19/02/2009
NEWS STORY
This weekend, A1 Team France is racing in the fifth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Championship on the Kyalami circuit in the Gauteng province in South Africa.
Nicolas Prost will be in the driving seat. The 27-year-old Frenchman, who won the 2008 Euroseries F3000 Championship, has been the team's rookie since last season, and raced in the Chengdu round in China in November. He knows the whole team well and has already covered a large number of kilometres at the wheel of the car.
Kyalami in the Gauteng province, some 20 kilometres North of Johannesburg, is hosting the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport Championship for the first time. It measures 4.6 kms and replaces the Durban city circuit, which was the theatre of the 3 previous rounds, the first of which A1 Team France won on its way to the title that year.
After 4 events, A1 Team France is currently lying fourth overall with a victory and 3 rostrum finishes to its name.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "In China, Nicolas showed that he had the pace to fight among the front-runners in the A1 GP Championship, and I'm sure he'll do the same thing this weekend. Our objectives haven't changed; we're aiming for the rostrum and we want to close the gap to the leaders. To do this we have to take maximum advantage of each practice session, set up the car step-by-step and not make any mistakes."
Nicolas Prost: "I can't wait to get to grips with this track. It looks like it's a fairly demanding, technical layout that should suit me. We've already begun working and we've scheduled a fairly heavy technical programme for tomorrow. We should have a better idea of where we stand in terms of performance after free practice."