24/11/2006
NEWS STORY
Brazil
Raphael Matos was on track today for A1 Team Brasil as the team began the Malaysian round of the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport by participating in two official practice sessions.
The team was able to capitalise of the fact that Raphael is still classed as a rookie driver, and so the 26-year-old ran the maximum one hour and fifty minutes of track time available in this morning's practice session 1, which is limited to rookies, and the second official practice this afternoon.
In the fifty minute rookie session this morning (two 25-minute sessions with a ten minute break) Raphael was able to complete 19 laps of practice, finishing each segment in eighth place, albeit reducing the deficit to the session leader by the second segment.
However, it was in the one-hour second practice this afternoon that Team Brasil was able to make inroads into its development programme. Although a rain shower in the middle of the session hampered progress for a few minutes, the track dried out quickly and dry testing resumed. Raphael completed 17 laps during the practice, setting a fastest lap of 1:53.947, the seventh quickest time of the session.
Raphael Matos: "I really love this track and I'm pleased because we've made a lot of progress from the first session this morning. We tried a lot of different things and the last two changes we did made a big improvement. We still have some work to do on the car to make it faster but we are going in the right direction. We don't know what will happen with the weather tomorrow, because it could easily rain and we haven't had the chance to do any wet set-up work, but it's unpredictable so we'll just have to wait and see."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "I think we have had a good test today. We are going the right way and, especially in the last part of the second practice session, things were going better. We were setting good times on old tyres and I am happy with the way that Raphael is handling everything."
Canada
A1 Team Canada's Sean McIntosh kicked off preparations for Sunday's fourth round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, hosted at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, by posting the 13th fastest lap time in Friday's official practice session as he returned to A1GP competition for the first time since scoring Canada's maiden victory last February in Indonesia.
With the 21-year-old Vancouver-native rotating back into the Canadian team's race seat following three impressive outings to launch the sophomore season of A1GP by Toronto rookie James Hinchcliffe (19), Sean's race weekend started positively as he familiarized himself once again with the 550bhp, V8-powered A1GP car and the 5.44km Sepang track.
The heat and humidity that greeted the field of nations for the rookie-only session in the morning and the afternoon's official practice failed to faze McIntosh, the Canadian having first experienced the challenging conditions presented by Malaysia in the corresponding round of the inaugural A1GP Championship last November. While 17 nations opted to run rookie drivers in the morning session, A1 Team Canada's first track running came in the afternoon when McIntosh was finally unleashed along with the full contingent of 22 competitors.
Logging the second-highest number of laps for the session in a bid to maximize track time, Sean's stint saw him end the hour-long outing with a lap time of 1m54.923s, placing him 13th overall, one spot behind the points-leading entry of A1 Team Mexico, piloted by Salvador Duran, and a place ahead of A1 Team Australia with Indy Racing League and Champ Car racer Ryan Briscoe behind the wheel.
19-year-old Nico Hülkenberg, winner of last month's Round 1Feature race in Holland, launched A1 Team Germany to the top of Friday's time-sheets in both sessions.
"It's great to be back in the car representing Canada!" stated McIntosh following his first day back in Malaysia. "We were quick here in Sepang last year and I think the potential is there to have another good weekend. Obviously the drivers and teams that participated in the rookie session this morning have a bit of an advantage over our team with the extra track time but we'll hopefully be up there tomorrow in qualifying when it counts. As always the weather's really hot and humid so it's a good job I've been training hard as Sunday's going to be a physically demanding day of racing!"
France
On the 5.54km Sepang circuit in Malaysia, A1 Team France driver Nicolas Lapierre covered 16 solid laps during the official practice session and clocked the tenth best time of 1m54.426s. The fifth round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport takes place at one of the world's most challenging circuits in Malaysia.
The day went well for Nicolas's first experience of the Sepang circuit. Nicolas explained: "I studied this track very closely last year with my old team mate as he was the race driver at that
event, so I knew to expect that it would be a very demanding weekend.
"It was very hot today at Sepang", Lapierre added. "The track is not as easy to learn as I expected because it is very wide and there are a number of different lines you can take. The high-speed corners are really exciting, but the high track temperature is very demanding for the tyres and the brakes.
"As the rain started falling and the sky was so dark, I thought we would be caught into one of the famous Malaysian water storms. But in fact the rain stopped after 10 minutes. Nevertheless
we used the session to prepare for the rain set-up for qualifying or the race. The weather is too
unpredictable on this track and you have to be prepared for every possibility."
Germany
Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany started round four of the A1 Grand Prix Series in Malaysia in top form: Nominated race driver Nico Hülkenberg topped the leader board in all three of Friday's sessions around the Sepang circuit.
During the opening Rookie practice session, reserved exclusively for championship newcomers, the 19-year old young talent from Emmerich set a time of 1m54.311s to give him a 25 thousandth-of-a-second advantage over the South African Adrian Zaugg. In the second session for newcomers, Hülkenberg's 1m54.491s lap gave him an advantage of 0.202 seconds over the Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy. "I completed both sessions on used tyres and got to grips with the circuit layout very quickly", reported the Rhinelander.
At the beginning of the following free practice session, in which every competitor is allowed to drive, A1 Team Germany fitted new slicks to the powerful 520 hp monoposto race car. On the second of his ten laps, Hülkenberg recorded a best time of 1m51.789s, 1.197 seconds clear of the nearest rival Congfu Cheng from China. As a result, the squad managed by Willi Weber remained unbeaten on Friday.
"Obviously, the track was very dirty at the start of the day. As the circuit cleaned up we concentrated on fine-tuning the set-up", explained Hülkenberg. "David Sears' race team gave me a well-prepared car and arrived at an excellent set-up. It's good to be at the front on Friday, however, in spite of the good lap time we shouldn't get too excited and must concentrate on the forthcoming sessions."
The German team, along with its 21 opponents in the field, received a foretaste of the peculiar Malaysian weather conditions during the final free practice. After half-an-hour a flash-flood caused by monsoon rain briefly submerged the 5.542 kilometre circuit. However, it would not have made much sense to test a rain set-up – the circuit had dried out again after only ten minutes. The grid formation for the first of Sunday's two races is determined on Saturday in the four-part qualifying session.
Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain enjoyed a productive Friday at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia in preparation for Sunday's fourth round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. British team-mates Robbie Kerr and Oliver Jarvis were both in action at the stunning 3.44-mile Grand Prix venue as the team looks to improve on its third place points standing.
Having raced his way to a second place Feature podium last time out in China, Cambridgeshire's Oliver Jarvis returned to ‘rookie' duties this morning, running in the first track session posting a respectable fifth placed time. An early ‘off' merited a brief pit visit but Jarvis was soon back on track and on the pace, the 22-year-old continuing to impress with his potential in the British entry.
Taking over from Jarvis in the afternoon, Robbie Kerr then set the eighth fastest time in the first official practice session. With a podium to his credit for A1 Team Great Britain following last season's A1GP trip to Sepang, the former British F3 Champion was up to speed quickly in the hot, humid conditions setting a total of 19 laps for the session. A brief rain shower 30 minutes into the hour-long outing failed to disrupt proceedings with Round 1 Feature race winner, Nico Hülkenberg recording the fastest lap of the day for A1 Team Germany with a 1m51.780s.
Robbie Kerr: "I'm getting back up there getting used to driving the car again as it's been six weeks since I last raced it in the Czech Republic. Sepang's a fun circuit to drive and I'm really enjoying being back here. We ran well last season but already I'm noticing the car feel's a little different as does the track! You never know if it's going to rain or not here as it comes so suddenly when it does so we'll have to wait and see what happens in qualifying tomorrow and again on Sunday."
Oliver Jarvis: "This is my first trip to Malaysia and the Sepang International Circuit and I have to say it's an amazing track with superb facilities. I really enjoyed my running this morning and hopefully in years to come I'll be back here racing. I've coped well with the conditions, once you're in the car you don't really notice the humidity as you're just concentrating on the task at hand, it hits you when you get back out though! My off in the first session cost us a bit of time but we recovered well and did a good job. We certainly have a solid base car and hopefully Robbie will build on that over the rest of the weekend."
India
The fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began today at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Armaan Ebrahim took to the track to represent his nation and finished 21st in final practice.
With the first two sessions of the weekend now reserved for Rookie drivers, A1 Team India driver Parthiva Sureshwaren was scheduled to take advantage of the extra track time. However, due to a number of circumstances, Sureshwaren was forced to sit out the rookie sessions.
Without the benefit of morning track time, Ebrahim was again left to bed in brakes and work on set up during the final practice session of the day. The Malaysian weather proved to be typically unpredictable, with rain showers throughout practice making conditions changeable and slippery.
While many drivers took excursions into the gravel traps, Ebrahim, A1GP's youngest driver, managed to keep the car on track to improve his time around one of his favourite circuits.
Armaan Ebrahim said, "We had a few difficulties during the practice session, the car seemed to be suffering from some imbalance mid corner, so we have a few things to work on before tomorrow. We made a few changes mid session, but we weren't really able to test these fully as the weather conditions began to change. I think once we have made a few alterations, we will be able to go quite a bit quicker tomorrow."
Yohann J Setna, Seat holder for A1 Team India said, "The Motorsport Association of India refused to issue Parthiva with an International Grade B licence, despite the fact that he has a wide ranging career in motorsport. Consequently, he was unable to take part in the rookie session and we're one session behind again.
"The car is suffering from mid corner snap oversteer and we took some front wing off which immediately helped. There still seems to be a bit of an aero imbalance in the car, so we will be working on that, as well as the gear ratios which Armaan wasn't quite happy with. I think we have to be satisfied with how it went today but we hope to be quicker tomorrow morning."
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon started preparations for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Malaysia event with the rookie and practice sessions taking place at Sepang circuit during the day, ahead of Sunday's races.
Khalil Beschir, one of the three Lebanese drivers representing the Arab world in the Series, was selected to drive for the team today, with team mates Basil Shaaban and Alex Khateeb watching on from the trackside.
Newly revised rookie session regulations allowed Beschir to participate in the morning practice allocated for drivers who have competed in no more than six races. Beschir is at the six race mark, so can drive in this session this weekend. His return to A1GP competition comes twelve months from his last outing at this race in the inaugural season of the Series. This lengthy layoff has inevitably led to Beschir taking more time to settle in than the rest of the field who have all been racing regularly in A1GP races.
The first two practice periods this morning took place in hot, dry and humid weather and during this time Beschir drove steadily, improving his lap times during the course of the session, and developing the car set up in this period.
In the afternoon session, the first half hour took place in fine weather, but a short rain shower in the middle of it sent all the teams back to the pits. They were able to resume practice after the rain had passed through and Beschir was back out on track when the track had dried. At the conclusion of the day Beschir had posted 20th fastest time.
Beschir enjoyed his return to the A1GP car, saying, "It was great to be back behind the wheel of the Lebanon car, especially at this track, the location of my last A1GP race. I've been using the time to get myself comfortable in the car, and although I've been testing in various cars through the summer, this is different, particularly with the paddle shift and the highly responsive brakes."
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon added, "Khalil needed the practice time today to reacquaint himself with the A1GP car and he's spent much of the day working with the engineers on the setup and starting to develop the package for this circuit. We have completed the programme we prepared for today and tomorrow we'll move on to qualifying setup."
A1 Team Lebanon is one of over 20 nations competing in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. This weekend's event is the fourth round of the international motor racing series which visits five continents through seven months of the year, in the traditional motorsport ‘off season' during the winter.
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia completed the first day of practice for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Malaysia, with the sixth fastest time of the day. In morning practice Fairuz Fauzy clocked the third quickest lap and in the afternoon Alex Yoong was sixth fastest overall.
The A1GP teams were ready for a strong day of running at Sepang International Circuit and with fine weather for all but ten minutes of the sessions, A1 Team Malaysia and 20 other national teams enjoyed the wide, sweeping track.
In morning practice Fauzy was able to work through a planned programme of car set up and engineering developments in preparation for the weekend. Handing over the Malaysian car to Yoong for the afternoon, the team was able to continue with the work of Fauzy and try a number of set up options ahead of final practice and qualifying tomorrow.
Fauzy said on his return to the A1GP car after time away from the Series, "I'm quite pleased with our performance this morning; it didn't take me long to get back on the pace. I didn't expect to be so quick this morning as last time I was here I was slower. I think qualifying will be much quicker this year. It's good to be back in the car, and keeping driving through the year. It's also good to help the team and share my experience so that A1 Team Malaysia can be highly competitive.
Yoong adds, "Although we're sixth quickest to be honest I'm quite disappointed. We haven't got the car perfect yet, there's still a lot of work to be done before tomorrow's session to sort it out, but I think it'll be fine." On his chances of taking pole tomorrow, "Anything's possible".
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, adds, "We're up there in the mix of the top times and I think there's more to come from the team. Fairuz and Alex work well together and our overall package is very strong now. We're feeling very positive for qualifying tomorrow, and will certainly be aiming for pole. We've achieved it once already this season, so there's every reason we can do it again."
Netherlands
During the first day of the A1GP at the Sepang circuit A1 Team Netherlands was unable to join the front runners. At the end of the day the team had to settle for sixteenth place in the free practice session.
In the Rookie session of this morning Renger van der Zande set a sixth fastest time in the first 25 minutes with a time of 1'56.003. Renger was not able to improve on that in the second half of the session, finishing in tenth.
For Renger van der Zande it was his debut on the 5.5 km long F1 circuit. 'It is a cool circuit to drive. As I said yesterday you have got everything here, from slow to fast corners and long straights. The car did not go that well though, we will have to make a lot of changes. I was able to do a little bit during my session, but the balance in the car is not there yet. In the second 25 minute session I did not do a lot of driving. We started a little bit later and when I wanted to go out at the end of the session they had already waved the checkered flag".
Jeroen Bleekemolen made is debut at Sepang during the official free practice this afternoon. Bleekemolen was also not able to battle with the top runners. He set his fastest time in his fourth lap, with 1'55.062.
Just before the start of practice it started raining shortly. The skies above the circuit got more threatening by the minute and a heavy downpour only seemed a matter of minutes. But the shower halfway through the session was not very heavy and also fairly short.
Jeroen Bleekemolen had trouble finding grip with the car in his first session at Sepang. "We did just miss too much. In the beginning we were in a reasonable position. But then it just did not go well, we were unable to move forward. Other drivers already knew this track, so that was an advantage for them, but I am able to learn a new circuit quickly. Despite the short shower the track was quite went and we even went out on wets for a bit," said Bleekemolen. "The way things are looking now rain during qualifying tomorrow would not be a very bad thing for us".
New Zealand
New Zealand is among the pace-setters in practice for Round 4 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Malaysia.
Jonny Reid set the 3rd fastest time in the first official practice session on the Sepang International Circuit, shaded only by Germany and China as he completed 13 laps in hot and humid conditions.
The 23-year-old Reid also drove a combined total of 20 laps in the earlier Rookie Sessions, posting the 4th fastest times in each of the two 25-minute sessions.
Team Principal Colin Giltrap said it was a productive day at the office for the Kiwi team.
"We have a quick car and a quick driver and we're confident we'll generate some more car speed with some set-up changes," Giltrap said. "There are still some adjustments to make in the spring settings that should make a positive impact."
Giltrap said it was "unbelievably hot" at the circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and the stifling heat and humidity will make driving unpleasant.
"This heat will take a toll on the drivers," he said. "Let's hope Jonny's fit enough to still be going strong at the end."
Another one-hour practice session tomorrow will precede Qualifying. The point-scoring Sprint and Feature Races will be held on Sunday.
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan took to the Sepang International Circuit today, for the fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. In hot and humid conditions, Ali managed to take four seconds off his first timed lap to finish 17th in the final rookie session.
The final practice session of the day saw changeable conditions as a damp track forced many drivers to crash off. An incident early in the final session ended A1 Team Pakistan's practice time.
At one of the most challenging driver's circuits in the world, temperatures soared during the course of the day, to further increase discomfort inside the cockpit of the A1GP car around the 3.44 mile long circuit.
Commenting on his first day at Sepang, Ali said "We were making good progress in the morning, and improving continually. Before the third session, we changed the brakes and I was just working on bedding them in during my out lap. On my first quick lap we felt we could push them a bit more, but when I braked at my normal point, the car just didn't stop. The car just kept on going straight and as it hit the kerb it went airborne and came down in the gravel.
"It's frustrating because I think we could have found quite a bit more time in the car and not having that full hour in the final practice hurt us in terms of working on set up. But I'm hopeful that we will be able to repair any damage and improve again tomorrow.
"The track is great", said Ali, speaking about conditions at the F1 circuit. "While the weather is hot, conditions are better than in Beijing. The track is very smooth and there is a lot of grip out there. It's just a case of getting use to driving such as long track compared to the short street circuit in Beijing."
A1 Team Pakistan Chairman Arif Husain commented, "Nur has used today's track time to set up the car and familiarise himself with the circuit. Unlike many of the drivers in A1GP, Nur has never driven at Sepang so this is all new to him. I think we will be able to continue our progress tomorrow and set a competitive time in qualifying."
Switzerland
A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani was right on the pace in practice for the fourth round of the season in Malaysia. Rookie driver Marcel Fässler was not in action today as he stayed in Switzerland expecting the imminent birth of his third child.
After 13 laps Neel Jani finished in fourth place with a time of 1m53.431s.
Neel Jani said: "I was always expecting this weekend to be tough but we have been working hard as a team to prepare carefully for the practice session. It was a good practice and I had some good, consistent laps. In a way, this session was my real start of the season as I could not drive the two first events and the conditions were complicated in Beijing. I like the track, it's quite the opposite of what we had in China! For sure we are missing the morning data without Marcel Fässler.
We did a lot of work nevertheless including running in the brakes with the new tyres. We are now close to a good set up and have made lots of progress. We still have one session tomorrow morning before the qualifying session to improve and fine-tune the car. The track is really interesting: "I can't decide which turn I like best. It is the whole combination which is excellent. It will be an interesting race as we never know what the track is going to be like and this circuit is quite unpredictable."
Max Welti added: "A good session for Neel this afternoon. We had a short day as we missed data from the rookie session. But everything developed positively despite the short rain period that disturbed the session. Neel and his engineer Franck Funke did a good job with the team and we are confident for a good weekend ahead.
USA
In a day hampered by rain, A1 TEAM USA emerged from Friday's practice at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia with the fifth fastest time and very encouraged.
Despite it being his first run on the circuit, veteran driver Phil Giebler finished with the 5th fastest time. Positions 1, 2, and 3 were taken by drivers who had been in the rookie session, and Giebler was still able to outpace three others who had participated in the rookie practice as well.
"We played to our strengths today," said Giebler, following the practice. "We had changeable weather and a couple of hiccups with the car, but we all stayed focused. I ended up right in there at the top of the times, with the guys who had an extra practice session and new tires. It's great because we are showing good potential every time we take to the track." Giebler's best lap came after the track had dried following a rainstorm which interrupted the session approximately 20 minutes in.
A1 TEAM USA Owner Rick Weidinger commented, "We had gear selection problems in our first and only practice session on Friday. We got stuck in first gear at one point and Phil had difficulty downshifting. There are some pointers in the data, which indicate some sort of mechanical issue. We must begin to reduce these mechanical demons and become consistent with our race car. However, Phil stayed very focused and got better and better. He was still matching his best lap at the end of the session, even though his tires were getting worse, and his fuel pressure was spiking. Fifth is a good place to improve from for Saturday's qualifying round."
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