The 2008 Zolder Superleague Formula round was the third round of the inaugural Superleague Formula championship, with the races taking place on October 5, 2008. Eighteen football teams were represented on the grid, the same number of teams as there was at the Nürburgring. There were three driver changes for this round of the championship: Ryan Dalziel returned to the Rangers F.C. car (replacing James Walker), after missing the previous round due to a clash with his Rolex Sports Car Series commitments at Miller Motorsports Park. Two drivers made their debuts, with Dutchman Paul Meijer replacing Nelson Philippe in the car representing Borussia Dortmund and Belgian Bertrand Baguette replaced Andreas Zuber in the Al Ain car. The meeting saw a first win for Liverpool F.C. and a second win for championship leaders Beijing Guoan. However, the championship lead for the Chinese side was cut to 14 points.

Report

Qualifying After the random draw which split the eighteen-car field into two groups, the fastest four qualifiers from each progressed into the knockout stages to decide places 1 to 8 on the grid. For the third race in succession, drivers missed out on places in the knockout stages, despite setting a faster time than the fourth-placed qualifier in the slower group. On this occasion, three Group A drivers were eliminated despite setting times up to half a second faster than the fourth-placed qualifier of Group B. The unlucky drivers turned out to be Max Wissel (FC Basel 1893), Ryan Dalziel (Rangers F.C.) and Enrico Toccacelo (A.S. Roma), who were all quicker than Craig Dolby's R.S.C. Anderlecht machine, which made it through from Group B. A.C. Milan and Atlético Madrid topped their respective groups and were expected to face each other in the final, yet both teams were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Anderlecht and Paul Meijer's Borussia Dortmund machine. Sevilla FC and Liverpool F.C. were the other semi-finalists, yet neither would make the final as Meijer and Dolby sealed their places by beating the somewhat more experienced GP2 Series drivers Borja García and Adrián Vallés. In the final, Dolby would not set a time, thus giving Meijer a debut pole, becoming the third different polesitter in three races.

Race 1 A wet raceday greeted the drivers on Sunday, and it was all action right from the rolling start. Fifth-placed Davide Rigon (Beijing Guoan) and seventh-placed Robert Doornbos (A.C. Milan) came together, with Doornbos being unsighted due to the spray. The accident caused terminal damage to both cars, yet would aid them for the second race of the afternoon - thanks to the reverse grid system. Dolby had taken the lead off Meijer ahead of the midfield chaos, due to a tentative start by the Dutch rookie. The two ran in very close formation, until a safety car was called for on lap 4, with García in the wall at the Lucien Bianchi Bocht, having dropped a wheel on the wet grass. The mandatory pit stop window came as the safety car was out, and after the race went green, the first of the leaders came in - Vallés from third, complaining of a vibration and balance issues on the Liverpool car. These new boots had an effect on the Spanish driver rattling off a series of fastest laps and coupled with shoddy pitstops by Dolby and Meijer, a first win was on the cards. Not even a late safety car for spinners Toccacelo and Alessandro Pier Guidi (Galatasaray S.K.) could halt the Vallés steamroller, as he would go on to win by 2.257 seconds from Dolby, recording his third runner-up placing in five races. Following them home were Meijer, Wissel, Andy Soucek (Atlético Madrid), Tristan Gommendy (F.C. Porto), Yelmer Buurman (PSV Eindhoven), Dalziel, Tuka Rocha (CR Flamengo), Antônio Pizzonia (SC Corinthians), Bertrand Baguette (Al Ain), with Duncan Tappy (Tottenham Hotspur) completing the finishers, having suffered a puncture.

Race 2

After the first race clash between them, Rigon and Doornbos lined up together on the front row and just like the first race, the outside of turn one saw the second-place starter overtake the polesitter around the outside, with Rigon skating his way around the Dutchman. But again, the safety car came out for a first-lap incident. Pizzonia had misjudged his braking point for the Klein Chicane, barrelled past a number of cars and skated straight into Dalziel, causing both to retire. After this safety car period, Rigon strolled off into a 23-second victory, leaving the rest of the field in his wake. The battle for second was on with both Doornbos and Toccacelo struggling with car setups. Buurman made a mistake while trying to pass the Italian, knocking his pit limiter on and lost ground. García spun again, with an almost carbon copy of his race one spin - this time, he stayed on circuit. With all the problems about him, Tappy moved through the melée and ended up second, ahead of Buurman, Doornbos, Wissel, Vallés, Toccacelo, García, Kasper Andersen (Olympiacos CFP), Baguette, Meijer, Pier Guidi, Soucek, Rocha and Gommendy. With the win, Rigon managed to get back some of the damage caused to the points lead in race one - Guoan's championship lead now stands at 14 points from PSV with Sevilla falling further back.

Results

Qualifying In each group, the top four qualify for the quarter-finals.

