All focus on Brands Hatch for van der Zande

This weekend sees the sixth round of the 2011 DTM season at Brands Hatch. Renger van der Zande, a regular visitor to the Kent circuit during his days in Formula 3, knows that a good qualifying session is essential for achieving a strong race result.

Renger van der Zande Persson Motorsport, AMG Mercedes C-Klasse

Photo by: xpb.cc

The Mercedes driver is confident that he can build on the ninth place starting position he achieved at the Nürburgring.

"I have raced in England a lot in the past, which makes it extra special to come here with DTM," Van der Zande comments on his way to the circuit.

"I am hopeful that we can continue our upward trend at Brands. For this to happen, I must be up front in qualifying because overtaking is almost impossible at this track; we’re racing on the Indy circuit, which basically has only five corners. You have almost no time to rest, it’s non-stop.

It promises to be a hot weekend, so levels of attrition could be high, but I’m very excited and can’t wait to get back in the car."

The first practice session at Brands Hatch begins at 13:00 local time (BST) on Friday.