24/01/2009
NEWS STORY
Australia
Practice 3 was a routine session to set the car up for the Qualifying later today. John Martin enjoyed better track time frustrated at times with dust across many of the corners of this Taupo Motorsport Park.
There was an early issue with the stewards as Martin crossed the white line on entry to pit lane that was later dismissed. Pit Stop practice continued for the Sunday races with simulated starting procedures that occupied a third of the session. The session ended for Martin in eighth position with a time of 1:16.314 a gap of 1.202 to A1 Team Italy.
It is very important in qualifying here at Taupo to give yourself a good gap between you and the car[s]in front to save losing time on your flying lap. The team planned it well to release John to give him the space and clean air to set a time of 1:16.388 in Q1 to improve to 1:15.504 in Q2 of the Sprint Qualifying, taking 7th place on tomorrow's starting grid.
The plans were the same for the Feature qualifying to allow Martin time to get a perfect lap in with the track grip improving on a new set of tyres. As soon as the team released him he set a time of 1:15.306, an improvement of two tenths from the previous session. Sitting in second place after Q1 of the Feature qualifying, John was happy with the car to go out later in Q2. That was a good call until A1 Team Italy jumped in front of him at the end of pit lane. Rob Arnott called over the radio to 'hold back to give him some room' on his installation lap before the flying lap. At turn 12 the Italian driver lost control for a moment allowing Martin to pass him on Martin's flying lap also trying to avoid a collision. This incident cost him a few tenths and to move A1 Team Australia into 4th place on the grid for the Feature race.
John Martin: "The car was good and we have a few changes to make for the racing tomorrow. I made a slight mistake in Q1 during the Sprint qualifying that cost me some places on the grid for sure. We knew I had to improve the times to gain some places on the grid in Q2 as the car was great today. We made it to 7th position on the grid for the sprint race tomorrow. Our Feature qualifying was a little different with more grip down on the track and my times improved. Only for the issue at turn 12 with Italy I could have held 2nd or 3rd, but 4th is the best so far so let's try and improve on that for both races tomorrow"
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "John did very well, exactly what we asked. His feedback into the team from the garage and on the track was the best he has delivered so far since he joined us a year ago as the full time driver for A1 Team Australia. You can see improvements in his driving ability, his attitude to the track conditions and the way he handles this new car. Very impressive driving, good grid positions for tomorrow, we may even land a podium if all goes well for us throughout the day"
Rob Arnott Chief Engineer: "John did well. He listened and gave us excellent feedback to make the right changes at the right time. A few issues on track we sorted out between the qualifying sessions to help us get the best setup for tomorrow's racing. The whole team have done a great job and we look forward to some more improvements on our current grid positions at the end of both races"
Brazil
A1 Team Brazil's Felipe Guimarăes today qualified for this weekend's A1GP Taupo event at the Taupo Motorsports Park in New Zealand. He will begin tomorrow's Sprint race from the seventh row of the grid and the Feature race from the sixth row.
The day kicked off with a final practice session, which the team used to continue preparations and set-up work ahead of the afternoon qualifying. At the fifteen minute mark Felipe briefly topped the table, but as the session progressed he slipped down the standings. With twenty minutes to go he was back up to sixth but a late flurry of fast laps, and four teams bolting on a fresh set of rubber put Felipe down to 12th position with a time of 1:16.695 after completing 29 laps on the 3.32km track.
In the Sprint race qualifying, he set a lap of 1:16.346 in the first segment and was sitting in provisional eighth spot. He improved his time in the second segment by three tenths to record a time of 1:16.074, but as other drivers improved further, he was relegated to 13th spot by the end of the session, setting himself up on the seventh row of the grid for the 25-minute Sprint race tomorrow morning.
Heading out late into first segment of qualifying for the Feature race, Felipe set a time of 1:16.305 to take provisional 12th. Although improving his time by more than half a second in the fourth and final segment, his lap of 1:15.812 was not enough to move up the table and he remained in 12th spot, so will line up on the sixth row for the Feature.
Felipe Guimarăes: "This morning was a little better than yesterday and we made improvements with the brakes and other things. Unfortunately qualifying was not what I was hoping it to be. I thought we would be in the top ten at least. Now we have to work on the data, see what the problem is and hope to have a good race tomorrow."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "We are off pace and unfortunately are a second behind the leaders so something is wrong on the basic set-up. We are running strong on old tyres but don't make as much of an improvement on new tyres as other teams. We need to work on the set-up and find a jump in the lap times by tomorrow."
