21/01/2007
NEWS STORY
Team Germany - 1st & 1st
The Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany posted its most successful weekend to date in the A1 Grand Prix Series: Nico Hülkenberg from Emmerich proved to be unbeatable around the Taupo circuit in New Zealand by scooping pole position, winning both the sprint and main races and recording the fastest race lap of the weekend. It was the first sprint-race win and the third race-win of the 2006/2007 season for the team. After six of eleven rounds the German national team has increased its championship lead in A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport by seven points to now lead new closest rival France by 19 points.
In the first race A1 Team Germany converted its coveted pole position into a commanding lead. Nico Hülkenberg held his nerve and concentration after the first start was aborted – a competitor had lined up in the wrong place on the grid – and defended his position from the chasing Loïc Duval from France. The handling of his 520 hp A1 Grand Prix car improved from lap to lap during the race around the 3.5 kilometre Taupo circuit on on New Zealand's North Island allowing the 19-year old German to win by 3.747 seconds from France and Jonny Reid from host nation New Zealand.
The nations cup was witness to a dominating performance by A1 Team Germany in the main race: The German team's black-red-yellow car led from the start around the twisty circuit situated in the middle of a picturesque volcanic landscape. Nico Hülkenberg increased his lead to 2.937 seconds by lap eight before making his mandatory pit stop. After returning to the track he held tenth position. When the majority of his rivals headed down pit-road a lap later to change tyres, the German vaulted up to second position behind the Swiss team, which stopped on lap 13. Nico Hülkenberg assumed the lead on lap 14, before going on to increase his advantage to 8.943 seconds at half-distance after 25 laps. The "star of tomorrow" finally crossed the finish line 19.511 seconds in front of closest rival France, while local matador New Zealand completed the podium.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "We've had an absolutely unforgettable weekend in New Zealand. I laid the foundation for our success in qualifying. There were virtually no overtaking manoeuvres in the entire field, starting from pole was an enormous help. I think that New Zealand with Jonny Reid at the wheel and our team had the fastest cars in the field today. If Jonny had been up the front to start today he could also have won. Nevertheless, I still had to fight for my win: Loïc Duval from France attacked really hard at the beginning of both races, probably because his tyre pressures were better suited to the opening laps. But we were quicker over the distance."
Willi Weber: "Nico has surprised us once again with his latest performance. Everything that was up for grabs this weekend he won: qualifying, the sprint race, the main race by a large margin and the battle for fastest lap, which actually gave us an extra point. We've opened up a significant lead in the championship at this half-way point. However, my congratulations don't only go to Nico and David Sears' team for the fantastic performance. Christian Vietoris also made a great debut. He drove our car for the first time during the ‘rookie session' on Friday and lived up to everybody's expectations. We're in a good position for the remainder of the season."
Team France - 2nd & 2nd
A1 Team France rookie Loic Duval finished second in the sprint race at Taupo and went on to finish second in the 50-lap feature race. In front of huge crowds Duval kept his nerve on his race debut for A1 Team France. The 16 points he won takes France into second place in the championship on 46 points.
The 15-lap sprint race started under very strong winds. The first start was aborted and after new formation lap, Germany's Nico Hülkenberg kept the lead with Loic Duval in second position. "I did not take any risks," Duval explained. "I made a good start for the sprint race. Nico was a little bit earlier on the throttle so I was second. I was a little bit faster than him but it was not possible to overtake him. Finishing in second place, I am earning good points and I am on the podium."
Finishing second again on the podium in the feature race, Loic Duval added: "I had a good start but again could not overtake Germany. It is easy to crash in the first corner, so I was careful. After three laps he was too far away to be caught. I stopped shortly after him for our pit stop and maintained a strong second position in the race. With 33 laps to go New Zealand's Jonny Reid started catching me on the narrow track and was trying to get me to make a mistake, but I resisted his pressure. I was hoping that he would get distracted as Switzerland and Netherlands closed in on him. I was determined to finish well despite the pressure, saw that Reid made a couple of mistakes and continued my race to keep fighting for my second position in this tough feature race. Overall it was a good race and a tough fight with Hülkenberg all the way through. This race is very physical and I am a bit exhausted and have to be careful not to dehydrate. Now I will fly back to Japan for testing in Formula Nippon and GT. Then I will spend a week of intensive training organized by the French Federation FFSA in Dubai with some of the other young French drivers."
