2008 Donington Park Superleague Formula round

March 2026 2008 Donington Park Superleague Formula roundSuperleague Formula round UK Donington as of 2006.svg 31 August 2008 GBR Donington Park, Leicestershire, England Permanent racing facility 2.500 4.023 28 & 22 CHN Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon 1:18.529 CHN Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon ITA A.S. Roma Enrico Toccacelo ENG Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy CHN Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon 1:20.183 10 ESP Sevilla FC Borja García BRA CR Flamengo Tuka Rocha ENG Liverpool F.C. Adrián Vallés NED PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman 1:40.926 22The 2008 Donington Park Superleague Formula round was the inaugural round of the Superleague Formula championship, with the races taking place on 31 August 2008.2008 Superleague Formula Donington (Race 1) Racing Years https://www.racingyears.com/race/2008_Superleague_Formula_Donington_(Race_1) 2026-03-24 www.racingyears.com: Scuderia Playteam Nuerburgring preview https://au.motorsport.com/sf/news/scuderia-playteam-nuerburgring-preview/2800386/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250114115803/https://au.motorsport.com/sf/news/scuderia-playteam-nuerburgring-preview/2800386/ 2025-01-14 2026-03-24 en Seventeen football teams were represented on the grid, with a win each for Beijing Guoan and Sevilla FC. Report Qualifying The first ever qualifying session for Superleague saw the introduction of a new qualifying system. Following a random draw which split the seventeen-car field into two groups, the fastest four qualifiers from each progressed into the knockout stages to decide places 1 to 8 on the grid. This meant that in Group B, fifth placed Al Ain (Andreas Zuber) and sixth placed Borussia Dortmund (Nelson Philippe) would both miss out on qualifying for the knockout stages, despite recording a time some four tenths of a second faster than fourth-placed Group A qualifier Galatasaray S.K. (Alessandro Pier Guidi). After negotiating their way through the knockout stages, Sevilla FC (Borja García) and Beijing Guoan (Davide Rigon) would meet in the final. In the one-lap shootout, Rigon came out on top by 0.822 seconds and would become Superleague's inaugural pole-sitter. Race 1 The race began with a rolling start, to eradicate a potential chink in the 750 bhp car's armour, and would also delay the introduction of pitstops until the next round. From the start, the Olympiacos car of Kasper Andersen got a fantastic run from fourth on the grid, and was alongside Rigon as the grid headed for Redgate. However, he ran wide and fell back to fourth behind García and a fast-starting Yelmer Buurman in the PSV Eindhoven car. This would become fifth by the end of the lap, as Duncan Tappy also got by, in the Tottenham Hotspur machine. The safety car was deployed on lap three, as A.C. Milan and CR Flamengo had both gone off at Coppice with engine failures on the first and third laps respectively. There were further problems down the field with a midfield incident between Philippe and Andy Soucek in the SC Corinthians car and both would later retire from the race. Enrico Toccacelo would also become a factor in the race, having started sixth in the A.S. Roma car, moving up to third which became second, as García had to shift to manual gear-shifting after developing a problem on down-shifts. Toccacelo did get to within a second and a half of Rigon, but the Italian in the Chinese team's car would hold on, to be the first race-winner of the series. Toccacelo finished 2nd, while Tappy just held off Buurman for the final podium spot. Star