France
A1 Team France will start from 5th and 7th places for tomorrow's Sprint and Feature races on the Taupo circuit in New Zealand hosting the fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. After the brake problems the team ran into yesterday, its aim was to do as much running as possible today to determine the car's final set-up. Unfortunately, the state of the track prevented the French squad from doing so. It was still very slippery and dusty, which led to a large number of offs and red flags.
In such conditions, A1 Team France was not able to carry out all the technical evaluations necessary to achieve the ideal set-up. Loïc Duval went out after a good compromise had been found and was 5th-quickest overall in the first two qualifying segments, the position he will start from for the Sprint race. He fell back slightly in the next two and will start from 7th spot for the Feature race.
The team is not very happy with these results as it was expecting to be among the frontrunners today. However, it has multiplied refuelling stop rehearsals to pull back places, and is also working on an aggressive strategy to gain an advantage over its rivals.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "Once again, the times are very close this year, and our qualifying positions show that the slightest hitch in free practice can cost us dearly for the rest of the weekend. We lost running time yesterday and we were unable to make it up this morning. But the situation isn't too bad as we're starting from fifth and seventh places. So coming home with at least one rostrum finish is on the cards. That'll be our aim!"
Loïc Duval: "It's been a very difficult day for the engineers and myself. Each time we modified the set-up, it was virtually impossible to judge whether what I experienced out on the track was down to the car or the changing conditions. We've solved our braking problems and I reckon we can look forward to a good result tomorrow. The track'll be dirty and there'll be a lot of mistakes so experience will make the difference. And that's where I've got an advantage!"
Ireland
A season of landmarks continued in Taupo, New Zealand today as series leader Ireland scored its first ever pole position double when Portadown's Adam Carroll qualified in top spot for both the Sprint and Feature races at round four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
In an awesome display of dominance throughout the qualifying session, Adam Carroll and Ireland topped the timesheets in all four segments of qualifying, remarkably taking pole position for both races by the identical margin of 0.265 of a second for each race. Having scored two victories from the last four race starts, Ireland currently leads the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport by eight points from Portugal who will start third for both races.
Team Principal Mark Gallagher celebrated another watershed moment in the history of A1 Team Ireland but was quick to point out that the Ireland team are not resting on their laurels yet.
"It is a measure of the team's development, engineering strength and Adam Carroll's sheer ability that we can celebrate our first double pole position for Sunday's sprint and feature races," said Gallagher. "Adam likes this track but it is interesting how we now take practice very steadily, understanding the car and relying on the driver and engineers to know what we need for qualifying and then deliver it.
"We dominated today, but races are not won on a Saturday so the focus of the team and driver will be on the critical phases of tomorrow's races - the starts and the mandatory pit stops. An ideal qualifying performance."
Ireland will be joined by the Netherlands on the front row for both races, making it a front row double for Irish company Status Grand Prix Ltd which supplies engineering technology to the Dutch squad as well as owning and running the Irish team.
Needless to say, Adam Carroll was proud of his achievement in qualifying and is eagerly looking forward to Sunday's two races.
Adam Carroll: "I got four good clean laps in and we were quick. It was a good run ij each segment. I put the new tyres on but didn't really know what the grip level would be so I simply pushed hard and hoped to be at the front. I put in a nice tidy lap in at the end. It is a tricky circuit to put in a nice quick lap with no mistakes, but today it all flowed well and the pole positions came to us. It's a very satisfying feeling.
"The circuit here just doesn't have much grip so when you try hard you can have a spin or run wide, so it is important to be careful. That is what practice is for, because that is when you can push hard just to find where everything is. When it comes to the new tyres you just have to be smooth – push one hundred per cent put the lap together as we did today. It's great for the team; they have done a superb job to give me the car for this."
Lebanon
The Lebanon flag flew over Taupo today, not only for a strong qualifying performance by Daniel Morad and A1 Team Lebanon, but also with a group of super-fans, who had travelled from Australia to support the team. Millions of people around the globe will have seen these committed Lebanese supporters waving the nation's national flag today, as the TV cameras captured the essence of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
However, the team's strong qualifying results could have been even better if Morad hadn't been blocked by the Monaco car in one run and slowed by a spinning China car ahead of him on his final run. Without these two incidents the team and Morad would have been celebrating two top five grid positions.
