09/10/2005
NEWS STORY
Robbie Kerr and A1 Team Great Britain started the weekend by paying tribute to the tens of thousands of people killed and injured in yesterday's earthquake in Pakistan and India with a one minute silence.
After a strong start for the shorter 18 lap Sprint race disaster struck for Robbie when a group collided at the first corner, A1Team.GBR being one of the victims. Not only did that mean another non-finish, but Robbie was then set to start 24th at the back of the grid. Robbie said "I had a good start and going into the first corner everybody collected each other. A racing incident."
In more or less a complete reversal of Brands Hatch, the Feature race was a different story for positive reasons. Robbie drove an amazing race, taking the car from the back to second by the half way stage. An early trouble-free pit stop with fantastic teamwork from the A1.Team GBR squad lined Kerr up to attack the track and work his way through the field by overtaking on track and by others pitting more slowly.
Robbie Kerr: "The second race made up for the first coming from the back of the grid. The early pit stop was a hard strategy for me because I had to drive 100% all the way through the race. I had a good first lap and overtook a lot of cars and then I pitted. Again the team did a fantastic job. They got me out and I carried on pushing hard not knowing where I was going to end up. I just had to keep my head down. We all needed this result. It's well deserved by the team and I'm very proud to have been the one in the car."
John Surtees, Team Principal: "Obviously we had the lows and highs with the disastrous incident with Robbie and Scott Speed in the first race – not just the result but we couldn't get the car back until well after the end of the race and we had very little time for repairs. Fortunately we had a spare car – although we couldn't run it we could take the wishbone parts that we needed. But then in the Feature race Robbie avoided trouble in those first laps. Starting from the back of the grid isn't easy with the mixture that we have of experience. He found his way through and the strategy worked. The team did another superb pit stop and it was as good as we could hope. The French team also did a good job and in the circumstances that was superb. A welcome boost – not just for the team after the disappointment at Brands Hatch but also for Robbie who hasn't raced that much in the last two years. This is all bringing him back to where he'll be fully on song."
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