Van Der Drift claims fourth FM win

 JD Motorsport's Chris van der Drift secured his fourth victory of the season in yesterday's race at Brands Hatch, England, despite starting the race in sixth place.  

The 22-year-old New Zealander was promoted to fourth on lap one when Trident Racing's Kasper Andersen failed to start and Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer was slow away from the grid.   

Starting from pole, van der Drift's team-mate Sergey Afanasiev lost his position to ADM Motorsport's Norbert Siedler in the first corner. An incident on lap 13 involving himself, Siedler and ISR's Filip Salaquarda, saw Siedler and Salaquarda retire, whilst Afanasiev was later disqualified from a second place finish for causing an avoidable collision.  

Having started in eleventh place, Cram Competition's Marcello Puglisi made up four places on lap one and stayed out of trouble for the rest of the race, which earned him a third place finish. The Italian was later promoted to second, following Afanasiev's exclusion.  

British driver Michael Meadows also enjoyed a quieter race, which was rewarded by finishing third for Euronova Racing, from a tenth place start. Daniel Mancinelli secured his best finish of the season with a fourth place on his first outing for Scuderia Famà.  

Euronova Racing's Alberto Costa also claimed his best finish of the season with a fifth place, whilst Iris Project's Michael Ammermüller secured sixth, despite qualifying in P14 earlier today.  

ADM Motorsport's Michele Caliendo clinched his first points of the season, with a seventh place finish whilst Tim Sandtler secured the last point available today and will start tomorrow's race on pole position thanks to the Formula Master reverse grid regulation.  

Euronova Racing claimed the best team-mates accolade for today's race with Meadows and Costa's respective third and fifth place finish. Meadows' best season finish also earned him today's best rookie mention.  

Chris van der Drift, JD Motorsport "Qualifying was good and then we found out afterwards that I had been demoted five places, which would obviously make a huge difference for the race. But at the start Kasper [Andersen] pulled into the pits and Fabio [Leimer] was given a penalty. I knew everyone in front of them would be hard to pass, but with the incident between Norbert [Siedler] and Filip [Salaquarda], I managed to move up to the front all at once.  

"Passing is very difficult here so we were lucky today! With the incident between Norbert and Filip, you could make a picture of what was going to happen. It was lucky they went into the gravel and didn't stop in the middle of the track. 

"I'm not sure where Michael [Ammermüller] finished in the race, but with the reverse grid tomorrow he will get good points. Starting in eighth, I will have to look for opportunities and have some luck to get more points and keep the lead in the title fight."  

Marcello Puglisi, Cram Competition "I had a great start and overtook four cars, and then I just kept my position. I was quite fast but it's difficult to overtake. It is very easy to make a mistake so on the restarts I kept space from the people in front and watched my mirrors. I wasn't too aggressive, kept my rhythm and hung onto my position; the other drivers did the rest!"

Michael Meadows, Euronova Racing "This is a surprise but a good one! Starting tenth on the grid, I was aiming for eighth to make something of tomorrow's race so to find myself with a top three results is great. I didn't have a great start but luckily all the incidents happened ahead of me so in a way, it was the easiest podium in the world! Joking aside, it's great to do well at Brands Hatch and I hope tomorrow is as good."

Formula Master - Brands Hatch Round nine results1. Chris van der Drift (NED), JD Motorsport (#6) 2. Marcello Puglisi (ITA), Cram Competition (#9) 3. Michael Meadows (GBR), Euronova Racing (#15) 4. Daniel Mancinelli (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#46) 5. Alberto Costa (ITA), Euronova Racing (#3) 6. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27) 7. Michele Caliendo (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#22) 8. Tim Sandtler (GER), ISR (#19) 9. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), Cram Competition (#21) 10. Alejandro Núñez (ESP), Trident Racing (#33) 11. Matei Mihaescu (ROM), Jenzer Motorsport (#24) 12. Tomas Pivoda (CZH), ADM Motorsport (#8) 13. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23) Not classified Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Trident Racing (#31) Norbert Siedler (AUT), ADM Motorsport (#17) Filip Salaquarda (CZH), ISR (#18) Josef Kral (CZH), Team JVA (#29) Tor Graves (GBR), Team JVA (#30) Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4) Luca Persiani (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#25) Yuhi Sekiguchi (JAP), Euronova Racing (#45) Kasper Andersen (DEN), Trident Racing (#32) Car 5 excluded, Stewards decision 06 refers.  

Formula Master drivers classification - top eight 1. Chris van der Drift (NED), JD Motorsport (#6), 57 points 2. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27), 40 points 3. Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Trident Racing (#31), 29 points 4. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 28 points 5. Kasper Andersen (DEN), Trident Racing (#32), 27 points 6. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4), 24 points 7. Arturo Llobell (ESP), Cram Competition (#1), 20.5 points 8. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#5), 18 points  

Formula Master teams classification - top eight1. JD Motorsport, 99 points 2. Trident Racing, 64 points 3. Cram Competition, 46 points 4. Iris Project, 40 points 5. Jenzer Motorsport, 28 points 6. ADM Motorsport, 19 points 7. Euronova Racing, 12.5 points 8. ISR, 12 points

Formula Master rookies classification - top eight 1. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27), 61 points 2. Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Trident Racing (#31), 43.5 points 3. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 39 points 4. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4), 36 points 5. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#5), 31 points 6. Tim Sandtler (GER), ISR (#19), 29 points 7. Alejandro Núñez (ESP), Trident Racing (#33), 24 points 8. Michael Meadows (GBR), Euronova Racing (#15), 14 points

Formula Master team-mates classification - top eight 1. Sergey Afanasiev & Chris van der Drift, JD Motorsport, 441 points 2. Vladimir Arabadzhiev & Chris van der Drift, JD Motorsport, 434 points 3. Kasper Andersen & Harald Schlegelmilch, Trident Racing, 370.5 points 4. Alejandro Núñez & Harald Schlegelmilch, Trident Racing, 351 points 5. Sergey Afanasiev & Vladimir Arabadzhiev, JD Motorsport, 347 points 6. Kasper Andersen & Alejandro Núñez, 345.5 points 7. Fabio Leimer & Matei Mihaescu, Jenzer Motorsport, 326 points 8. Arturo Llobell & Pablo Sanchez Lopez, Cram Competition, 319 points

Lap-by-lap analysis Warm-up lap: Andersen pulls into the pits - out Lap 1: Siedler passes Afanasiev for the lead / Contact between Mihaescu and Puglisi / Mihaescu into gravel at Turn 8 and rejoined Lap 3: Siedler sets fastest lap of the race: 1:19.518 Lap 4: Leimer serves a drive-through penalty and rejoins in P17 / Incident between Arabadzhiev and Persiani / Both cars into gravel at Turn 2 / Sekiguchi in gravel at Turn 2 as well / Safety car is deployed Lap 8: Safety car in this lap Lap 9: Graves straight on at Turn 5 / Kral straight on at Turn 9 Lap 10: Provenzano passes Núñez for 13th / Mihaescu passes Pivoda for 16th / Safety car is deployed Lap 12: Safety car in this lap Lap 13: Contact between Siedler and Salaquarda - both drivers out / van der Drift passes Afanasiev for the lead / Safety car deployed Lap 14: Safety car / Driving standards of car 5 [Afanasiev] is under investigation Lap 16: Safety car in this lap Lap 17: Schlegelmilch slows down at Turn 9 - out  

Chequered flag: 13.23  

Eurosport's coverage for Formula Master's race weekend in England, continues today with race two shown live on Eurosport 2 and Asia Pacific at 15:15 (CET).


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