13/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Team Brazil
The penultimate round of the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Nations got underway today at the Shanghai International Circuit with two free practice sessions, however, technical problems in both sessions limited running for A1 Team Brasil, leaving the squad with a lot to do in tomorrow's final one-hour practice session, prior to qualifying.
This morning's rookie practice sessions saw female driver Bia Figueiredo get her first taste of the A1GP car, the most powerful car she has driven to date. A problem with the fire extinguisher caused her to miss most of the first 25-minute segment, only getting on track for the final 25 minutes, during which time she had to learn the track and get to grips with her new machinery. However, once on track she performed well, completing 13 laps, and setting a time just three tenths of a second off the race-winning New Zealand car.
Vitor Meira stepped into the cockpit for this afternoon's one-hour practice session, once again a newcomer to the Team Brasil car. However, after just three laps, he was forced into the pits for lengthy repair work after suffering a water leak. He got back out on track with just ten minutes left in the session, completed 8 further laps, and set a time of 1:37.378, which was 1.8 seconds off pace-setters and last round winners, Team Great Britain.
Emerson Fittipaldi: "Both drivers have been very professional today. Bia did a very good job this morning. She didn't run the first session so she had to learn the track and the car in just 25 minutes. It's the most powerful cars she has driven, Shanghai is a very long track and she was just three seconds off the pace of the fastest guy, and only three tenths off New Zealand, which is a very quick car. What happened to Vitor this afternoon was a shame. We had a water leak and so he could only do ten laps. He needs miles and so I hope that tomorrow we can run for the full hour. It was Vitor's first time in the car and driving this circuit, and he did a good job on the few laps that he was able to do."
Vitor Meira: "I was really convinced we wouldn't get to go out on track again after we had the problem, so actually it ended up being better than at one point we thought it would be. It was good to have the ten laps at the end but we could have done more. I had three laps at the start, so one good thing was that while the car was being fixed I thought about what I wanted to do, so that's why I was two seconds faster straight away when I did go out again. The car is very interesting - there is a lot of power and it takes a bit of getting used to, but it's a lot of fun. The circuit and facility here is amazing. It's different coming from American circuits, the European-style circuits are different, they have long flowing corners, whereas in America it's a little more stop and go. It means I have to adapt a little bit but everything will be fine.
Bia Figueiredo: "Unfortunately we couldn't run in the first part and I had just the second part, but it was great. I didn't make any mistakes, and kept improving my time and confidence with the car, which is what they wanted from me. The car has so much power, it's fast! I came into the box smiling because it was a really great experience driving this car. The circuit is very good, the first corner is very fast. Unfortunately I had just ten laps but everything went well so I hope I can drive the car again."
Team Canada
A1 Team Canada enjoyed a solid Friday at the Shanghai International Circuit, China as practice took place ahead of Sunday's tenth, and penultimate, round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Kevin Lacroix was first out on track for Canada, the Québec teenager participating in the morning's ‘Rookie-Only' Session on the F1 circuit before handing over to McIntosh for the rest of the weekend. The 2006 Star Mazda Championship runner-up continued to impress in his development and understanding of the 550bhp A1GP car having joined the team back in Round 8 in South Africa.
Clearly relishing his Chinese outing, Lacroix was in the mix throughout the first of two twenty-five minute sessions, the Saint-Eustache racer sitting in the top-four with competitive lap times. Having to run on older tires for the second session Lacroix still proved fast, ending his third A1GP outing in the top-ten for the first time, Canada finishing the morning ninth fastest from the 22 competing nations.
Sean McIntosh returned to action in the afternoon, the 21-year-old driving in A1GP for the first time since December's fifth round in Indonesia. The Coquitlam, B.C. native spent the hour long session familiarizing himself with the track layout and dialing himself back into the car, the former A1GP race winner having missed out on last season's meeting in Shanghai due to his commitments in the World Series by Renault. Making steady progress throughout the session, Sean's 24 laps saw him record a best time of 1m36.675s to end the day 14th overall.
"It's good to be back in the Canadian car," stated McIntosh. "We improved with every run, consistently working on our lap times. The times are pretty close here so I think tomorrow will be left open to those making the most of their new tires. The track here is excellent – definitely one of the best I've ever driven on and I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
Lacroix was equally impressed by the Shanghai layout commenting, "The track is a very nice, modern F1 circuit and definitely now one of my favorites. I damaged my tires a little in the first session having been in the top four early on. The second session would have been better on new tires but I'm happy and continuing to gain experience with the car."