of the race though, fell to Adrián Vallés. Having missed qualifying due to an electrical problem, the Liverpool F.C. car charged through from 17th on the grid, to finish fifth ahead of the other finishers Zuber, Tristan Gommendy (F.C. Porto), Ryan Dalziel (Rangers F.C.), Max Wissel (FC Basel 1893) and the troubled García. Of the seven retirees, six were down to technical problems. Race 2 A storm engulfed the track, before the start of race two. With the reverse grid system in use, A.C. Milan were expected to start on pole, but did not start due to the fuel-system failure that took Robert Doornbos out of the first race. This put Flamengo on the pole, and would give Tuka Rocha an advantage at the start of the race. Rocha sped away into the distance as all hell broke loose behind. Zuber would go off at the Old Hairpin, who would later deploy the safety car and Philippe, who had challenged Rocha at Redgate, spun down to fifth at Coppice, letting Pier Guidi, Wissel and García through. As quickly as the safety car had gone in, it was back out again after Dalziel and latterly Pier Guidi had both gone off at Hollywood and Wissel had run wide at Melbourne in the Basel car. This left García to charge down Rocha at a rate of knots, and with eight laps to go, caught and passed Rocha in the Melbourne Loop and scampered off to a 10.074-second victory over Rocha. The battle for the final podium spot was decided on lap twenty, when Philippe slid sideways and knocked on his pit-lane limiter which allowed Vallés, who started 12th on the grid into third and third in the championship. Tappy, Rigon, Wissel, Buurman, Gommendy, Toccacelo and Andersen completed the finishers as 11 of the 16 starters finished the race. Rigon's first and sixth allowed Beijing Guoan to be seven points clear of Tottenham and Liverpool in the standings. Results Qualifying In each group, the top four qualify for the quarter-finals. Group A Pos.TeamDriverTime 1 ESP Sevilla FC ESP Borja García 1:19.822 2 NLD PSV Eindhoven NLD Yelmer Buurman 1:19.872 3 GRE Olympiacos CFP DEN Kasper Andersen 1:20.035 4 TUR Galatasaray S.K. ITA Alessandro Pier Guidi 1:20.087 5 BEL R.S.C. Anderlecht GBR Craig Dolby 1:20.685 6 BRA CR Flamengo BRA Tuka Rocha 1:24.359 7 CHE FC Basel 1893 DEU Max Wissel no time 8 ENG Liverpool F.C. ESP Adrián Vallés no time Group B Pos.TeamDriverTime 1 CHN Beijing Guoan ITA Davide Rigon 1:18.746 2 ITA A.C. Milan NLD Robert Doornbos 1:19.155 3 ITA A.S. Roma ITA Enrico Toccacelo 1:19.562 4 ENG Tottenham Hotspur GBR Duncan Tappy 1:19.580 5 ARE Al Ain ARE Andreas Zuber 1:19.640 6 DEU Borussia Dortmund FRA Nelson Philippe 1:19.671 7 POR F.C. Porto FRA Tristan Gommendy 1:20.440 8 BRA SC Corinthians ESP Andy Soucek 1:20.511 9 SCO Rangers F.C. GBR Ryan Dalziel 1:20.584 Knockout stages Quarter-Finals Semi-Finals Pole Shoot Out 70 A1 Sevilla FC 1:19.463 B4 Tottenham Hotspur 1:19.690 A3 Olympiacos CFP 1:20.022 B2 A.C. Milan 1:20.173 A2 PSV Eindhoven 1:19.411 B3 A.S. Roma 1:19.977 A4 Galatasaray S.K. 1:20.683 B1 Beijing Guoan 1:18.566 A1 Sevilla FC 1:19.655 A3 Olympiacos CFP 1:20.244 A2 PSV Eindhoven 1:19.565 B1 Beijing Guoan 1:19.071 A1 Sevilla FC 1:19.351 B1 Beijing Guoan 1:18.529 Grid Pos.TeamDriverTime 1 CHN Beijing Guoan ITA Davide Rigon 1:18.529 2 ESP Sevilla FC ESP Borja García 1:19.351 3 NLD PSV Eindhoven NLD Yelmer Buurman 1:19.565 4 GRE Olympiacos CFP DEN Kasper Andersen 1:20.244 5 ITA A.C. Milan NLD Robert Doornbos 1:20.173 6 ITA A.S. Roma ITA Enrico Toccacelo 1:19.977 7 TUR Galatasaray S.K. ITA Alessandro Pier Guidi 1:20.683 8 ENG Tottenham Hotspur GBR Duncan Tappy 1:19.690 9 ARE Al Ain ARE Andreas Zuber 1:19.640 10 DEU Borussia Dortmund FRA Nelson