26/02/2006
NEWS STORY
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil will begin tomorrow's A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Monterrey, Mexico from the fifth row of the grid after Christian Fittipaldi qualified ninth for the team this afternoon. He looked set for a much higher grid position until an extremely competitive final qualifying segment dropped him down the order.
Following a slightly disappointing day yesterday in the two wet free practice sessions, Christian had a much better final practice this morning. Drivers got their first dry runs on the Mexican circuit today, and Christian completed 25 laps on the dry, yet very dusty and slippery track. He recorded a fastest lap of 1:24.952, which put him in fifth place on the timesheets.
When it came to qualifying, Christian continued his strong form and put in a great performance. Weather conditions remained dry, although very breezy and the track was still dusty, although it cleaned up a little throughout qualifying. Christian put in a good drive, setting consistent times and remaining towards the top of the table throughout qualifying. He ran as high as fourth after segment three, but after an extremely competitive final segment, he eventually had to settle for ninth, with his combined time of 2:47.066.
Christian will now begin from ninth on the grid for tomorrow's sprint race, which will begin at 1.30pm local time (GMT -6). The results from the sprint race will determine the grid line up for the feature race, which will begin at 3pm.
Christian Fittipaldi: "All in all I am quite happy, I can't really complain. We have made huge progress since Indonesia and I really feel I understand the car a lot better. This morning it went well, we made some good improvements from yesterday and the first half of qualifying went well. Maybe we went out a bit early in the last segment but it was okay. We are very competitive this weekend and I feel I'm really part of the game now, whereas in Indonesia I was only in the game in the race. We have the race tomorrow and I think we should do well."
Emerson Fittipaldi: "On the last qualifying run we lost two tenths, and that ended up the difference between fourth and ninth. We have a good car for the race and Christian did a good job today and he should be good tomorrow. We should be in the top three or four."
Austria
A1 Team Austria will start tomorrow's A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Monterrey, Mexico from the ninth row of the grid after Patrick Friesacher qualified 18th for the team today. It is a slightly disappointing result as Patrick had been in a strong position throughout until the final segment proved especially competitive.
The day began for the team with a third and final one-hour free practice this morning. It was Patrick's first opportunity to run in dry conditions after yesterday's running was wet throughout. Patrick completed 20 laps of practice, setting a fastest lap time of 1:26.054.
This afternoon was Patrick's first introduction to the A1GP four-part qualifying session, in which the driver's two best laps are combined to form the overall results. He began well, and set good times through all the segments. He was in 11th position at the end of the third segment, but an incredibly competitive fourth and final segment saw him slip down to 18th in the final standings.
A1 Team Austria will now start from the ninth row at the beginning of tomorrow afternoon's sprint race, the results of which will determine the grid line up for the feature race.
Patrick Friesacher: "It's a bit disappointing but it's only my first time in the car and I'm still learning a lot. It wasn't too bad in qualifying to start with but I couldn't get any grip on the front tyres and I just couldn't do any more. We have two races tomorrow though, so I will just try as hard as I can to get a good result in the first race to set us up better for the second race."
Switzerland
Neel Jani and A1 Team Siwtzerland claimed third place on the grid for tomorrow's sprint race in Monterrey with an aggregate time of 2.46.147s. Jani's best times came in his second and fourth qualifying laps but he was disappointed not to have made the front row in his last outing for the team.
"It was a very interesting qualifying session," Jani said. "Top three is always good and we have a good chance to fight for the win. My last run in qualifying was good, but all of qualifying was difficult because the weather has changed so much since yesterday. The track was slippery and sandy after the historical car race earlier in the morning. It got quicker and quicker every lap as the track improved gradually. Third is not too bad and with an excellent strategy we can fight for the win."
Max Welti, team principal, A1 Team Switzerland commented, "Neel Jani recorded a good result today. He is very familiar with the car by now and showed it. The team is well prepared well for the races tomorrow. We ran in clear conditions on the dry track but now we must focus on the race tomorrow and make the most out of our second row starting position."
Germany
Timo Scheider will start the ninth round of the A1 Grand Prix series in Monterrey, Mexico from the sixth row for A1 Team Germany. Friday's good performance, when the team was placed in the top five at the end of the wet free practice, could not be repeated on the dry track on Saturday. Despite a constant improvement of 3.6 seconds from the first to the fourth single-lap qualifying run Scheider only managed to qualify in twelfth position.
After the first single-lap qualifying run the Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany held 16th position with a lap time of 1:27.572. The 520 hp A1 Grand Prix race car was fitted with used tyres. In the second outing Timo Scheider improved by more than 1.6 seconds on new tyres to set a time of 1:25.971 despite a trip minor off-road excursion through the grass. The sum of the two times left him nevertheless in 16th place. The third lap of 1:24.834 minutes set on the same set of tyres was further improvement of 1.1 seconds. He recorded the ninth fastest time in the 21 nation field as a result. On his second set of new tyres during his fourth and final attempt Scheider improved by 0.9 seconds to record a 1:23.976 minute lap, so reaching twelfth place after the addition of the fastest two times.
Timo Scheider: "We had already noticed in the third free practice this morning that we weren't as good in the dry as we were yesterday in the rain. The first time in qualifying was okay bearing in mind that we ran on used tyres. On the second run I made a mistake. We saw what was really possible with new tyres in the fourth outing when I set my best time in spite of making a mistake. According to the weather forecast it should rain again on Sunday. I think that there'll be quite a few surprises in both races."
