His return in Superleague Formula did not go unnoticed. Chris van der Drift was one of the strongest drivers during the second event of the series that took place at the Belgian Circuit Zolder. Despite luck was not always on his side, the 25 year old born in Hamilton, New Zealand, took pole position and drove the fastest race lap. "It was good to return in the series and it made me very proud to put Team New Zealand on the front row", says van der Drift. The famous 'Black Beauty' received a new intricate livery made by freehand Maori artist Richard Francis from TOIARIKI Contemporary Ta Moko. The design of the car is synonymous with navigation and migration with each part of the car represented by a part of New Zealand, the North and South Islands and the Maori people. "Richard is a personal friend of mine and it is very special that he has designed the livery for the New Zealand car this weekend for me", van der Drift explains. "The design is unlike any other race car I have seen and I am really proud to be representing my home country." Pole-position His team Atech Reid fixed small problems with the rear brakes during practice in order to be competitive in qualifying. Van der Drift managed to get into the shoot out for pole position. Due to rainfall in his flying lap, he lost this final battle. However his opponent got penalized and Chris was allowed to start the first race from pole. Speed not rewarded However van der Drift was not rewarded with victory. He started very strong from the first row and led the race easily edging out a gap to 2nd place to show Chris was back and not to be messed with. But it went all wrong during the pitstop when they lost five seconds by changing his left rear wheel. Van der Drift dropped to third, but then on the last lap a loss of fuel pressure prevented him bringing a podium finish home. "The race got underway very well until the pitstop were we lost valuable time. The fuel pressure went down in the last lap and we lost another place. That was a real shame because we had this win in the bag", says a disappointed van der Drift. He finished in fourth and that resulted in a eleventh starting position for race two. Super Final Van der Drift was on a charge to the front, but that was not an easy task. "We used two sets of new tires during the first race in order to secure a victory. That resulted in using old tires for race two and the Super Final. There was not much I could do", explains van der Drift. He finished eighth and qualified for the Super Final, the dash for cash race is just 5 laps long. Chris started in fifth and crossed the line in the same position. "It was good to be back behind the wheel of a Superleague Formula car. I've always enjoyed the series and we always had good pace and I've shown that I still have my speed. My team Atech Reid did a very good job this weekend, but unfortunately the luck was not always ours. We are satisfied by scoring pole position and a fastest race lap. Hopefully we can continue our efforts soon", says Chris Van der Drift. Chris is proudly supported by: Stockholm Fashion, Vision Racer, MIS Race Insurance, Giltrap Group and P1 Racewear.