Because of his last minute deal to race in World Series Formula Renault 3.5, Chris van der Drift considered his first race weekend in Spain as a test. Without any pre-season testing, the 25 year old Kiwi promised to get up to speed for the second round in Spa-Francorchamps. He kept his word and came home with a strong third place in the second race. "A fantastic race weekend we are becoming stronger and stronger", says Van der Drift. While other drivers in this competitive field of young talents got up to eight days of testing, Van der Drift started the season with absolutely nothing. Already during the first race weekend at Motorland Aragón he impressed his team Mofaz Racing with strong results. But that was just a warming up for Spa. Strong qualifying Van der Drift started his weekend where he left in Spain. While fighting for a top ten place during the first race, he was not yet satisfied about the performance of the car as he knew there was more to come. He knew he could do a quicker lap around the Belgian circuit and worked closely with his engineers to find more speed. In his second qualifying session for race two, Van der Drift drove a solid lap and got rewarded by a top spot on the grid. "We found something to go quicker in the corners and we were very fast on old tires I was quickest right up till the end which was nice to see P1 on the pit board", says Van der Drift who qualified fourth by the end of the session. "The new setup made the car much more constant and stable, but we missed a little bit exiting the corners." Podium Van der Drift remained fourth after the start and kept an eye on the front runners. Quick lap times and a solid pitstop promoted the fast driver to third and he finished the race in this position. "We had a problem with the radio it completely stopped working, so I came in for the pitstop two laps later than planned. But luckily we came out in third." "It was fun working with the team and especially my engineer to make the car go quicker. We have become stronger this weekend and it was a pleasure driving the car. The team was very happy with the results, so I hope I can stay for the next race", says Van der Drift who was asked by the team to drive first two rounds of the season, also thanks to the Malaysian sponsors. Chris thanks his team and sponsors making this race weekend possible. He is proudly supported by: Stockholm Fashion, Vision Racer, Titan Meats, Alla Fonte, Wang Selamat, MIS Race Insurance, Real and Giltrap Group.