Jean-Paul Driot, Team Principal, A1 Team France added: "Loic Duval drove two great races for team France today. To finish second in the sprint race was the right thing to do to keep the front row for the start of the feature race. In the feature race, Loic showed his qualities as a fighter resisting to Reid's efforts. These two
podiums are a brilliant result for the day. I'm very happy for Loic and for the team."
Team New Zealand - 3rd & 3rd
The New Zealand A1GP team is celebrating two podium finishes on home soil in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, picking up two 3rds in Round 6 in Taupo to leap into third place overall in the championship.
Kiwi driver Jonny Reid started and stayed in third place through both the Sprint Race and the Feature Race to snare 12 points for the weekend, jumping over Great Britain and Mexico in the standings.
Germany cruised home ahead of France in both races in Taupo to extend its lead in the championship and now has 65 points, followed by France on 46 and New Zealand on 43.
It was New Zealand's second most successful weekend ever, bettered only by Reid's twin victories in the previous round in Indonesia.
Reid said it was hard racing on a technical and narrow circuit – his blistered hands testimony to the fight he had with Black Beauty's steering wheel. But he didn't give up at any stage as he shadowed France and tried to force young Frenchman Loic Duval into a mistake.
"Towards the end of the race I could see us closing on the back markers and thought it might cause some confusion that I could take advantage of," Reid said. "But he (Duval) raced well and I couldn't get past him. I had a speed advantage, but my tyres overheated each time I was dueling with him and I had to back off several times to let the tyres cool down again."
Unlike the Feature Race, which, surprisingly, had no safety car at any stage, the morning's Sprint Race was littered with incidents, kicked off by an aborted start after France perched itself in the wrong place on the front row of the grid for the rolling start.
When the race officially started Lebanon launched into the back of Singapore, shredding the back end of the Asian nation's car and forcing the first five laps to be run under a yellow flag.
Great Britain survived contact with Malaysia at the start of the race and a number of cars found themselves off the track at various times.
A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray said the podium finishes were a fitting climax to an exhilarating five months in organising the event. "It's been like running a marathon with very little preparation time, but the hard work has paid off in terms of Taupo hosting a memorable event," McMurray said. "Now the team turns its focus to performing well at Eastern Creek in Sydney two weeks from now and everyone involved in the organisation of the Taupo meeting will reflect on the outcomes and determine areas where we can lift the bar even higher. Everyone involved in bringing this event together should be proud of their achievement."
MotorSport New Zealand president Steven Kennedy said it was the most spectacularly successful weekend for New Zealand motorsport. "Congratulations are due to all the teams on their successful presentation and to the New Zealand championship classes that lifted their game and provided excellent and entertaining support.
"Motorsport fans owe a huge vote of thanks to Colin Giltrap and his team for sharing their vision and MIT Development Limited who have managed to pull the event together in a very short time. We also appreciate the support and recognition of the Government to help bring this event to Taupo and I'm delighted they see the value in events with worldwide exposure."
Team Netherlands - 4th & 5th
A1 Team Netherlands has taken eight points at the A1GP at Taupo Motorsport Park, with a fourth place in the Sprint race and a fifth place in the Feature race.
Jeroen Bleekemolen started the 15 lap Sprintrace from fourth on the grid. The race had a messy start as France was pushed into the wrong grid position. This caused the race to be restarted. At the restart Bleekemolen managed to keep his fourth place, just behind Germany, France and New Zealand. A safety car situation, after a collision between Lebanon and Singapore took the edge out of the race and up front the positions remained unchanged in the remaining laps.
In the 50 lap Feature race A1 Team Netherlands has finished in fifth. Starting from fourth on the grid Jeroen Bleekemolen almost immediately got into a fight for the places two to six and was in reach of the podium for most of the time. After the pitstops Switzerland managed to just squeeze in front of A1 Team Netherlands. After that Bleekemolen got under pressure from Robbie Kerr of Great Britain, but he was able to fend Kerr off and stayed just behind Switzerland. Like on a rope France, New Zealand, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Great Britain went across the track. After Great Britain had retired it was Canada that closed in at the end, but never posed a real threat.
In the end it was Germany that won the Feature race, followed by France and New Zealand. With the fifth place in the Feature race and the three points in the Sprint race A1 Team Netherlands now has a total of 26 points and is in tenth in the Championship. A1 Team Netherlands could well move up one more place in the race result because Switzerland is under investigation, which could result in an extra point.
