01/05/2009
NEWS STORY
Australia
Today's second official practice session started later than normal at 5pm with ample sunshine, a mild breeze amongst a fanatical British crowd about the circuit. John Martin was quick in the early part of the session maintaining a good track position throughout until a small spin followed later in the session with a very brief off the track excursion moved him down the order from second to sixth.
Returning back to the pits for some further setup changes with Rob Arnott Team Chief Engineer and Danny King Data Engineer, Martin was confident he could improve his track time and position with fifteen minutes remaining in the session.
The level of competition has improved considerably this season as the top ten drivers were running in the one minute thirteen's as A1 Team Netherlands eclipsed the one minute twelve's with a final session time of 1:12.700 to finish in first place.
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "Excellent session, John is very comfortable with his car, he set quick pace as soon as he took to the track and that's a great sign in any first practice. We're keen to get back here tomorrow morning and improve on today's track time"
John Martin: "Really good, the car is great, and in theory, with a perfect lap the way I was going, I could have finished second fastest. Very happy and confident to do a lot better as we move forward into the race weekend"
Rob Arnott: "Great session, John did very well, his radio communication was excellent with crystal clear frequency. We are quick, the car is very good all round so we're ready to move up onto the top runners tomorrow"
France
Today, practice began for the seventh and final round of the 2008-09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Championship on the very challenging Brands Hatch circuit in Kent in the south of England.
The rookie sessions got off to a prompt start in sunny, warm weather: air temperature 21 degrees C and on the track it was 36 degrees. Nicolas Prost was on the pace straight away and steadily whittled down his times as he began to dial himself in in the car. In addition, the team had solved the braking problems that had plagued it in Portugal, making it much easier to drive. Nicolas ended the first part of the rookie session with the quickest time in 1m 14.8s.
In the 10-minute break between the 2 rookie sessions, the team worked on improving the car's set-up, and Nicolas rewarded their efforts by topping the time sheets in the second part as well in 1m 13.7s.
The afternoon free session kicked off in temperatures very similar to those of the morning. A1 Team France waited for 10 minutes before going out, as the track was still a bit dirty. Nicolas then did a first run setting a time of 1m 13.598s giving him fourth place just2/10s off the provisional pole. Nicolas did not manage to improve during the rest of practice, and finished the day in seventh place overall in a very competitive session with just under a second separating the first seven cars. Tonight, the team will work on the data to try and find more time in the second section, where the car seems to be losing out to its rivals.
Olivier Panis, Sporting Director: "Overall, it's been a positive day's work for the team. Nicolas showed his speed this morning by setting the best times in both rookie sessions. This afternoon, he finished seventh in what was a very competitive session, which bodes well for tomorrow as we haven't yet run through our full programme and we feel there's more pace to come."
Nicolas Prost: "This morning went off very well and I'm delighted to have set the fastest times in what were my last rookie sessions. This afternoon could have been a little better. What's very positive is that we've solved the brake problems that plagued us in Portugal and overall the car's general balance is very good. We need a bit more grip and we'll work through the data tonight to find that little bit of extra pace for tomorrow to close the gap to our rivals."
Ireland
Adam Carroll and A1 Team Ireland made a strong start to the deciding weekend of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season with second fastest time in Friday's late afternoon practice session.
Earlier Niall Quinn set fifth fastest time in the Rookie practice sessions, the Meath man showing well on old tyres while his rivals had the use of new tyres unused by their teams at the last round in Portugal.
Carroll took over from Quinn and continued the set up and preparation work in Practice Two, recording his best lap three minutes from the end of the session to move up from fifth to second behind the A1 Team Netherlands which shares engineering support with the Irish squad.
It's a strong start to the most important weekend in the history of A1 Team Ireland which heads into Sunday's Sprint and Feature races at the top of the standings.
Ireland is currently two points ahead of Switzerland under the terms of the dropped score rule which will be applied this weekend. Under this rule, each team has to drop its single worst score of the season to date, thereby giving Ireland its slender advantage over the reigning Champions.
"That was a solid performance by the team and just the start we were looking for the weekend," said Team Principal Mark Gallagher. "Niall did a very good job in the Rookie session to get through all the set up and preparation work and then to get within a second of the best time on used tyres when the other teams ahead of him had newer rubber was impressive.
"Adam took over for session two and he and the boys made a lot of progress with the car as the session progressed. What was encouraging was that they kept improving as the session went on and the lap time at the end demonstrates that the engineering process is working well. Tomorrow and Sunday are big days for us but today we've given ourselves a good platform from which to attack the rest of the weekend.
Adam Carroll: That was a good start. The car felt good from the start but there was a lot to come from it and the downforce and extra grip from this car meant that we were quickly under the lap record set with the old car we used last season. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's practice and qualifying sessions and we'll certainly be giving our all to bring the World Cup trophy back to Ireland."
