Australia

Sprint Race

A1 Team Australia came to Taupo with a lot of work to do to rebuild their car after Sepang. All was going to plan today for the Sprint race after a very quick pit stop on lap 5 when the anti-stall engaged after Martin accelerated to keep his position whilst in pit lane. Once the car was back to normal Martin pushed to keep his position in 6th place looking closer at 3rd as the other lead cars came in to pit.

On lap 6 whilst entering turn 12 John Martin clipped the inside tyre barrier and damaged his front wishbone, taking him out of the race as he cruised slowly back to the team garage. Rob [Arnott Chief Engineer] and Adam [Gotch Team Manager] knew at that moment the race was over and our thanks go out to the Team USA crew who assisted in moving the car out of a precarious position with Team Great Britain and Indonesia pitting for their scheduled stop.

The car was pushed back into the garage for immediate repairs before the Feature Race in three hours.

At this stage Australia retains 8th position in the World Championship.

John Martin:" Once I left the pit from my stop on lap five I accelerated and then backed off when the anti-stall kicked in and I couldn't get moving for a split second. Other cars were behind me and I finally got going again only to make a mistake at turn 12 when I clipped the tyre barrier. The front left wishbone was bent and my left tyre was loose on the hub and turning outwards. Once in the pits there was hope of a possible repair. Not the case, so it's all on for the Feature"

Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "We had a good start and pit stop looking at 6th with a possible 3rd but John made a mistake at turn 12 and our race was over before the chequered flag. We have retained 8th in the championship and need to be up in the points for the Feature to keep our improvement record going forward"

Feature Race

Taupo's Feature Race start saw Team Netherlands' Robert Doornbos take a different line moving right to block Neel Jani in Team Switzerland. Doornbos found Jani quicker than he anticipated so he moved back across to the left blocking John Martin's run into turn 1.

It was the same lap Martin overtook Doornbos at turn 4 to retain 4th place behind the top three drivers of Carroll, Jani and Albuquerque who continue to dominate and keep the Australian team on the edge of a podium finish.

The new set of tyres used in the second pitstop were wasted as Martin had to sit behind Team South Africa not being allowed to pass although racing a lot slower than Martin. Eventually Australia passed South Africa trying to catch Portugal in 3rd place.

With Team Monaco in the gravel again the safety car was deployed and the grid bunched up for two laps before being released. Martin was decreasing the gap to Team Portugal who finished 3rd before this happened only to find himself having to pass Teams Great Britain, Indonesia and Brazil to secure 4th place once again after the safety car returned to pitlane.

With seven laps to go the teams' positions remained the same for the top four runners to see A1 Team Australia's John Martin finish 4th and take the team to 30 points, moving up one place to 7th in the A1GP world championship.

John Martin:" My goal now is to score points from both races consistently as this is a great result, so close to a podium and a move up to 7th in the championship. I lost the good set of tyres behind South Africa and the safety car slowed my charge on Portugal. We are looking forward to Gauteng in a month. A big thank you to the team once again an awesome result from everyone"

Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "Our pitstops were the fastest in pit lane, 33.1 and 33.7 compared to the closest Team New Zealand doing 34.0 in both stops. Remember this time includes entering and leaving pit lane. We've increased our lead in the championship with great racing and crew pit stops from John and the team. I am very happy with the result today. Now we need to score points in the Sprint Races to jump some more teams in the championship."

Brazil

A1 Team Brazil's Felipe Guimarães had a frustrating day in New Zealand, finishing today's A1GP Taupo Sprint race in 14th position and the Feature race in 12th position after being hit in both races by Monaco, sending him into a spin in each event.

After struggling with car set-up in yesterday's qualifying, the team had to begin today's Sprint race from the seventh row of the grid in 13th place. He made a clean getaway at the start, but was tipped into a spin on the second corner of the first lap by Monaco. He managed to keep the car going but lost time, rejoining the pack ten seconds behind and in 19th position. The team opted to keep him out late and Felipe was the last to come in for his compulsory stop on lap eight. He emerged in 15th and maintained his position until the chequered flag after 15 laps. After the race, Monaco was penalised and Brazil was promoted to a 14th place finish.