid.

Halliday felt he was inside the curb but accepted the decision as part of the risk in setting a single fast lap time then set about driving a consistent race knowing there would be few overtaking possibilities. After making another good start, he was again forced to take action when cars ahead collided on the opening lap causing him to lose places already gained.

Dixon moves into second in series

Dixon took sixth on the short oval

New Zealand Indycar ace Scott Dixon has finished 6th in the latest round of the IndyCar series in Iowa.

Dixon started second on the grid and did contend for the lead on a couple of occassions before dropping off the pace. Brazilian Tony Kanaan won the race - his first for two years.

Despite the sixth place, Dixon is now second overall in the standings after 8 of 17 rounds.... 11 points behind Australian Will Power. Dixon had qualified second to Power in practice by just two thousandths of a second, one of the smallest gaps ever in Indycar.

More...