Zolder in review - Alan Docking Racing
22/07/2011
With the cars and crew now all back at base after Zolder, Alan Docking has had time to reflect on a weekend that promised much, but just failed to deliver the big prize. While Craig Dolby won Race One and John Martin took Race Two in Alan Docking Racing prepared cars, it was Atech Reid´s Frédéric Vervisch driving the Luxembourg car who walked away with the €100,000 prize, with Martin in second spot.
“I can´t be too disappointed, all round it was a good weekend for us. I was pleased with John´s result and also his performance. He did a great job there. He could have done a little better in qualifying for Race One, so he didn’t score too well there, but in the second race he really brought that home very well.”
“In the changing conditions he drove superbly, others were slipping and sliding, especially in that third race, he stayed true and I was impressed with that.”
The weekend started superbly for ADR, with Craig Dolby winning the Pole Position shoot-out, only to be demoted to second on the grid by the race stewards for a pit lane infringement. “We got ourselves snookered a little bit when we started Craig´s car in the fast lane in the qualifying session, we should have known that.”
Dolby though made light of the demotion, and a storming drive saw him take a well deserved victory. However triumph turned to disaster for the English driver in Race Two. “We try to get our driver to the Final and to stack up points and unfortunately for Craig it didn’t work out.”
“With Craig´s car we had a gearbox issue in the second race which was disappointing, as that really bumped him out of the weekend; he could have got big points there. He was disappointed as you would expect, we still haven´t got to the bottom of the problem. We are trying to unpick and analyse the data to see what actually went wrong and if it was a component failure or if it was an electrical or pressure issue.”
The third ADR driver Antonio Pizzonia in the Brazil car had a weekend to forget, despite showing some great pace in race trim. “With Antonio, we struggled a little in qualifying, we had a seat issue and driver comfort in the car. Then he had the jump start in the second race, which prevented him from making progress into the Super Final.”
Docking though came away from the weekend in a positive mood, and looking forward to the next round. “It looked like a very good crowd there and it was another very good event, the support events as well as our own. The weather threatened but in the end it didn´t do any damage.”
“The next challenge is onto Brazil, I´m looking forward to that, it will be a first time for me going to Brazil and I can´t wait. Neither can the drivers!”
“In the changing conditions he drove superbly, others were slipping and sliding, especially in that third race, he stayed true and I was impressed with that.”
The weekend started superbly for ADR, with Craig Dolby winning the Pole Position shoot-out, only to be demoted to second on the grid by the race stewards for a pit lane infringement. “We got ourselves snookered a little bit when we started Craig´s car in the fast lane in the qualifying session, we should have known that.”
Dolby though made light of the demotion, and a storming drive saw him take a well deserved victory. However triumph turned to disaster for the English driver in Race Two. “We try to get our driver to the Final and to stack up points and unfortunately for Craig it didn’t work out.”
“With Craig´s car we had a gearbox issue in the second race which was disappointing, as that really bumped him out of the weekend; he could have got big points there. He was disappointed as you would expect, we still haven´t got to the bottom of the problem. We are trying to unpick and analyse the data to see what actually went wrong and if it was a component failure or if it was an electrical or pressure issue.”
The third ADR driver Antonio Pizzonia in the Brazil car had a weekend to forget, despite showing some great pace in race trim. “With Antonio, we struggled a little in qualifying, we had a seat issue and driver comfort in the car. Then he had the jump start in the second race, which prevented him from making progress into the Super Final.”
Docking though came away from the weekend in a positive mood, and looking forward to the next round. “It looked like a very good crowd there and it was another very good event, the support events as well as our own. The weather threatened but in the end it didn´t do any damage.”
“The next challenge is onto Brazil, I´m looking forward to that, it will be a first time for me going to Brazil and I can´t wait. Neither can the drivers!”