A1 Team Netherlands team principal was happy with this result: "This fifth place is just good. Of course our ambition is always wanting more, but when you see that after 50 laps Jeroen is just 3 seconds behind second place, then we are just really competitive. Unfortunately Jeroen encountered some traffic on his outlap, which made us lose some time and enabling Switzerland to just go in front. I think that we did have the fastest pitstop. We have moved up some places in the Championship and if we can keep this form the podium is in reach".
A1 Team Netherlands General Manager Robert Hoevers was part of the pitcrew for the first time ever today, having to replace another team member and he did the job well; "It was fun, but also tense. Especially the moment the car comes in. You can't really do anything really good, but you can do it terribly wrong. Fortunately we did practice a lot. The pitstop itself was good and also the fastest of all the teams, but I don't think that it was our fastest one ever. It is also good to experience the pressure that the guys are under. To give another example, on the grid today a part of the carter had to be replaced and the guys just had a few minutes to do this".
A1 Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen; "All through the weekend we were really competitive and that was nice. We were just a bit unlucky. When we did not have that problem in qualifying we might have been up one row at the start and then you are on the podium twice, because the pace was certainly there. The Feature race was hard, because you get held up by cars in front of you and there are other cars on your tail. In one corner you are right behind Switzerland, then you loose some. At that moment Great Britain is on your rear wing straight away. You then have to fend him off, after which there is a gap with Switzerland which you have to close. You are somewhat of a yoyo. Anyway, I'm happy that we can compete with the front runners again and the next track is a somewhat similar to this track, so I think that we can compete again in Sydney. After that comes Durban, which I am really looking forward to. There we should be able to run in front. So, there are two good races coming I think and at least we showed something today".
Team Canada - 6th & 6th
Taupo Motorsports Park in New Zealand proved to be a happy hunting ground for A1 Team Canada's James Hinchcliffe (20) as the Toronto rookie heralded his return to competition by picking up a pair of top-six finishes on.
Sixth at the checkered flag in both the Sprint and Feature races, Hinchcliffe's performances netted the Canadian entry a total of six points to maintain its footing in the top-ten of the A1GP Nations Standings, the team currently placing ninth from the 23 competing nations. Germany stretched its advantage at the head of the pack to 19 points over France (65-46) courtesy of back-to-back wins in New Zealand from teenage sensation Niko Hülkenberg, the German pole-winner scoring his third and fourth A1GP victories and his first top-step podium sweep.
Having qualified seventh for Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race, Hinchcliffe passed A1 Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr for sixth place on the run to the first turn. After that the 20-year-old held station with passing opportunities limited not least due to the slick nature of the brand new 3.5km track. With points awarded to just the top-six in the Sprint event, Hinchcliffe claimed the final score but more importantly secured a third row grid slot for the afternoon's 50-lap Feature race.
A loose car greeted James at the start of the afternoon race but his pace soon picked up following his mandatory pit-stop, taken on lap nine, the opening of the pit-window. Armed with a fresh set of tires and with the handling vastly improved James placed seventh. He remained there at mid-distance, enduring a solitary race to that point with Kerr three and a half seconds ahead of him and Williams Formula One test driver, India's Narain Karthikeyan, four and a half seconds behind in eighth.
The status quo was interrupted on lap 40 with Kerr retiring the British entry promoting Hinchcliffe up into sixth. Consistently faster it wasn't long before James found himself at the back of a five-car train headed by France's Loic Duval in second, all giving chase to the dominant Hülkenberg. The German scored his second win of the day with Duval second and New Zealander Jonny Reid delighting the 25,000-strong home crowd with third, the Feature top-three a carbon copy of the Sprint podium.
"I'd have liked to have scored a few more points," stated Hinchcliffe upon his A1GP race return. "I didn't want to try anything too heroic in the Sprint and settled for the final point and decent grid slot. We were looking really fast towards the end of the Feature race but for the most part it was a fairly quiet outing although Taupo's a physically demanding track so I was working hard on every lap!"
Team India - 10th & 7th
Narain Karthikeyan scored A1 Team India's first ever points at the Taupo Motorsport Park in New Zealand. On a tight and twisting track, with limited space for overtaking, Karthikeyan brought the national flag liveried car home in seventh place from 10th on the grid in the Feature race to collect four points.
Karthikeyan, who made his debut with A1 Team India in New Zealand, performed consistently throughout the weekend, to achieve India's best ever qualifying position, Sprint and Feature race results and the second fastest lap of the day.
In his first rolling start in some years, Karthikeyan made up three places to move up the running order to seventh. But after the first start was aborted, the 22 A1GP cars reformed the original starting order to make a second rolling start and in the melee, the A1 Team India car fell down to 12th.
After reclaiming 10th, Karthikeyan demonstrating true racer instincts, battling for the final four laps of the race to pass Italy and Great Britain for 8th place. However, on the narrow Taupo circuit and with few laps available, the India racer was unable to find a way past and had to settle with his original grid slot.
Commenting on his first A1GP event, Karthikeyan said, "We leave with the first points for A1 Team India, so I'm really pleased, that was what I wanted, and we couldn't really have expected anything more with such little track time and data from the car. We had a few problems in qualifying, but that improved today and we were pretty close to Germany [race winners] in lap times. All in all, it was a positive weekend.
"We've got some valuable information to build on now and to win by the end of the season must be our goal. I've worked really well with the team, I have to say I've been really pleasantly surprised at how good and professional the team is. I really believe in the team now, and I think we will get some great results together this season."
A1 Team Seatholder, Yohann Setna was delighted with the team's performance, "We're really pleased with the result. Narain did a great job on his first outing with the team. I think qualifying maybe hurt our chances a bit, as it's very difficult to pass here. There was little overtaking, even the guys at the front struggled. But the team did a brilliant pit stop which helped us make up a place. We leave New Zealand with our first ever points in A1GP, and hopefully this is only the start. Narain has set another record, not only is he the first Indian to win an international race, a British F3 race, and drive an F1 car, he is now the first Indian to score points in A1GP. We are very lucky to have such an experienced driver with the team, and we hope to welcome him back soon."
Team USA - 11th & 10th
On a hot, sunny day by beautiful Lake Taupo in New Zealand, Ryan Hunter-Reay strove hard for every one of the day's 65 laps, taking the We The People car from its 16th place starting position in the Sprint, to a points-paying 10th place by the end of the feature.
In Sunday morning's 15-lap sprint, Hunter-Reay began with a spectacular move to the outside, then fought nose-to-tail in a tightly packed group of five cars from the green light to the checkered flag, eventually finishing the sprint race in eleventh position.
There was no let-up in the Feature Race. Hunter-Reay battled first with Mexico and China, then fought off strong challenges from Ireland and Malaysia. Problems with oversteer in the middle of the race, then fading brakes towards the finish could not keep A1 Team USA out of the points today, with 10th place as the eventual reward.
"The entire team did a great job today, as we bounced back from our qualifying session yesterday," said Hunter-Reay following the Feature. "We picked up five spots in the Sprint Race, and I was able to get us into the points in the feature. I feel like I really came to terms with the A1 Team USA car in the second half of the race. That was the first standing start of my career, and I look forward to making several more in the We The People car."
"I am really proud of Ryan and pleased with the job our team did today, moving up five positions in the Sprint and one in the Feature," said A1 TEAM USA owner Rick Weidinger. "Ryan showed real tenacity, pushing the car the whole race. For a driver to score a championship point on his first outing in such a competitive series is remarkable. The Team is now focused on Australia as we head for the land of Oz."
Team South Africa - 7th & 16th
South Africa, with 26-year-old Alan van der Merwe competing in only his second A1GP, finished a good seventh in the 20-minute feature race this morning after starting from 11th place on the grid. Van der Merwe was unlucky to incur a drive-through penalty in the 70-minute Feature race this afternoon as a result of jumping the start (despite not benefiting from this in any way because he slowed to allow the cars he passed to repass him) and, together with a slow pit stop for the mandatory tyre change, found himself too far back in the 22-car field to make any kind of impression.
While Germany (Hulkenberg), France (Loic Duval) and New Zealand (Jonny Reid) took the top three places in each of the two races after qualifying in the same order, South Africa was out of the points with its seventh place in the Sprint race and a disappointing 16th out of 22 in the Feature race, a lap down on the leaders.
Alan van der Merwe: "The objective in the Sprint race was to make up as many places as we could so as to have a better chance in the Feature race, so it was a bonus to move up four places on the grid. We were a little short of pace, but with the mandatory pit stop and the likelihood of incidents and technical problems, we were hoping for at least a top 10 finish and some badly needed points in the main event.
"I felt we were heavily penalised for rolling at the start. I immediately backed off after rolling forward and as a result about three cars went past me. I thought I had done enough to avoid getting penalised. but it wasn't to be. Basically our race was over there and then. We thought it was going to be a race of attrition, but it wasn't, so there was no opportunity to return from the back of the field.
"It was frustrating to think that, without the drive-through, we might have been in the five-car group that stayed together through most of the race contesting second to sixth places."
Mike Carroll: "Alan did a great job moving up four places in the Sprint race - it is usually not easy to make up places in the short race. He put the team in a good position to progress even further in the Feature race, which generally features a lot of action and opportunities to make up places."
"The drive-through penalty and a problem with the right rear wheel during the pit stop saw us go right to the back of the field. When that happens you need an incident-packed race with safety car periods if you are going to have any chance of a result, but this race had no safety car periods so any opportunity for recovery vanished."
Team Brazil - 16th & 14th
It was a disappointing day for A1 Team Brasil in Taupo, as the promising speed shown in the sprint and feature races was not able to be translated into results, and the team suffered another non-points scoring weekend. The misfortune began in the sprint when driver Raphael Matos was pushed into a spin two laps before the end, denying him of a certain top ten finish, and ended in the feature, when Raphael made a mistake trying to overtake and had to have a lengthy pitstop for repair work. To leave New Zealand with no points is frustrating for the team after two strong race performances and visible improvements since the last outing in Indonesia.
Raphael began the 15-lap sprint race from 12th place on the grid and, after the rolling start, had moved up to 10th position. He fell to 11th after Italy?s Enrico Toccacelo passed him on lap two and then racing was paused for four laps while the safety car was deployed. On lap ten Raphael retook position from Italy, and found himself in ninth spot after Team Ireland was forced to retire due to a mechanical problem. Raphael was pushing Great Britain?s Robbie Kerr hard for
eighth, and when he made his move, the two made slight contact, pushing Raphael into a spin. He managed to continue, but had fallen to 17th. He quickly passed Tomas Enge in the Czech Republic car, but time ran out to improve any further.
Starting from 16th in the 50-lap feature race, Raphael made steady progress, moving up to 12th by the fifth lap. However, on lap six he went to overtake the Team USA car, but locked the wheels which sent him over the grass and over a kerb. He lost the front wing of the car and was therefore forced to make a long pitstop for repairs, emerging after the round of pitstops in 20th. For the rest of the race Raphael set lap times comparable to the front-runners, and was able to climb to 14th, but there wasn?t enough time to fight for points.
Raphael Matos: ?This isn?t the ending that I wanted for the weekend, but we have definitely made a big improvement with the car. It feels much better, but it?s hard coming from behind. We showed we had the pace to run easily in the top ten, and really in the top six.?
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: ?It is such a shame that we couldn?t get a good result this weekend. The sprint race was unfortunate because we improved the car a lot and were looking strong, and the spin was not Raphael?s fault. In the feature race, all I can think to say is that mistakes happen. When he was trying to overtake he went too wide, locked the wheels and missed the braking. We have made a big improvement with the car performance from the last race and
looking at our pace, we should have been running fifth or sixth.
Team Great Britain - 8th & 21st
A1 Team Great Britain's title hopes suffered a blow at New Zealand's Taupo Motorsports Park on Sunday as an eighth place Sprint race finish and retirement in the Feature race for Robbie Kerr led to the team's first no-score of the season in Round 6 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
As a result the British entry drops from second in the points chase to fourth overall with current A1GP Nations Standings leaders, A1 Team Germany, dominating proceedings today with a maximum points haul for Niko Hülkenberg, the teenage rookie having won both the Sprint and Feature races while picking up the extra bonus point for fastest race lap.
Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race round the 2.17-mile Taupo circuit brought with it some early drama for the British team. With the first start aborted courtesy of the French entry failing to take its correct grid slot, the second rolling start saw the 22-car field of nations sprint to the tight left-hand first turn. From his sixth place grid position Kerr made a solid start only to see an optimistic Turn 1move by Malaysia's Alex Yoong result in a broken front wing on the British car.
