The A1GP Shanghai weekend is the penultimate round of the season. On the ultra-modern F1 circuit, situated one hour outside the Chinese port city, A1 Team Netherlands wants to move up further towards or inside the top five, where it finished last season.

The weather might well come into play this time, because there is a forecast for variable conditions throughout the weekend. This adds to the tense fight for the Championship. With 64 points still up for grabs there are still eight countries, amongst whom is A1 Team Netherlands, with a mathematical chance of clinching the title.

The Shanghai circuit has got a length of 5.4 kilometer. Last year A1GP used an alternative track layout, reducing the length to 4.6 kilometer and adding a chicane. This year the same circuit configuration will again be used.

For both Arie Luyendyk jr and Jeroen Bleekemolen the Shanghai circuit is new. Last season Renger van der Zande, then A1 Team Netherlands Rookie driver, took a ninth and fourth place finish. Both Jeroen and Arie jr have travelled to China with some good results in the Porsche Supercup, where Bleekemolen is leading the Championship, and the Indy Lights.

Jeroen Bleekemolen; "I am very much looking forward to the weekend. I have never driven on this track before, but that should not be a problem. It's looking nice, with a long straight where we reach the highest top speed of the season. The weather is going to be unstable, that's interesting. If you want to win you will have to be quick on both a wet and a dry track, because especially Saturday there will be rain and Sunday should be better again. We are aiming to move up in the Championship, hopefully we will be inside the top five soon."

Arie Luyendyk jr; It's great to be in Shanghai, It will be nice to jump in the A1 car after a couple of successful weekends running Indy Lights. I have never been to this circuit and just seeing it for the first time it is an amazing facility, I have never seen anything like it. The track we will be using is a different layout than the F1 circuit, never the less the lap time is still pretty long so I will have to make good use of my time to put in a competitive effort in the rookie sessions. The main thing though is to get a good baseline set-up for the team to work with for the rest of the weekend, hopefully we can accomplish that."