After a final practice hour in the morning, the Lebanon team with driver Morad were back out for qualifying this afternoon. The young driver took 10th place for the Sprint race grid and ninth place for the main Feature race.
The Lebanese entry, after an outstanding performance from Morad in practice yesterday, had the luxury of concentrating on race strategy rather than outright speed in the final practice session. The team used the time to run on different fuel loads to gauge their setup at different points in the race.
The quickest lap put them ninth on the timesheets, but with at least three cars putting on new tyres, the team were confident that they were one of the top five nations.
An excellent first segment of qualifying put Morad in a provisional fifth place, and with his second session he put in another consistent lap to finish tenth fastest overall, his grid position for the Sprint race. In the second two segments Morad put in another two consistent lap times, to take ninth place for the Feature race grid.
Morad said after the session, "Those results don't really show our true pace. We should be about fifth but I just have bad luck with cars spinning in front of me and another car blocking me. There's no point in dishing out any penalties as these cars are behind me anyway, can't change things, so I just have to look forwards to tomorrow. "
Patrick Moore, Team Manager for A1 Team Lebanon added, "Our grid positions are very respectable, but we're still a bit disappointed as the sector times of Daniel's lap before they were ruined by other drivers suggest that he was able to run within the top five. But this knowledge gives us the comfort of knowing we have the pace for two strong races tomorrow."
Malaysia
A strong qualifying session from A1 Team Malaysia and Fairuz Fauzy puts the team in the top ten for both the Sprint and Feature races tomorrow in Taupo, New Zealand. This fourth round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will see the yellow car of Malaysia line up ninth for the Sprint race start and in sixth place for the main Feature race.
A1 Team Malaysia continued to make the final preparations for tomorrow's races in the morning practice session. This was the final opportunity for Fauzy and the team to assess the car and make final setup changes ahead of qualifying. For Fauzy it was also another hour of track experience which is critical at this highly challenging track. With 13 turns in 3.5 kilometres and some tight corners which produce high G-force loads on the drivers, fitness, stamina and technique are all-important for the drivers. After the final hour of running, with 22 laps completed, the Malaysian team had posted 13th fastest lap, however the team's performance was not representative of its pace as at least three teams used new tyres during the session, while Malaysia ran on well-worn tyres.
A ninth place start for the sprint race resulted from the two 'flying lap' runs from Fauzy. With championship points available down to eighth place, this solid effort puts the team in with a real opportunity to race for a points finish in the Sprint. Fir the Feature race runs Fauzy improved on his Sprint race lap times, lining up on the third row of the grid in sixth place.
Fairuz Fauzy said after qualifying, "It was a shame I wasn't able to make the most of my new tyres on the first run, but starting from ninth we should be able to get into the points. Starting sixth for the Feature race puts us in a good position. We made some minor changes between the sessions and that really helped us to improve. From sixth we are in well the mix and should be able to have a good result tomorrow."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, adds, "Today's performance was much more indicative of the pace that we have. The team has bounced back from a disappointing start yesterday and pulled through, with Fairuz driving well to take two top ten starts. It's taken the team longer to get to grips with the track and find a good set up, but when it mattered they performed well, which is the only thing that is important. We're well set for two strong, highly competitive races tomorrow in which we hope to finish in the points."
Monaco
A1 Team Monaco will start on the 8th row of the grid for the Sprint Race and in 17th position for the start of the Feature race tomorrow after a downturn in fortune at the Taupo Motorsport Park in New Zealand.
The PowerBoost feature was not available for use in qualifying today. The new system was trialed at the previous round in Sepang where the teams had the option of using one joker-style 'PowerBoost' lap in qualifying, causing mixed grids for both the Sprint and Feature races. The series reverted to the original system for Taupo due to a mixed reaction to the PowerBoost feature, with further review taking place before the next round of the championship in South Africa.
