A1 Team Germany has put the icing on the top of its 2006/07 season victory, winning the Brands Hatch Feature race at this afternoon's season finale ahead of Great Britain and Italy. Nico Hülkenberg took the chequered flag after a spirited battle with Sprint race winner and home team, Great Britain who kept the pressure on its German rivals throughout the race.
Commenting on what he called his best win ever, Germany's Hülkenberg said: 'After the pit stop he (Kerr) was right behind me. At the out lap I was pushing like hell. At the second corner I realised he was still behind me and I thought it is going to be a tough race because I knew he was quicker. Finally I managed to hold him up all race.'
Germany got the hop on Great Britain off the grid taking the lead into the first corner but Great Britain's Robbie Kerr was not ready to lose his position that easily. Kerr immediately came back at Hülkenberg vying to regain the place with the two racing side by side for several corners. Germany eventually gained the advantage and slipped into the lead although Great Britain maintained the pressure throughout the race.
The gap between the two never exceeded 1.5 seconds and, despite a few tense moments for the team when Kerr raised some dust going wide on corners, for most of the race Germany led by less than one second. Kerr was not to be deterred and attacked continuously, temporarily regaining the lead on lap 17, only to lose it one turn later. While his second place never came under threat, Great Britain failed to knock Germany from the top spot and missed out on runner up spot in the Championship by just one point.
Commenting on the close call when Kerry slipped by him during the race, Hülkenberg said: 'We had a bit of traffic. The four cars in front of us had not made their pit stops at this time so, they were slower that is why Robbie got so close. We had a bit of a fight, I was behind Switzerland and at the entry of turn five I was not on the outside but on the inside, had to lift in the corner, was very slow at the exit and Robbie obviously got beside me and got in front of me. But then for turn six he went a bit wide and I could catch him back.'
Great Britain's Robbie Kerr went on to say: 'Every time I got close to Nico though unfortunately I just lost a lot of down force, and you could not stay close for very long. So you just had to time it, do it in attack and then just back of and look after your tyres. The whole race being so close was just fantastic. It is so great to race against somebody who is hard as myself but is as fair. We have both ultimately got respect for each other, we did not hit each other we gave each other just enough room. We were going to push that little bit extra to try and beat the other man and unfortunately Nico got that bit ahead, and during the race we just could not make up for it.'
A1 Team Italy repeated its Sprint race performance, taking its second podium of the day and finishing the race in third. Driver Enrico Toccacelo came in for his pit stop seconds before the safety car was deployed and his comment on this and the close finish with A1 Team India was: 'I have been lucky as I came in and there wasn't a safety car. So I was lucky as I came in and after about ten seconds during the pit stop the safety car came out. I was lucky and happy for that. Today the big problem for me was that because after the safety car there was one car in front of me and blocked me. I lost time, I lost gap, I lost Robbie and Nico. The last lap Team India was really far from me but Team Mexico on the last lap completely blocked me until the last corner. So I finished the race with the Indian car too close to me.'
The timing of Italy's pit stop was the subject of a protest by A1 Team Netherlands who felt the Italian team broke A1GP rules by pitting under the safety car. The protest was considered by the A1GP stewards who rejected the protest, ruling that A1 Team Italy headed into the pits before the safety car was deployed. A1 Team Netherlands have lodged their intention to appeal the stewards' decision and have 48-hours (until 20.30 on Tuesday 1 May) to confirm this move. On confirmation, the appeal will go to the Motor Sport Association (MSA), the British ASN, who will give a final decision on the subject. Until this ruling, the results of today's Feature race remain provisional.
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