Despite the damage Kerr wasn't willing to pit and lose out on a potential points paying top-six finish. The former British F3 Champion showcased his exceptional car control as he kept the stricken car in the thick of the action but he couldn't prevent the inevitable when he was eventually passed and forced to settle for an eighth place finish outside of the points.
The afternoon's 50-lap Feature race was a more productive affair for Kerr and the team looked good for a top-six placing until mechanical issues, thought to be battery related, put paid to Robbie's efforts with 10 laps to go. An incident-free start to the race saw Kerr boxed in initially, losing a spot to South Africa, but he recovered the position three laps later with what was then the fastest lap of the race.
A slick pit-stop on lap nine kept Kerr in the five-car pack attempting to hunt down race leader Hülkenberg. Locked onto the rear of the Dutch entry in fifth, Kerr and Bleekemolen battled for position for the majority of the race with the British racer's best opportunity coming on lap 32 having run side-by-side with his nemesis through Turn 11. Kerr was kept in check and with 10 laps remaining his race ended prematurely when he lost all control systems and was forced to park on the grass opposite the start-finish straight. The Feature podium mirrored that of the Sprint race with Germany's Hülkenberg in first followed by France's Loic Duval and New Zealand's Jonny Reid.
"Well this definitely wasn't the weekend I was hoping for," stated a dejected Kerr. "We showed we had podium speed in the Feature race but my only hope of getting by the Dutch car was if it made a mistake. As for the Sprint race I don't know what Alex was thinking at the start! I'm looking forward to going to Australia now as I know the track and hope to make amends for this weekend's no-score."
"Well you don't get points if you don't finish," reflected A1 Team GBR Team Principal John Surtees. "It's disappointing to post the retirement as it looked like we'd found a decent set-up without compromising the tyres. Hopefully we'll get our title chase back on-track next time out!"
Team Mexico - 12th & 20th
A1 Team Mexico driver Salvador Duran had brake problems in his car this weekend at the 3.5-Km. (2.17-mile) circuit of Taupo. He finished the Sprint race in 12th position and in the Feature race he was ranked in 20th place, after being forced to retire.
"In the Feature race we had brake problems. Unfortunately this situation prevented us from braking late to set good times. Until the Feature race we have realized that we had this problem because the race was longer than the first one and the tyres did not last, it was impossible to brake. At each braking the car locked the tires. In addition, the steering was vibrating with all of this; the car was bumping and because of that I was more concentrated on saving my tyres to try to finish the race," the Mexican said.
When there we 13 laps to go, the left front tyre was punctured and Duran pitted for a replacement. Afterwards, the new tyre worn out and with this situation, the team decided to retire after completing 42 laps of the 50-lap race.
Team Pakistan - 18th & 18th
A1 Team Pakistan took part in New Zealand's first A1GP race today, at the brand new Taupo Motorsport Park. Ali qualified 22nd for the morning's Sprint race, but made up four places to finish 18th . In the 70-minute Feature race, the team consolidated their position to finish 18th.
While the weather had been kind to the A1GP drivers for the first two days of running in New Zealand, conditions changed for the main event today, with gusty winds blowing debris and dust onto the circuit, the track surface became slippery with several cars having excursions off track.
With the customary rolling start, A1 Team Pakistan made good progress, making up four places to reach 18th . However, race control deemed it to be a false start, forcing the A1GP drivers to reform original positions and re-start the race.
On the second rolling start, Ali made it up to 20th place and while other cars were involved in various incidents, the A1 Team Pakistan car stayed on track to cross the line in 18th.
Taking the finishing position from the Sprint race as the starting position for the Feature race, Ali lined up on the ninth row of the grid for A1GP's second race of the day, after an amazing opening ceremony which saw a traditional New Zealand welcome from a local Maori tribe. The tight track proved difficult for overtaking and although some of the front runners jostled for position, there was limited opportunity for the field to make up ground.
Speaking about the Sprint and Feature races, Ali said, "The Sprint race started off well. We passed about four cars in the first few corners and then I heard over the radio that the start had been aborted, so we went round to take the start again. Unfortunately, the second time it didn't go quite so well, but we kept it clean and finished the race in 18th.
