Australia

A1GP entertained a capacity crowd here at Brands Hatch today with the Feature Race that started with an extra formation lap after the A1 Team South African car failed to position itself for the start.

It was a good clean start to the 49 lap Feature Race even though Martin was squeezed in between A1 Team France and A1 Team New Zealand allowing A1 Team Portugal to sneak by into sixth place. A1 Team Australia was very quick off the start and finally passed the A1 Team NZ car to move into seventh position.

Running on used tyres the first pit stop was timed in at eight seconds, an awesome effort by the Australian crew. John Martin returned to the track in eighth position maintaining a good competitive race pace chasing down the cars in front. With A1 Team NZ out of the race, the job ahead was to move up the order to gain enough points to move up the championship table.

A slight error into Paddock Hill bend gave the A1 Team Great Britain car driven by Dan Clarke a gap to pass and move ahead of Martin dropping him to eighth position. Martin's tyres were wearing fast and in need of a change so the chief engineer Rob Arnott called him in for the second pit stop. The crew were superb once again with Martin's pace so good he took the race fastest lap with a time of 1:12.698 on lap 36 on an average speed of 183.4 kmh.

There was a moment when A1 Team Great Britain slowed and Martin was closing in on the back of his car to pass and take back seventh position. Clarke sorted his problem and maintained a good pace to the chequered flag to hold Martin who finished in eighth place.

Those four valuable points closed the gap to NZ although their podium this season on count back held A1 Team Australia to eighth in the championship finishing the season on the same points as A1 Team New Zealand who were awarded seventh in the championship.

The post season work now begins with a design competition for the 2009-2010 team livery running on www.a1teamaus.com website through May to July. From there the team will review their showcar options to showcase the Nitro SuperGP between 22 and 25 October 2009. Then in August an official test for the driver line up after the season 5 calendar is announced.

Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "We did well in the stops; John was very fast and on lap 36 to grab the fastest lap was very encouraging. I had hoped to pass Great Britain to move us ahead of the NZ team. We have a lot to do before the new season starts and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the crew for their dedication all season, John Martin of course who improved every race and the fans who keep us motivated with their enthusiasm for A1GP. We're looking forward to the Gold Coast race"

John Martin: "I had some data come up on my steering wheel early in the race, and I though we may have an oil pressure problem. Ferrari is always monitoring the engine and they were ok so I pushed on. Both stops were good, my tyres best in the last stint and to grab the fastest lap was great for the season end. My crew are the best ever, thanks to them I have improved in A1GP and look forward to the new season racing, especially the Gold Coast"

Rob Arnott: "John was fast in the later part of the race on new tyres and the fastest lap was a bonus for the boys after the best season of pit stops in A1GP. We won the pit stop competition and I would like to say thank you to AJ, John, Adam, Docko, Ash, Danny, Roy, Lofty, Jules, Grumps, Cheyne, Mouldy, Barney, Dom, Josh and Patrick for their help all season. Top bunch, we have the goods to improve and win races and we'll do the research over the off season to get on the podium in 2009-2010. Bring on the Gold Coast"

France

Today, A1 Team France finished its 2008-09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Championship on the very tricky Brands Hatch circuit in England.

In the Sprint race in which the team started from twelfth place, Nicolas Prost's consistency allied to an aggressive strategy, enabled it to move up 3 places and see the flag in ninth spot just outside the points on a circuit where every overtaking move is a risk.

In the Feature race in which A1 Team France was hoping for great things an electronic glitch dashed Nicolas's chances. He was eighth on the first lap. His engine then cut out on him, and he continued in sixteenth place after resetting the system. He fought right up till the very end gaining 6 places thanks to a hard-charging drive and perfectly executed pit stops. He finally saw the flag in tenth place scoring a point.

A1 Team France has ended the 2008-09 championship in fifth place in the overall classification. This was not the result the team was aiming for and it masks the progress made over the past few weeks. So everybody was not too downhearted at the chequered flag, as they all know that they will be fighting at the front when the next season starts this coming autumn.