During Free Practice 3 (FP3) Team Monaco was unable to improve on its fourth place achieved yesterday due to numerous red and yellow flag interruptions during the entire morning running. Clivio Piccione took to the tarmac as soon as the green light went on in the pitlane to take full advantage of the hour-long running and immediately set the fifth fastest lap time of 1:21.286. As the circuit rubbered in, Clivio was able to take three seconds off his initial quick lap time and the team held P8 until a series of further red and yellow flags interrupted the session on several occasions once again. With 30 minutes remaining on the clock Clivio pushed the car back up to P4 with a 1:16.835, however he was unable to improve on this time for the remainder of the session as a final red flag disrupted proceedings with only 15 minutes to go. Team Monaco ended Free Practice 3 in 15th position on the time sheet.
In the afternoon the Monegasque squad ventured out on track midway through SQ1 (Sprint race Qualifying Session 1). In a surge to record a lap time with all 19 teams out at once, Clivio pushed the car to improve on his morning's practice time with a 1:16.424. In SQ2 he set a time of 1:16.917 and will start the Sprint race on the 8th row of the grid in 16th position tomorrow.
Clivio set a late hot lap of 1:16.735 to sit in 15th position at the end of FQ3, the first qualifying session for tomorrow's Feature race. After the final five minutes respite the last qualifying segment got underway and Clivio left the Team Monaco garage with two minutes of the session remaining. After a yellow flag was raised towards the end of the running Clivio was only able to set a time of 1:31.700 to finish the segment in 17th position.
Clivio Piccione, Driver and Seat Holder: "In the morning we started where we had finished yesterday and the car felt alright from beginning. We had a few red flags and so we tried a few things to improve the car and in one direction it felt a little bit better. We also knew at that time that the tyres were at the end of their life as I was struggling for grip. Overall it was not a good practice session as we were not top of the time sheet, but we knew what we had to do. The start of qualifying was not perfect. I know that I could have been quicker on my first run as I made one mistake on braking and lost a bit of time. For SQ2 we put on a new set of tyres, but unfortunately we were not able to improve as someone ran wide in front of me and covered the track in dust. The car then felt worse and my feeling was that the new tyres were not as good as the old ones. So we went into FQ3 on an old set, with no expectations but to try some other changes, but we made no improvement. For our final run we changed the set-up to that from the beginning and the car felt a little better, but far from what I expected. The yellow flag towards the end of the run meant we had to back off, and that was it, game over. It is very disappointing considering our performance yesterday, and it's going to be a tough day tomorrow."
Graham Taylor, Team Principal: "We ran through our standard practice programme to follow on from yesterday. Once again there were a lot of red flags and interruptions, but we completed our plan. The ambient and track temperatures rose for qualifying and Clivio reported a lack of grip, even with new tyres. A yellow flag on Clivio's last quick run necessitated our slowing down, as per regulation, so overall it was a disappointing day following the promise shown yesterday. We shall work overnight to overcome the problems and look forward to the races tomorrow."
South Africa
South Africa's distinctively-liveried contender in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Vulindlela, with 22-year-old Adrian Zaugg at the wheel, will start Sunday's feature race at Taupo in New Zealand in 16th place, 1,7 sec off the pole position time of Ireland's Adam Carroll.
Zaugg struggled in Saturday afternoon's official qualifying and could do no better than record the 11th fastest lap time for Sunday morning's sprint race. He was 1,4 sec off the pole position time, which also went to Ireland. Carroll, the form man in A1GP in the series' fourth season, led the Netherlands (Robert Doornbos) and Portugal (Felipe Albuquerque) in the top three qualifying positions for each race.
A1 Team France (Loic Duval), with whom South Africa shares a technical support team, qualified fifth and seventh, 0,8 sec and 1,0 sec behind Ireland.
USA
A1 Team USA driver Marco Andretti rebounded to grab the eighth starting position for tomorrow's A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Feature race after qualifying 17th for the Sprint.
Andretti also qualified eighth for the Feature at the last A1GP event in Sepang, Malaysia, where he went on to record a podium finish.
Ireland, which entered this weekend's races as the points leader, swept the pole positions for both Taupo events.
Marco Andretti: "I'm pretty disappointed with qualifying especially after being as quick as we were in the final practice. But, we can't do anything about it now. We've got to move on and get ready for tomorrow.
"It's a pretty tight circuit and it's pretty dusty out there, so it doesn't take much to get off line. We just have to stay clean and consistent, take advantage of anybody that goes off tomorrow and get what we can get."