"In the Feature race I was looking forward to improving my times and moving up a couple of places but unfortunately on the first lap Ireland spun in front of me and I had to take evasive action which cost me a lot of time. That separated me from the rest of the field and from there it was difficult to maintain a good pace. Because the track is so short, a lot of traffic was coming up behind me and I had to keep moving over as any driver should do in that situation. That hurt our lap times quite a bit and of course as soon as you move off-line here, you pick up a lot of debris on the tyres. Right now I'm looking forward to the next race in Australia."
Team Ireland - 20th & 18th
A double retirement for A1 Team Ireland could not detract from the huge step forward in performance this weekend at the stunning Taupo circuit, engineering boss Gary Anderson working hard to find improved performance from the Irish A1GP car. After setting the 3rd fastest time in free practice Richard Lyons had qualified in a season best 9th for the Sprint Race. After a strong start, Lyons was challenging for 7th place when he suffered a driveshaft failure after just 6 laps.
With retirement in the Sprint Race forcing him to start from the back of the grid fin the Feature Race the 27 year old former Formula Nippon Champion got to work straight away, Lyons showing a perfect blend of pace and aggression to make up several places. A well executed pit stop gained another 3 positions and by the latter phase of the race a top ten finish was looking possible.
Unfortunately, whilst running in 11th position, the engine suffered a cut out which hampered Richard's pace, and with just 5 laps remaining a rear suspension failure lead to the car spinning into retirement. Despite this setback A1 Team Ireland will now travel to Australia in two weeks with renewed optimism.
Richard Lyons: "The team worked well this weekend and there is no question we are a lot quicker than before and in both races I was able to make good progress. Our pit stop in the Feature Race was very good, and to be honest the team could not have done more – we had two frustrating failures, but that’s motor racing. The main thing it to go to Sydney in 10 days time knowing we can be much closer to the front."
Mark Kershaw, Team Owner: "We made a good step forward this weekend and ultimately speed has to be our priority. There is still work to be done and of course the team is going to discuss with A1GP the failures we suffered in the race because we need to be sure components are not going to fail. Overall it’s satisfying to see Team Ireland looking competitive. Gary, Richard, John O’Hara and the rest of the team worked very hard and deserve to see the rewards soon."
Team Lebanon - 21st & 17th
A1 Team Lebanon completed its first race weekend in New Zealand today, with the team's regular rookie driver being given his first opportunity to race the Lebanon car.
The Sprint race, Khateeb's first experience of the rough and tumble of the A1GP series, proved to be a tough test for the young driver. Khateeb was racing hard, battling with the strong, gusty winds, but in the thick of a pack of cars, the Lebanon driver was squeezed by a rival, so that he was forced to brake hard, causing a lock up which launched him over the rear of the Singaporean car ahead. Khateeb limped to the pits for a new nosecone and with the speedy pit work of the Lebanon crew, he was able to return to the track.
Rejoining in mid-pack a lap adrift, The A1 Team Lebanon driver was swamped with hard charging cars and needed to allow these cars through. It was difficult for the youngster to move over for them as the track off the racing line was very dusty, making it extremely slippery. These tricky conditions caught him out, with a slide into the barriers resulting in suspension damage and retirement for the Lebanese team. With less than three hours interval before the start of the feature race, the Lebanon crew quickly got to work to repair the damaged car and their expertise ensured that the car was out on the grid for the start of the 70 minutes Feature race.
In the Feature race Khateeb resolved to use the experience of the Sprint race and the young driver coped well with the pressures of the 70 minutes of hard racing, improving his lap times as the race progressed. The team stopped for the mandatory tyre change on lap nine, and with the slick pit work of the A1 Team Lebanon crew, he was able to quickly rejoin the track. After completing the remaining 41 laps Khateeb had improved to finish in 17th place.
Khateeb said of his first full weekend of A1GP racing, "I was unlucky to be squeezed off track in the Sprint race, particularly at this circuit where there's little margin of error, but I made a costly mistake trying to pass China. I want to give a big thanks to my crew for managing to get my car back out for the Feature race. They worked so hard and under such tight time pressures; they're the best."
Tony Snook Team Principal, A1 Team Lebanon, reflected on the day saying, "Alex has been on a steep learning curve today. We knew that his inexperience gave him a huge challenge today, particularly with the level of expertise and racing talent that there is in the field of A1GP this weekend, but after a shaky start, he settled down. For his first race weekend, we are satisfied with the progress he's made. I must also commend our crew for their excellent work, without which we wouldn't have made the grid for the Feature race."
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