09/10/2005
NEWS STORY
The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix team is just one point behind leaders Brazil on the championship table after a superb, consistent performance in round two at EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany.
Young driver Jonny Reid overcame a host of pre-race problems to take the Black Beauty to 4th placings in both the 18-lap Sprint Race and the 35-lap Feature Race, earning $US110,000 in prizemoney.
France won both races to join New Zealand in second equal position on 29 points, just one point behind Brazil, which scored a third place in the Sprint Race and also earned a point for posting the fastest lap of the day. There is a significant 12-point gap to the fourth placed Swiss on 17 points with Australia fifth equal with Mexico on 16 points.
Reid said he was "absolutely rapt" with the day, especially as he had only qualified 14th for the first race and gearbox failure robbed him of a warm-up and caused consternation as the team hurried to fix the problem.
"It was an unbelievable comeback," Reid said. "I'm stoked with the team and the way they changed the gearbox and handled the main race pit stop.
"I had the best start of my career in the Sprint Race and while I'm disappointed I didn't get a podium finish, especially when I had a real sniff in the Feature Race, this was my first taste of A1 and I had a lot to learn."
Team owner Colin Giltrap was delighted with Reid's performance, particularly in the Sprint Race where he shot from 14th to fourth by the first corner after USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands crashed out.
Reid drove superbly to hold off German Timo Scheider, the driver with the greatest knowledge of the EuroSpeedway track, and score the first 7 points of the day's 14-point haul.
"Considering that we had only qualified in fourteenth place, it was a supreme effort," Giltrap said. "It really gave the team confidence and we couldn't have been more proud of Jonny. He kept a cool head, belied his age and experience and, really, was absolutely terrific in his A1 debut.
"I think it was smart to finish fourth in the Feature Race rather than having an all-out lunge at the Canadian. Consistency is the key in this championship."
New Zealand is the only team to have finished all four races in the Series and A1 Team.NZL Technical Director Dick Bennetts said the pit crew deserved plaudits for their efforts, including putting in a completely new gearbox that had never turned a wheel on a race track before.
"During the morning's warm-ups we were looking to secure data with a full tank of gas, evaluate the changes we made after qualifying and also practice some pit stops," Bennetts said. "Not only did we dip out on those opportunities, it was a mad scramble to determine what the problem was and rebuild the gear box in a hurry.
"It was also our only chance for Jonny to get back into race mode, so he had a difficult start to the race day. But this sort of adversity is part of motorsport and you simply have to take it in your stride and rise above it.
"At least the problems occurred during the warm-up and not the races itself. That would have been a real disaster. So, all in all, we're extremely relieved and delighted."
There was drama on the start line in the Feature Race. Brazil had personnel still on the track when it was time to start and, in the confusion, Reid aborted his start. The race re-started with the original grid, but was reduced by one lap.
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