Team Germany
A1 Team Germany, A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport championship leader, made a perfect start to the tenth and penultimate round of the 2006/2007 season in Shanghai: Christian Vietoris from Gönnersdorf in the Eifel recorded the fastest time in the "Rookie Session".
Driving the 520 hp A1 GP car in the opening test session, the 18-year old "star of tomorrow" posted the fastest time of 1m37.264s around the Chinese Grand Prix circuit, giving him a 0.101s advantage over Formula 1 test driver Narain Karthikeyan from India. Vietoris beat the Frenchman Jean-Karl Vernay by 0.459s with his best lap of 1m36.236s in the second session for A1 GP Series newcomers.
"That was a good start," explained Vietoris after completing 19 laps. "The circuit was new to me, but I really liked it. The facility is absolutely state-of-the-art, the track is very wide and it was so much fun that Shanghai immediately became one of my favourite circuits. We worked mainly with the wing setting, since the aerodynamic configuration is decisive on the long straights. The car was good straight out of the box, even better than last time in Mexico. It would be fantastic if I could also race here, but A1 GP is a sport for nations and the driver in each session is determined beforehand. I hope that I was able to help the team with my work."
In the subsequent practice session Nico Hülkenberg took over driving duties. The 19-year old Rheinlander from Emmerich, who is nominated to drive qualifying and also the two races, initially topped the timing screens. However, when he cut the kerb at a chicane the rear-left upper wishbone broke. His time of 1m36.001s left him in sixth position 0.428s behind the fastest nation. "I had to re-familiarise myself with the A1 GP car after completing eight days of Formula 3 testing," reported Hülkenberg. "Things were running well before the wishbone broke. Maybe I was a little too aggressive at this point, but normally kerbs are no problem for the robust suspension. There wasn't much time after the repair. Even though we only used one set of tyres every car improved its lap time. Normally they get slower. So I assume that the grip level of the dirty, unused track was low to start but improved from lap to lap. I'm interested to see how Saturday's qualifying goes."
Team Great Britain
Robbie Kerr kept Great Britain firmly at the head of the 22 competing nations as he set the fastest practice time on Friday at the Shanghai International Circuit, China ahead of the penultimate round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday, 15th April.
The day started well for the British outfit as it's latest rookie recruit, Cumbria's Oliver Turvey, made his A1GP debut with a productive showing in the morning's ‘Rookie-Only' session. Turvey, winner of the 2006 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year, wasted little time easing himself into the session, the 19-year-old going on to impress posting the third fastest time with a 1m37.102s lap.
Kerr assumed control of the British entry for the remainder of the weekend and signaled his intentions from the off, the 2002 British F3 Champion immediately setting the pace in China. He ended the day with a best lap time of 1m35.573s to lead New Zealand and France at the top of the time sheets.
Robbie Kerr: "Oliver did an excellent job in the car in the rookie session and came back with some really useful data and knowledge of the circuit for me to learn from. I went out there and the car was competitive immediately, setting the second quickest time straight away. We made a few improvements and some changes to end the day fastest overall."
Oliver Turvey: "I'm pleased with third overall in the rookie session, my first time driving for A1 Team Great Britain. I think the track here is amazing and the facilities are great! It's an exciting circuit to drive, with not only high speed turns but some technical low speed corners as well. We made a few set-up changes to improve the car and Robbie subsequently did a great job to end the day P1. Hopefully we'll get another win for Great Britain out of the weekend."
John Surtees – A1 Team Great Britain Team Principal: "Overall it's been a very satisfying day. My main concern had been Oliver Turvey due to his limited experience with the car and no experience other than in Formula BMW. He came together very well, was very sensible, gave good feedback and did everything that was expected of him which was very pleasing indeed. It gave a great foundation for Robbie, who hadn't driven here either and he put Oliver's feedback to good use and put in the fastest practice time."
