ZOLDER EXPERIENCE GIVES TEAM AUSTRALIA HEAD START TO INAUGURAL BELGIUM RACE source: teamaustraliamotorsport.com Team Australia is taking a history of success into the Grand Prix of Zolder for Round 11 of the Champ Car World Series in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium this weekend. Team Australia driver Will Power scored pole position around the Zolder circuit in 2005 while racing for Carlin Motorsport in the World Series by Renault. Later that year Power was signed by Team Australia to pilot the Aussie Vineyards Champ Car with his debut coming on the streets of the Gold Coast in his native Australia in October. Power was the pacesetter that weekend at his last visit to Zolder but mechanical problems prevented him from finishing the race. This weekend Power hopes to put the frustration of a mechanical failure at the last round in Elkhart Lake behind him with a win at Zolder's first-ever Champ Car event. Fellow Team Australia driver Simon Pagenaud was also a competitor in the 2005 World Series by Renault, with his 2005 Zolder weekend highlighted by a stunning drive from 11th on the grid to finish fourth around the challenging circuit. While his last visit to the circuit may not have been as recent, Team Australia co-owner Derrick Walker also has past experience at the Belgium circuit. Walker was the chief mechanic for the Brabham Formula 1 team at Zolder in 1973 and 1975, making it 32 years since Walker has visited the Belgium circuit. His last Zolder visit was a successful one, with Argentinean Carlos Reutemann driving the Brabham-Ford BT44B to third place in the 1975 Belgium F1 Grand Prix after starting sixth on the grid. Brabham's second driver, Carlos Pace of Brazil, finished eighth after starting from second on the grid. Walker and the Brabham team also enjoyed a solid finish in 1973 in Zolder's first F1 Grand Prix, when Italian Andrea de Adamich finished fourth from 18th on the grid in the Brabham-Ford BT37 at Zolder, while his Brabham team-mates Reutemann and Wilson Fittipaldi failed to finish. This is also something of a home race for Pagenaud, driver of the #15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01 and one of the leading rookies in the Champ Car field. The Frenchman has many fans, including busloads of students from his driving school in Montmorillon, France, making the trip to Zolder to watch him compete in this weekend's race.
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |