Japan: Carlo van Dam Motegi race two notes

Increased championship lead after eighth podium finish Eventful race Carlo van Dam at Motegi MOTEGI - With his eighth podium finish in as many races, Dutch Toyota Team TOM's driver Carlo van Dam has today increased his lead in the Japanese Formula ...

Published: May 26, 2008, 4:01 PM

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Increased championship lead after eighth podium finish
Eventful race Carlo van Dam at Motegi

MOTEGI - With his eighth podium finish in as many races, Dutch Toyota Team TOM's driver Carlo van Dam has today increased his lead in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. At a wet Motegi circuit, Carlo started from pole position and led a large part of the race, before he was punted off. He rejoined the track in fifth place and worked himself up to second place again. Having won the first race at Motegi yesterday and with his nearest rivals not finishing today, Carlo now has a substantial lead in the championship after eight of the eighteen rounds.

"It was an eventful race", Carlo concludes. "It rained before the start and the radar images showed us that there was more rain to come during the race. So we opted for new rain tyres. When new, those tyres work well if it rains hard enough, but on a drying track you lose quite a lot of speed on them. I had a good start and pulled away from the rest in the first few laps, but it had actually stopped raining and the track started to dry out. Consequently, drivers who had started on used rain tyres closed in, although I managed to keep them all behind me for quite a while. In the end, Cozzolino tried to pass me in a rather optimistic way and punted me off. I managed to rejoin the track via the gravel trap and was still in fifth place. The final laps were quite hectic: Cozzolino took himself out eventually, my two team mates collided and I managed to get up to second place. I want to win each and every race of course and if, as predicted, it would have continued to rain, I think we would have been unbeatable again, like yesterday. All in all, however, I managed to get the best out of what turned into an eventful race and increase my championship lead."

Round nine and ten of the 2008 Japanese Formula 3 championship will be held on June 7 and 8 on the TI circuit of Aida.

-credit: www.carlovandam.nl

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