Chris van der Drift was once again asked to join Manor MP Motorsport in their Auto GP adventure. Not only to fulfil his job as a driver coach for Daniël de Jong, the 25-year old received another opportunity to drive the 550 hp strong car at the Spanish track of Valencia. Despite van der Drift was not able to drink champagne on the podium, like he did in Italy, he helped the team in securing a second place in the team classification.

While others tested 40 laps on average on Thursday, van der Drift jumped in the car on Friday. He was looking for an extra speed boost during free practice and qualifying, but that seemed difficult. The driver from New Zealand started the first race from in eight position and finished sixth. He concluded the second race in seventh.

"Thanks to a brilliant team strategy I moved up to sixth during the first race despite having completely destroyed front wheel tyres. I messed up the start during the second race and was unable to get close enough to attack my rivals", van der Drift analysis. "That was frustrating, but the team worked very hard to get the best possible results. The guys in front were hard to catch this weekend and I know I can do better than this as well."

"I must thank the team for giving me this opportunity to drive in Valencia", says Chris, who doesn't know if he is racing during Auto GP's next meeting in Morocco. "The team takes decisions race by race, as I'm currently not able to bring any budget. But I'm eager to race the remain of the season as I know there is room for improvement to secure podium finishes. But I could use some help in terms of funding", says the experienced formula racing driver.