Team India
Narain Karthikeyan was back on track today, at the Shanghai International Circuit, the venue of his last F1 race. A1 Team India's preparations for Sunday's races began well, the F1 test driver posting the second quickest time in first practice. The team remained at the top of the timesheets for the rest of the day and after experimenting with set up, finished fourth in Friday's final practice session.
While Karthikeyan is racing on a familiar track in A1GP for the first time this weekend, the track has been altered since the cars last raced at Shanghai a year ago. The cars will now run on a shortened 2.9 mile circuit, which includes a new chicane at turn three, rejoining the original track at turn 8 – now turn 6.
The A1 Team India car completed 40 laps around the revised circuit today, with series front runners Great Britain, New Zealand and France the only teams able to set a quicker time than India's Karthikeyan.
Commenting on the revised layout and new chicane, Karthikeyan commented, "The new chicane after turn three is a new addition and it's certainly not my favourite part of the track. Overall however, the circuit is very good, very smooth and wide, which means there is plenty of space to overtake."
"I will be going through data and talking to my engineer this afternoon to decide what changes we want to make ahead of qualifying tomorrow. I'm much happier with the balance of the car this weekend, I feel very confident on track but I still think there is more time to be found."
A1 Team India seatholder Yohann Setna was also pleased with the team's progress in practice, "I think we've made a couple of positive changes to the car today and Narain is quite comfortable on track. It's not a particularly difficult circuit, the surface is very smooth and very wide. I think we need to find a little bit more in terms of top speed. We're quite happy to finish the day in the top four; we'll try a few things in final practice tomorrow and hopefully qualify in the top three. I think it's looking good. "
The team will analyse data this afternoon before a final practice session tomorrow morning at 11.00 local time.
Team Ireland
Ireland's John O'Hara and Richard Lyons completed the first day of practice for Sunday's A1GP event in Shanghai, China, with both drivers making a series of set-up changes as the team tries to improve its competitiveness at this, the penultimate round of the World Cup of Motorsport.
With morning fog delaying the Rookie Session, O'Hara took to the track and worked through changes which ultimately saw him set the 18th fastest time with a 1:39.489. Lyons achieved the same position in his first practice session, although with track conditions improving in the afternoon lap times fell and the Hillsborough driver's best time of 1:37.370 was set on his last lap.
The only incidents of the day occurred during the Rookie Session when John O'Hara suffered a trip across a gravel trap, causing no damage, and also had two half-spins as he tried to come to terms with the tricky middle sector. Lyons, O'Hara and race engineer John Booth will now evaluate today's running before deciding on a set-up for the car ahead of final practice tomorrow morning.
John O'Hara: "I was a bit frustrated not to set a better time today, but the session went very quickly as usual and I had a couple of moments which lost me some momentum. The track was extremely dusty and dirty this morning so grip levels were very poor."
Richard Lyons: "We've got quite a bit of work to do. Although we made a number of changes and I could feel their effect on the car, the lap times weren't really changing. Oversteer is my biggest problem, both into and out of corners, so there's a lack of grip that's holding us back."
Team Lebanon
The A1GP Series nears the conclusion of its second season, with the penultimate round taking place in Shanghai this weekend. The opening day of racing comprised two rookie practice sessions and a further hour of practice in the afternoon. Allam Khodair, driving for A1 Team Lebanon this weekend, enjoyed strong running in the rookie sessions, but was unlucky in the afternoon with a small spin sidelining the team for the duration of the hour.
In the first 25-minute rookie session Khodair was given his first experience of the challenging Shanghai track, an impressive Formula One facility. The Lebanon driver quickly learned the circuit and its characteristics, while also undertaking some routine tasks in preparation for the weekend's running. He finished ninth fastest in the first of the two sessions. Working with the engineer and crew, Khodair continued working on developing the car in the second session, ending this 14th fastest.
In the afternoon an unfortunate spin early in the practice session ended with Khodair beaching the car on the side of the track and, unable to recover from it, he was forced to sit out the remainder of the time.
Khodair said after the session, "It hasn't been the best start to the weekend for us, with my mistake losing us a lot of track time. We did manage to run quite well in the rookie sessions and I thought we would be able to hold our ground this afternoon, but with the spin, we didn't have that opportunity. We will have another practice session in the morning and hope to make up some ground, but it is a set back for our race preparations. We'll do our best tomorrow."