Malaysia
The opening day of the A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain featured two practice sessions for the grid of nations competing in this final round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Young Malaysian driver Aaron Lim was behind the wheel, making his debut for A1 Team Malaysia this weekend.
Lim, with the luxury of being able to run in every session today, started his preparations for Sunday's two races in the morning session by working with the engineers to settle himself into the car as well as reacquainting himself with the Brands Hatch track. Lim drove the rookie session at the track for A1GP's previous two visits, but with less than an hour in the car each time and nearly a year since his last drive here, it inevitably took Lim some time to get to grips with the circuit.
In the afternoon practice, with all the main drivers taking to the track, Lim had his first opportunity to benchmark his pace against the other nations.
Lim said of his day, "It's been great to have more time in the car than just the one rookie session. I was improving these as the day progressed which was the goal for me at this stage. It takes a while to learn this track, even though I've been here before, as there are so many different types of corners and you need to get each one absolutely right. As well as this, I'm working with the engineers to make changes to the car to suit my driving style to help me to drive the car better. I have lots of information to digest tonight, so there's more work to do, but I'm loving this opportunity."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia: "Aaron has been working hard to gain experience of this very difficult track and he's been coping well with his new role this weekend. We have focused Aaron today to not be concerned with lap times. We gave him long runs in the car in preparation for the races, although there were quite a few interruptions to this afternoon's session. It gives us enormous satisfaction to be giving Aaron the chance to race and in return he is giving us his all. We should not underestimate just how big a step up this is in Aaron's racing career. Qualifying will be another new experience for Aaron, but with a strong team around him I'm sure he'll cope admirably."
Monaco
The concluding round of the 2008/9 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 'Powered by Ferrari' is being held at the iconic Brands Hatch circuit this weekend following the announcement that the Mexican race, due to take place on 24 May, has been cancelled. The season finale is therefore once again taking place at the Kent circuit which played host to the eagerly anticipated inaugural A1GP event back in September 2005.
Team Monaco commenced its final weekend campaign with co-seat holder Hubertus Bahlsen taking to the track for the first of the usual "Rookie" free practice sessions. Hubertus, one of only 11 "Rookie" drivers participating in these sessions today, emerged from the pits with twenty minutes of running remaining. He made steady improvement lap after lap, clocking five personal best times consecutively and setting a fastest lap time of 1:19.187. After six laps, however, a spin at the exit of Druids Hairpin ended the team's running until Official Practice 2 later in the afternoon.
For the team's final Friday practice session of the 2008/9 season, main driver Clivio Piccione took over Monaco's driving duties. Fifteen minutes into the hour-long session Clivio joined the field and as the session progressed and the times toppled, he was running in 11th position with a time of 1:14.944. A Red Flag was deployed midway through running due to a stop out on track by Mexico. When the session restarted Team Monaco's planned practice programme meant that Clivio would only have a few laps in which to set a decent time. He was able to clock a superb fastest lap time of 1:13.398 on his final outing to steal fourth position in the closing moments of the session.
Hubertus Bahlsen, Seat holder: "The car immediately felt good this morning and on this unique track, where I have no experience, I was very careful on the difficult, high speed corners. Unfortunately, I made a mistake which ended our first practice session, but the mechanics did a fantastic job to prepare the car for Clivio in the afternoon. In the second session the car was well balanced and Clivio did a great job on a good Team Monaco strategy."
Clivio Piccione, Driver and Seat holder: "First of all I must say 'well done and thank you' to our mechanics for their full commitment in getting the Monaco car ready for this afternoon with a very quick engine change. In the session we first completed a few laps to run the engine in. It was great to be back on this track after five years. It brought back a lot of memories and it is still as tricky as I remember! The A1GP car is one of the quickest to race at Brands, so there is no room to relax. You are always working hard, concentrating, even on the straights, as it is such a difficult grand prix circuit. The car was feeling pretty good; we made a couple of changes and planned to run only a few laps so that we could keep the tyres as fresh as possible for tomorrow. The last lap was good and I am happy that we jumped to P4 at the end of the session."
Graham Taylor, Team Principal: "Following a difficult start to the weekend the afternoon session gives Team Monaco some well needed cheer. The crew has done a great job to prepare, and then repair, the car and Clivio has repaid them with an encouraging time in the second session."
USA
J.R. Hildebrand, Andretti Green A1, Team USA: "Marco and the whole team have done a great job over the last few races getting the setup pretty close to where it needs to be. I get the pleasure of being able to capitalize on that a little bit. I've got a bit of track knowledlge around here, just around part of the circuit, so when we went out we were quick straight away.
"At the moment, I think we're going to just keep plugging away and hopefully we can make up a bit of time with the car and we'll go from there. Everything is going well right now."