Philippe 1:19.671 11 POR F.C. Porto FRA Tristan Gommendy 1:20.440 12 BRA SC Corinthians ESP Andy Soucek 1:20.511 13 SCO Rangers F.C. GBR Ryan Dalziel 1:20.584 14 BEL R.S.C. Anderlecht GBR Craig Dolby 1:20.685 15 BRA CR Flamengo BRA Tuka Rocha 1:24.359 16 CHE FC Basel 1893 DEU Max Wissel no time 17 ENG Liverpool F.C. ESP Adrián Vallés no time Race 1 right|thumb|Davide Rigon (green) leads Borja García (red and white) and Enrico Toccacelo (red and orange) under the safety car, during the first race. thumb|right|Duncan Tappy (white) lines up a pass on Toccacelo. Pos No Team Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts. 1 12 CHN Beijing Guoan ITA Davide Rigon2841:29.425 1 50222 ITA A.S. Roma ITA Enrico Toccacelo28 +2.577 6 453 19 ENG Tottenham Hotspur GBR Duncan Tappy28 +14.909 8 404 5 NLD PSV Eindhoven NLD Yelmer Buurman28 +15.305 3 365 21 ENG Liverpool F.C. ESP Adrián Vallés28 +20.184 17 326 6 ARE Al Ain ARE Andreas Zuber28 +22.996 9 297 16 POR F.C. Porto FRA Tristan Gommendy28 +23.675 11 268 17 SCO Rangers F.C. GBR Ryan Dalziel28 +24.571 13 239 10 CHE FC Basel 1893 DEU Max Wissel28 +25.449 16 2010 18 ESP Sevilla FC ESP Borja García28 +29.431 2 1811 14 BRA SC Corinthians ESP Andy Soucek14 Alternator 12 1612 9 GRE Olympiacos CFP DEN Kasper Andersen10 Water Temp. 4 1413 4 TUR Galatasaray S.K. ITA Alessandro Pier Guidi9 Engine 7 1214 8 BEL R.S.C. Anderlecht GBR Craig Dolby7 Engine 14 1015 11 DEU Borussia Dortmund FRA Nelson Philippe6 Acc. Damage 10 816 7 BRA CR Flamengo BRA Tuka Rocha2 Engine 15 717 3 ITA A.C. Milan NLD Robert Doornbos0 Engine 5 6 Fastest lap: Davide Rigon (Beijing Guoan) 1:20.183 (112.243 mph) Race 2 thumb|right|Tristan Gommendy's F.C. Porto car in the treacherous conditions of race two. thumb|right|Max Wissel and Borja García tussling for position at the Melbourne Hairpin. Pos No Team Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts. 1 18 ESP Sevilla FC ESP Borja García2241:56.268 7 502 7 BRA CR Flamengo BRA Tuka Rocha22 +10.074 1 453 21 ENG Liverpool F.C. ESP Adrián Vallés22 +12.224 12 404 11 DEU Borussia Dortmund FRA Nelson Philippe22 +14.962 2 365 19 ENG Tottenham Hotspur GBR Duncan Tappy22 +23.666 14 326 12 CHN Beijing Guoan ITA Davide Rigon22 +24.681 16 297 10 CHE FC Basel 1893 DEU Max Wissel22 +27.225 8 268 5 NLD PSV Eindhoven NLD Yelmer Buurman22 +42.915 13 239 16 POR F.C. Porto FRA Tristan Gommendy22 +54.513 10 2010 22 ITA A.S. Roma ITA Enrico Toccacelo22 +57.398 15 1811 9 GRE Olympiacos CFP DEN Kasper Andersen22 +59.946 5 1612 14 BRA SC Corinthians ESP Andy Soucek19 Accident 6 1413 4 TUR Galatasaray S.K. ITA Alessandro Pier Guidi8 Accident 4 1214 17 SCO Rangers F.C. GBR Ryan Dalziel6 Accident 9 1015 6 ARE Al Ain ARE Andreas Zuber0 Accident 11 816 8 BEL R.S.C. Anderlecht GBR Craig Dolby0 Engine 3 7DNS 3 ITA A.C. Milan NLD Robert Doornbos Engine 0 Fastest lap: Yelmer Buurman (PSV Eindhoven) 1:40.926 (89.174 mph) Olympiacos CFP started from the pitlane. Notes First race: All teams and drivers First pole (Driver): Davide Rigon First pole (Team): Beijing Guoan First win (Driver): Davide Rigon & Borja García Last win (Driver): Borja García First win (Team): Beijing Guoan & Sevilla FC First podium (Driver): Davide Rigon, Enrico Toccacelo, Duncan Tappy, Borja García, Tuka Rocha, Adrian Valles First podium (Team): Beijing Guoan, A.S. Roma, Tottenham Hotspur, Sevilla FC, CR Flamengo, Liverpool F.C. Last podium (Driver): Enrico Toccacelo, Borja García, Tuka Rocha First fastest lap (Driver): Davide Rigon & Yelmer Buurman First fastest lap (Team): Beijing Guoan & PSV Eindhoven World Feed Commentators: Jonathan Green & Bruce Jouanny References External links Donington Park Superleague Formula