06/12/2005
NEWS STORY
Adrian Sutil returns to the cockpit for A1 Team Germany at the sixth round of the twelve race A1 Grand Prix Series in Dubai from 9 to 11 December. The rising star from Gräfelfing close to Munich has finished his injury
induced pause and will go hunting for points for the Willi Weber managed team on the Arabian peninsula.
Adrian Sutil injured his right thumb in a collision during the fourth round of the A1 Grand Prix series in Australia on 6 November and was forced to take a break. Instead, Timo Scheider raced the A1 Team Germany entry two
weeks later in Malaysia and finished eighth – three points were credited to A1 Team Germany, because it is the nations that are awarded points in the new series and not the individual drivers.
While Timo Scheider will attend the awards ceremony at Monaco on 9 November as winner of the FIA GT Championship, Adrian Sutil is already eagerly awaiting his start in the A1 Grand Prix Series. "I'm obviously really
looking forward to climbing back into the cockpit", confessed the 22-year old junior driver. "I tested a GP2 racing car last week and realised just how well my thumb has heeled. We can certainly look forward to an excellent weekend of racing in Dubai. The circuit is ultra-modern, has excellent safety standards and has plenty of overtaking places. Since plenty of sand drifts across the circuit in this desert region the grip is difficult to judge, which see more than enough thrills and spills in qualifying and in the two races."
The 5.39 kilometre long circuit was only opened in October 2004, is 20 minutes drive from the Dubai city centre and is the country's first modern racing facility. No lesser person than the Crown Prince of Dubai, His Highness General Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is patron.
Willi Weber harbours a wish at this, the halfway point of the new A1 Grand Prix Series, held exclusively during the northern hemisphere's winter months: "We'd like to bid farewell to the current year with a good result and start the second half of the season, which starts in Indonesia on 13 January in top form. Unfortunately, during the first half of the season we were deprived on more than one occasion of showing exactly what A1 Team Germany is capable of. This should be a thing of the past now."