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon, adds, "Allam made a strong start for this weekend, with a top ten pace in the first session, but it was a pity that we weren't able to build on this in the afternoon session. We are disappointed that the authorities would not get the car back on track to give us some more time on it. As one of the least experienced teams we need all the track time available, so losing so much will hurt us quite badly. However, I know everyone in Team Lebanon will be making sure that we put this behind us for tomorrow's sessions and that we'll be doing our best to improve our performance."
Team Malaysia
A foggy morning greeted the field of A1GP drivers for the opening session of this weekend's A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Shanghai, China. With the mist cleared sufficiently for the safety helicopter to be on standby, the cars took to the track for the first laps of the impressive facility. Alex Yoong is driving for the team in the Sprint and Feature races with rookie driver, Aaron Lim, playing an important role in the race preparations. Yoong recorded ninth fastest time in first practice, with Lim 11th overall in the rookie sessions.
Lim started the weekend driving in the rookie sessions this morning and acquitted himself well, continuing to impress the team with his focus, aptitude and driving skills. He completed an incident-shortened first session with the 17th fastest time and was 11th fastest in the second session.
He said of his morning, "It was interesting to drive this track with a different configuration for this year's event. I am still getting used to the car, but very much enjoyed my time out there today. We had a new engine so some of my time was spent running it in, along with the usual tasks that I perform on a Friday morning. Everything I am doing here gives me good experience and it's just great to be part of A1 Team Malaysia."
In the afternoon Yoong took over the car and started his preparations for qualifying and Sunday's races. He was quickly high up on the timing screen and remained comfortably within the top ten times throughout the hour of running.
Yoong said of his session this afternoon, "We've started well in Shanghai, so I'm quite pleased. Aaron did a really good job in the rookie session and we were on the pace this afternoon, although we didn't finish up as far up the timesheets as we thought we could and we're still trying to sort some balance issues with the car. Sitting in the top ten is where we are when we're on the pace on the first day, so it's looking good for us."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive A1 Team Malaysia, added, "Both Aaron and Alex have driven well today. It's been very calm and productive, setting us up well for the rest of the weekend. From our top ten pace today, we'll be looking to improve further going into tomorrow's qualifying and hopefully we can see another strong performance from the team."
Team Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands is looking back on the first day of the A1GP at Shanghai in a positive way. During the Rookie session and the first official free practice session of today the team looks to have taken the right direction for the rest of the weekend.
In this morning's Rookie session Renger van der Zande managed to set a seventh fastest time in the first segment and improve further in segment two, finishing in fifth in the end with a fastest lap time of 1'37.436
At two o' clock in the afternoon and under sunny conditions, the first of two official free practice sessions started. Van der Zande was able to set his fastest time of 1'36.232 at the start of the session, but unfortunately encountered some traffic on his laps with new tyres. A1 Team Netherlands managed to stay inside the top five for some time, but finished the session in ninth.
Renger van der Zande; "I had quite a bit of traffic with my new tyres, this also hindered me from setting a really fast lap. That was too bad. Otherwise we could have been quite a bit faster I think. After that we were in quite a good position, top four. But the guys in front were running very fast on their used tyres. We did manage to find our problem in the Rookie session, we were suffering from understeer in the car. At the start of this afternoon's session we also had some understeer, but with every step we made with the set up the understeer got less. We are heading towards the right balance. Also we did not want to drive too many laps, because then we will have newer tyres for tomorrow. I think we are heading in the right direction, but there still is enough room for improvement.
Team New Zealand
New Zealand driver Jonny Reid is on the pace after the first day of practice for the penultimate round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Shanghai.
Reid settled quickly into his debut drive on the 4.602km circuit, piloting Black Beauty to the second fastest lap time in the first official practice.
Great Britain, on a high after a maiden victory in the last round in Mexico, topped the timesheets. Robbie Kerr set the quickest lap time of 1m 35.573, just three hundredths of a second ahead of Reid. France was third, ahead of India, the USA and title-chasing Germany.
Earlier in the day Daniel Gaunt laid the platform for car set-up by completing 22 laps across two 25-minute sessions. The two-time Toyota Racing Series champion set the 15 th fastest lap time in his first session and the 16th fastest time second time out.
