Dolby dashes to P8 on GP2 test debut

Craig Dolby made an impressive introduction on his GP2 Series test debut at Barcelona today by ending the afternoon session as top rookie after setting the eighth fastest time.

The 23-year-old Briton, who finished runner-up in the 2009 and ’10 Superleague Formula championship, put his experience of powerful single-seaters to good use at the Spanish Grand Prix venue on the first of two consecutive days running with the Arden International outfit.

His best effort of 1m31.042s was less than 0.3 seconds shy of the afternoon session’s second quickest time after completing just 20 laps throughout the three-hours.

Despite the single-make series’ car, seen as the final stepping stone before Formula 1, being similar in size to its Superleague counterpart, the significantly increased cornering speed and lightness of the Dallara-built GP2/11 ensured that Dolby spent much of the morning session familiarising himself with its unique characteristics around a circuit that he hadn’t visited since 2007.

Rather than set headline-grabbing lap times in the best of the early cool conditions which would prove the fastest of the entire day, Dolby instead opted to save both sets of new tyres for the afternoon session having had time to acclimatise fully to his new surroundings. That would prove a wise decision when a puncture compromised his morning's tyre allowance further.

Dolby’s victorious Zolder weekend tempered by race two gearbox woes

Craig Dolby experienced a weekend of highs and lows as Superleague Formula visited famed Belgian venue Zolder, where the Englishman took a brilliant victory in the opening race but was left wondering what might have been after technical gremlins ruled him out of the second run and dash-for-cash Superfinal.

The Melton Mowbray-based racer was in fine form throughout the Zolder weekend, scoring a well-deserved pole position in Saturday's qualifying only to be dropped to second on the grid for an infringement by his team during the session.

But Dolby was in no mood to let this halt his charge. Holding on to second during the opening stint of race one, he applied mounting pressure to leader Chris van der Drift before ducking into the pits to make his mandatory stop. Here, Alan Docking Racing played their part, turning him around the best part of a second faster than his rivals. That was enough to give him the jump on van der Drift, promoting Dolby to the lead of the race.

Now in his element, Craig began to reel off a string of fast laps that allowed him to edge away at the front and win by a comfortable 3-second margin, a result that temporarily sent England to the top of the championship.

But his hopes of claiming a second successive Superfinal triumph - and the €100,000 that goes with it - were dashed when technical problems struck his car in race two.

With the finishing positions in the opening race fully reversed to form the grid for the second event, Dolby started at the very back of the pack, but after calmly managing the first stint began to move up the order.

Read all about it! Dolby makes The Independent

Ahead of the second Superleague Formula round of 2011 this weekend at Zolder, Craig took some time out to speak with leading British newspaper The Independent.

While most interviews are conducted in plush hotel surroundings, Craig was mucking in at Silverstone, home to Alan Docking Racing, where his Team England Superleague Formula single seater was being readied for its trip to Belgium.

You can read the full feature story by clicking the link below:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/superleague-driver-craig-dolby-takes-the-long-road-toward-formula-one-dream-2312492.html

Dolby wins €100,000 at Superleague Formula opener

Craig Dolby started his 2011 season in superb style at the TT Circuit Assen in Holland at the weekend with a strong points haul and a cheque for €100,000 in the opening round of the 2011 Superleague Formula Nations Cup.

Driving for team England, the Melton Mowbray-based driver, who has finished runner-up in the series for the past two seasons, got his title challenge underway with a magnificent second place in the weekend’s first 40-minute feature race, a solid eighth from the back of the grid in the second event and then a win in the five-lap, dash-for-cash Super Final.

Dolby’s weekend didn’t start well on Saturday when a miscommunication with his team saw him ease off on his final lap in the group stages of Superleague Formula’s unique qualifying format and miss out on the quarter finals.