Arden
driver Robert Doornbos reinforced his position in the Drivers standing
with 8 points today in Nurburgring, by finishing second in Round
4 of the FIA F3000 Championship. This result maintaines Robert in
fourth position in the drivers board (17 points).
After
qualifying only eight on the grid, Doornbos made a brillant start
and was able to pass Gianmaria, who stalled at the green light just
in front of him, lying in a dangerous position. The Dutch, regularly
running in a points-scoring position, put in a very strong performance
by taking advantage on the other drivers mistakes and by pushing
so hard to gain a comfortable gap on the followers before pitting
for new tyres.
Robert
was one of the first to enter the pit and made his mandatory pit-stop
at lap 10. The winning pit-stop strategy was sustained by an incredible
performance of the team which permitted to Robert to rejoin the
track in a record time, at the le ad of the race. FRom that moment
on, Doornbos, even not completely recovered from the flu, fully
exploited both the conditions and the good set up of his Lola, topping
the time sheets and pushing to the limit. Robert Doornbos could
have won the race but a more experienced and a faster Toccacelo
passed him taking the lead.
"I'm
extremely pleased with my performance, today. It's a fantastic result
for the team and myself. It might have looked easy from the outside
but it was a difficult race because I was not in my perfect shape
and I pushed very hard from the lights to flag. Team Arden gave
me a good car and a superb, and winning, pit-stop strategy. It would
had been my best day if Toccacelo wouldn't have passed me, but when
I saw him in the mirrors I understood he was faster than me. Then
I only focused on taking my 2nd place".
At the finishing line (first 5):
1- E.Toccacelo (BCN)
2- R.DOORNBOS (team Arden)
3- Y.Schroeder (Durango)
4- E.Gu errieri (BCN)
5- J.M.Lopez (CSM)
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