Because of teething problems with the RSC Anderlecht car Dolby was unable to do any testing on the Thursday free practice sessions, which meant he had to go into Saturday morning's free practice having never driven the car.

Gear selection problems put paid to the first session, but the mechanics from Team Astromega pulled out all the stops to get the car out for the half-hour session before qualifying, giving Dolby 11 laps to familiarise himself with the car.

Going head-to-head for pole position the cars looked and sounded very impressive, and Dolby managed 10th place which, under the circumstances, Team Astromega were very happy with.

And later on Saturday, he managed to complete another eight laps going a full second quicker than his qualifying time.

The first race on Sunday was in the dry, and after a very good start Dolby was up to eighth by the end of the first lap. The safety car came out on lap four and at the restart he was poised to take seventh, but a throttle sensor switched the engine off and he was forced to retire.

For the second race Dolby was to start from third, however, an electrical problem meant the car could not be started and was pushed off the track.

Dolby was disappointed but still satisfied that the car had proved it had the pace to stay with the front-runners.

He said: "I am looking forward to round two at the Nurburgring and I know Team Astromega will be working very hard on the car to try and make sure we have no reliability issues so I can score some points for RSC Anderlecht.

"The cars are fantastic, with lots of speed and plenty of grip, and I would like to thank Martin Betts, The Fleet Auction Group and Marcol for giving me the opportunity to race in the inaugural round of the championship."

* View all the race results on www.superleagueformula.com