Group A Pos.TeamDriverTime 1 A.C. Milan Robert Doornbos 1:17.309 2 Sevilla FC Borja García 1:17.383 3 Liverpool F.C. Adrián Vallés 1:17.587 4 Borussia Dortmund Paul Meijer 1:17.733 5 FC Basel 1893 Max Wissel 1:17.798 6 Rangers F.C. Ryan Dalziel 1:17.839 7 A.S. Roma Enrico Toccacelo 1:17.949 8 Olympiacos CFP Kasper Andersen 1:18.812 9 PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman 1:19.285

Group B Pos.TeamDriverTime 1 Atlético Madrid Andy Soucek 1:16.969 2 F.C. Porto Tristan Gommendy 1:17.341 3 Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon 1:18.131 4 R.S.C. Anderlecht Craig Dolby 1:18.313 5 Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy 1:18.389 6 Galatasaray S.K. Alessandro Pier Guidi 1:18.563 7 CR Flamengo Tuka Rocha 1:18.981 8 SC Corinthians Antônio Pizzonia 1:19.017 9 Al Ain Bertrand Baguette 1:19.115

Knockout stages

Grid Pos.TeamDriverTime 1 Borussia Dortmund Paul Meijer 1:20.826 2 R.S.C. Anderlecht Craig Dolby no time 3 Liverpool F.C. Adrián Vallés 1:19.006 4 Sevilla FC Borja García 1:17.423 5 Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon 1:17.901 6 F.C. Porto Tristan Gommendy 1:18.657 7 A.C. Milan Robert Doornbos 1:18.169 8 Atlético Madrid Andy Soucek 1:17.772 9 Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy 1:18.389 10 FC Basel 1893 Max Wissel 1:17.798 11 Galatasaray S.K. Alessandro Pier Guidi 1:18.563 12 Rangers F.C. Ryan Dalziel 1:17.839 13 CR Flamengo Tuka Rocha 1:18.981 14 A.S. Roma Enrico Toccacelo 1:17.949 15 SC Corinthians Antônio Pizzonia 1:19.017 16 Olympiacos CFP Kasper Andersen 1:18.812 17 Al Ain Bertrand Baguette 1:19.115 18 PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman 1:19.285

Race 1 Pos No Team Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts.1 21 Liverpool F.C. Adrián Vallés24 45:51.628 3 502 8 R.S.C. Anderlecht Craig Dolby24 +2.257 2 453 11 Borussia Dortmund Paul Meijer24 +4.045 1 404 10 FC Basel 1893 Max Wissel24 +5.928 10 365 15 Atlético Madrid Andy Soucek24 +8.201 8 326 16 F.C. Porto Tristan Gommendy24 +9.111 6 297 5 PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman24 +11.435 18 268 17 Rangers F.C. Ryan Dalziel24 +11.601 12 239 7 CR Flamengo Tuka Rocha24 +12.784 13 2010 14 SC Corinthians Antônio Pizzonia24 +13.650 15 1811 6 Al Ain Bertrand Baguette24 +14.482 17 1612 19 Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy23 +1 Lap 9 141322 A.S. Roma Enrico Toccacelo18 Spin 14 1214 4 Galatasaray S.K. Alessandro Pier Guidi18 Spin 11 1015 9 Olympiacos CFP Kasper Andersen17 Spin 16 816 18 Sevilla FC Borja García3 Accident 4 7 17 12 Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon1 Accident 5 618 3 A.C. Milan Robert Doornbos0 Accident 7 5 Fastest lap: Adrián Vallés (Liverpool F.C.) 1:38.031 (91.526 mph)

Race 2 Pos No Team Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts. 1 12 Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon26 47:23.624 2 502 19 Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy26 +23.436 7 453 5 PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman26 +24.504 12 404 3 A.C. Milan Robert Doornbos26 +26.176 1 365 10 FC Basel 1893 Max Wissel26 +29.097 15 326 21 Liverpool F.C. Adrián Vallés26 +31.260 18 29722 A.S. Roma Enrico Toccacelo26 +34.194 6 268 18 Sevilla FC Borja García26 +34.270 3 239 9 Olympiacos CFP Kasper Andersen26 +34.742 4 2010 6 Al Ain Bertrand Baguette26 +50.926 8 1811 11 Borussia Dortmund Paul Meijer26 +50.948 16 1612 4 Galatasaray S.K. Alessandro Pier Guidi26 +51.286 5 1413 15 Atlético Madrid Andy Soucek26 +55.993 14 1214 7 CR Flamengo Tuka Rocha26 +1:13.191 10 1015 16 F.C. Porto Tristan Gommendy26 +1:21.368 13 816 8 R.S.C. Anderlecht Craig Dolby18 Transmission 17 717 17 Rangers F.C. Ryan Dalziel1 Suspension 11 618 14 SC Corinthians Antônio Pizzonia0 Accident 9 5 Fastest lap: Andy Soucek (Atlético Madrid) 1:37.370 (92.147 mph)

References

External links