07/02/2006
NEWS STORY
A1 Team Brasil is delighted to announce that Christian Fittipaldi will be flying the flag for Team Brasil as he takes over as lead driver for the race-winning outfit for the Indonesian round of the A1 Grand Prix series.
As well as being the nephew of Team Brasil's Team Principal, Emerson Fittipaldi, Christian has enjoyed great success of his own, and his participation in the A1GP series is another phase in the career of this young veteran, who has competed and won in many major racing competitions.
The team has been preparing for some time for a change of driver, as it has long been known that Nelson Piquet Jr's 2006 GP2 Series preparations would clash with many of the races in the second half of the A1 Grand Prix calendar.
The team is happy to have secured the services of Christian to finish off the second half of the season in the World Cup of Motorsport, as he has a wealth of experience spanning 25 years in racing. Due to his familiarity with the circuits of the Americas, he holds an important advantage for the team in the forthcoming Mexican and Californian rounds.
Christian won every major championship on his way to the 1991 F3000 Championship crown, and followed that up with a three-year stint in Formula One in which he achieved Minardi's highest ever finish with a fourth place. Since then, Christian has carved a long and successful career in America, competing in the NASCAR series and winning races in Champ Car. During that time he also won the Spa and Daytona 24 hr races and finished runner-up in the Indy500 in his rookie year.
Following his participating in the A1 Grand Prix series, Christian will continue racing in 2006 with a full schedule in both the Grand-Am series and the Brazilian Stock Car championship.
Christian will be supported at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Sentul, Indonesia by regular team reserve driver, Tuka Rocha, who is this week participating in a driver shoot-out in Florida for the Newman/Wachs Racing Atlantic Team, which will compete in the 2006 Champ Car Atlantic Championship in North America.
The 3.965km Sentul circuit is regularly used for bike racing and the Asian F3 championship. It is a high-speed circuit which encourages overtaking and features some long, wide corners. As we have seen before in A1GP, the heat and humidity of this region of the world is a challenge in itself for team and driver, and A1 Team Brasil will be working hard to prepare for such conditions.
Christian Fittipaldi: "I am happy to be representing the Brazilian Team and taking over where Nelsinho left off. I have been following the races and I believe that the team is very competitive. I'm especially looking forward to racing again in Monterrey and Laguna Seca, two tracks that I know very well."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "I am very happy that Christian will be driving for the team for Indonesia. He has a great amount of experience, and I am sure he can benefit the team a lot. I am extremely pleased with the way that Nelsinho performed the whole time, I understand his commitment to GP2 and I am looking forward to him getting back in the cockpit for A1 next season. We have won two races, and have always been very strong and I am very pleased with the engineers and the team. We have a very strong team of people and we will be a good position for the remainder of the season. This will be the first time I have worked directly with Christian. He has won everything he has competed in and is very motivated. He understands that in Indonesia he has to work with the team and learn about the car and I am sure he will then be a very strong contender in Mexico, Laguna Seca and China. I am looking forward to the next few races to see if we can get much closer to France and try to be runner-up in the championship."