Belmayne A1 Team Ireland continue the Australasian leg of the season with a short flight across the water to Sydney, Australia for round six of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport next weekend.

At the half-way point of the season Team Ireland head to Sydney off the back of a great weekend in New Zealand where Adam Carroll (right) came back from a first lap incident in the Feature race dropping him to P18 to put in a phenomenal drive to finish P5, just four seconds off the leader after 70-minutes of action-packed racing. The Irish squad now jumps to sixth in the championship only 32 points off the lead, the same amount of points on offer at each race event.

Adam will be back behind the wheel for round six, on what will be his first visit to the Australian circuit. Eastern Creek International Raceway is the only international race circuit in Sydney and is currently operated by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC). Located just 40 minutes from the centre of Sydney, Eastern Creek plays host to some of Australia's biggest motorsport events including the Australian V8 Supercar Championship and the Australian Superbike Championship.

The 3.93km track is medium speed apart from the first corner which can be taken flat-out. It's quite narrow, only 12-metres wide, resulting in limited overtaking opportunity so a good qualifying position will be crucial. As the circuit sits slightly higher than the run off area it's also not a very forgiving place; a slight mistake can end up causing a great deal of damage to the car.

Joining Belmayne A1 Team Ireland in Sydney for the rookie sessions will be 19-year-old Niall Quinn. The Dublin-born racer won the test as part of his prize for winning the prestigious Dunlop Young Racing Driver of the Year award last December. The scheme was created by Motorsport Ireland and is backed by the Irish Sports Council and Irish Dunlop. The aim of the award is to promote talented and committed young Irish drivers, to help them progress to the highest level of International competition.

Niall competed in the Formula BMW UK Championship in 2006 and finished the season as the third placed rookie driver. He then moved onto Formula BMW Germany for 2007, scoring two podiums on his way to seventh in the overall standings. With Australia being the first rookie session that regular driver Adam Carroll will no longer be eligible for Niall will have the job of provide valuable feedback to the team in the first track sessions of the race weekend when he steps into the Irish car next Friday (1 February).

Adam Carroll: "I'm feeling really good following New Zealand. It was a tough weekend but we came away with some good points and moved up in the championship. The race pace was really good and hopefully at Eastern Creek we can get qualifying right and run up at the front from the start. It doesn't bother me not having the rookie session as it's great for Niall to come over and get a run in the car. I've never been to this circuit before but we'll walk the track when we get there as usual and after a couple of laps in practice we'll be up to speed and hopefully have a good weekend."

Niall Quinn: "I'm really excited now about joining the team at Eastern Creek. I've met some of the guys while doing my seat fitting and I think I'll fit in there with the team. I've heard so much about the car, and spoken with other drivers who have driven it, so now I just can't wait to get in the cockpit and find out for myself. I've learnt the general layout of the circuit and I have some data on the circuit to study before I arrive too so this should all help lighten the workload a little in the busy rookie sessions. From the beginning I have been a big fan of A1GP. It looks such a great series and the racing is always great. Adam Carroll is a very fast driver and he has had a lot of success, so to be able to work with him will be really great. It's a great honour for me to drive the Team Ireland car, and I will be pushing to do a good job for the team.

Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "Going to Sydney following the result in New Zealand, the team is quite confident that we found a good gain in performance. It was a fantastic result in Taupo to finish so close to the front given the contact that we had in the races so we definitely have the pace in the car now. There is a real sense in the team that if we could get on and do the race this weekend we would. It's a circuit Adam hasn't been to before so we have to get him up to speed and we don't have him in the rookie sessions but we are looking forward to working with Niall who is looking like a promising young driver and hopefully he can bring us some useful information in the rookie session to help build a strong platform for a good race weekend. The main weakness over the last couple of weekends has been our qualifying performance but we understand what we need to do so all in all we're really positive and want to get on and do the job we know we can do."