A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray said Reid's position among the pacesetters was helped by Gaunt's debut effort. "Daniel did a great job," McMurray said, "especially considering it was his first time on an F1 circuit and his debut drive in such a powerful car.
"Daniel needed to work towards team goals and keeping the car on the road and running in a new engine appropriately were the priorities.
"We're where we need to be at this stage of the weekend and will be working hard to ace tomorrow's qualifying."
Team Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan began their race preparations for the A1GP Shanghai, China today, with Nur Ali behind the wheel at the impressive F1 facility. The Pakistan car completed a total of 33 laps around the revised 2.9 mile circuit and the team made a good level of progress throughout the day.
The Shanghai event is the second Chinese round of the season, following the Beijing street race last October. Ali and the team have made significant progress since then, and have scored a point for Pakistan in the process. It has been a steep learning curve for Ali, who has less experience in international single seater racing than the majority of A1GP drivers.
The Karachi born driver commented, "It feels good to be back in China. Beijing was a tough event for everybody, not just myself and the team but the whole series. Now looking back from round 10 of the season, I've learnt a lot, the team have learnt a lot about the characteristics of the car and we have developed a good working relationship. As we keep moving forward, we keep improving. It's great that we are able to give China another taste of A1GP and give the locals the race they deserve. And what a venue to race at, the Shanghai International Circuit is one of the best racing facilities in the world, so it is a pleasure and an honour to drive here for my country."
A1 Team Pakistan made a good level of progress over the two practice sessions today, despite encountering a mechanical issue in the morning. Ali improved consistently throughout the day, to take nearly six seconds off his best time in first practice.
Speaking about his first day at the circuit, Ali said, "It's a great track with beautiful facilities. When we went out this morning for first practice, we had a few issues under braking. Whenever I applied the brakes, the steering would go off balance and there were severe vibrations up the steering column. I came in and the boys tried a few things to rectify the situation, but I lost some decent track time. My aim now is to analyse the circuit further and see where I can make up some time."
Team Manager Bobby Issazadhe added "This is a fantastic venue. We had a difficult start in the rookie session, there was a problem with the brake discs as they were not flat and were causing some imbalance on the car. It took us a while to identify the problem, at first we thought it was the tyre pressures, so we lost a bit of time there. We then put new disks on to resolve the problem, but unfortunately this coincided with putting new tyres on the car. Consequently Nur had to take it easy and bed in the brakes, meaning he was unable to get the most out of the new rubber."
Team USA
With a dirty track causing issues for all, A1 Team USA spent the better part of Friday's practice sessions trying to find their groove at the Shanghai International Circuit. The morning's rookie session got underway as dust sprayed 30 feet into the air and driver Jonathan Summerton, fresh off his second place finish in Mexico City was eager to help the team work through the day's adjustments.
"The track is pretty dusty right now. It feels like the circuit is changing every lap," said Summerton following Rookies 1. "In Turn 2, it's really hard to judge the braking. You can't go in too fast because it tightens. It's tough to brake in just the right spot."
Technical problems were encountered in Rookies 2 and made it difficult to slow the car down at the end of the fast straight-aways. For a time, A1 Team USA was up to P3, but as they worked to fix the problem, other cars were able to outpace them and Team USA finished the session in sixth place.
For the official practice session, A1 Team USA replaced both electronic and mechanical parts to try to help with issues and also began the session with new tires. Additionally, the team made adjustments to help the handling as the track began to clean up. A five-lap run put Summerton in 2nd place with a 1:36.1. The circuit proved to be very tough on tires, but as the track became cleaner and quicker it helped to compensate. Some cars were able to improve their times. Relegated to P5, Summerton attempted to respond, going fastest in sector 1. He was unable to improve in sector 2 or 3, however. Summerton ended the session in P5 with a 1:35.976-only .4 seconds off of P1.
"At the beginning, the car was good, but the tires didn't last that long," said Summerton. "I was sliding around by the end. I'm okay with 5th place; it's only testing. The car is still not perfect. I think I can find time from myself and from the car, so I have a good feeling about tomorrow."
"The team worked hard today, making all the right adjustments to put Jonathan in a good position heading into qualifying tomorrow," said A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger. "Coming off our podium finish in Mexico City, I am confident we are going to be able to use this positive momentum shift to our advantage for a successful weekend in Shanghai."
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