Ireland
Ireland will start tomorrow's Mexican A1 Grand Prix from the fourth row of the grid. Third fastest in qualifying after three of the four runs, the A1 Team Ireland car of Ralph Firman dropped back to 8th position on the final qualifying segment, having already used up its new tyre allocation. The result came after the team set the 2nd fastest time overall in practice and the team goes into tomorrow's Grand Prix aiming to achieve top six points finishes in both the Sprint and Feature races.
Ralph Firman: "It's frustrating to have dropped back at the end because we were right up there. We made a few minor changes to the car during qualifying but perhaps we ought to have saved our final new set for the last - we used them on the third run because we thought that, as happened to us in South Africa, the last runs might be affected by yellow flags or even a stoppage. It didn't work out for us, so we'll just concentrate on making up ground tomorrow. I'm sure we'll be competitive."
Andy Miller, Technical Director: "We made good steps forward with the car this morning in practice and were right on the pace, but unfortunately it did not happen for us at the end of qualifying and the margins are so tight you cannot afford to lose time. We really ought to be in the top four in my opinion so we'll review what happened. The high winds may have played a factor in making some of the times less consistent towards the end of the session, but everyone faces the same issues."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Although we slipped back at the end of qualifying it's clear from practice and the early stages of qualifying that we can be right on the pace. It is a shame we weren't able to maintain a top four qualifying position at the end, but the time wasn't there on the final run. We are really looking forward to the races tomorrow, especially given the fantastic support which we see coming from the public here in Mexico. This weekend and the next race in the USA are important for the series and so far the response is very promising."
France
A1 France is aiming for victory in tomorrow's inaugural A1 Grand Prix at Monterrey in Mexico after qualifying for the sprint race in second position.
"Between yesterday's practices and qualifying the track has definitely changed with the weather improving," said Prémat. "Although it went well and I had a clear lap, I made two small mistakes in my best first outing. I then changed my strategy and left early for the third session but then I was a bit unlucky. I had to improve my lap time in the fourth part of qualifying which I did and finished with a lap of 1m22.315s which put us on the front row of the gird. Overall, it was not an easy day because the grip was low and the balance of the car was rather poor and the car was a bit difficult to drive. Tomorrow, I'll try everything and make sure we can challenge South Africa for victory."
Jean-Paul Driot, team manager, A1 Team France commented, "I am pleased about the second position that keeps us ahead of the Switzerland team. The session was difficult for us. The car's balance at the start of the qualifying was not so good. Alexandre Prémat ran into traffic which was a shame because he had fresh tires. He had to ensure that he made no mistake for the last run. With Alexandre Prémat starting the race in second position we can fight for victory tomorrow."
Canada
In stark contrast to yesterday's rain-soaked practice sessions Monterrey, Mexico was bathed in sunshine today as A1 Team Canada's Patrick Carpentier qualified 19th on the grid for tomorrow's Sprint race, the five-time Champ Car winner from Québec making his A1 Grand Prix of Nations debut in the ninth round of the inaugural ‘World Cup of Motorsport.'
Returning to Monterrey and the 3.38km Parque Fundidora circuit for the first time since he raced in Champ Car in 2004, Carpentier faced the challenge of A1GP's aggregate qualifying format where the two fastest laps from four timed runs determine the grid order for the Sprint race. An off at turn one on his second flying lap, his first on new tires, impacted his progress leaving just two more opportunities to set a competitive time. A 1m25.603s lap followed by a final effort of 1m23.90s, set on a second set of new tires, formed A1 Team Canada's aggregate time and 19th place grid slot.
A1 Team South Africa claimed pole, their first in A1GP competition, ahead of A1 Team France.
Patrick Carpentier: "Things didn't go as I had hoped today! On my second run I went off at the first corner which was frustrating as I was on fresh rubber for the first time this weekend. After that the car was a little too loose for my liking. We put on another set of new tires for my last run and I set a lap in the 1m23s which if I'd been able to put two laps together like that then we'd have been up there but it didn't work out that way. We'll see what tomorrow brings, we have the Sprint and Feature races to go for points!"
New Zealand
The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix team has qualified in 13th place out of 22 cars for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race at the 9th Round of the World Cup of Motorsport in Monterrey, Mexico.
After setting the pace the previous day in the wet, the team took time to adjust to the hot, dry conditions and slippery track jagging through the former steel foundry at Fundidora Park.
A1 Team.NZL manager Mike Ewan said Black Beauty struggled for grip all day on what is essentially a street circuit.
"We made changes throughout Qualifying that made the car more competitive," Ewan said. "Matt's fastest times in Qualifying were in the last two of his four runs, so we're definitely heading in the right direction with our set-up. It was just too little, too late."
South Africa, currently 15th in the championship standings, was the surprise package of the day, qualifying in pole position for tomorrow's Sprint Race.
Series stand-outs France and Switzerland will be 2nd and 3rd on the grid with Italy 4th and the USA 5th.
New Zealand's chief combatants in the battle for third place in the championship didn't have the best of days. Brazil will start from 9th on the grid and Great Britain is back in 15th.
The three nations nipping at the Kiwis' heels on the overall points ladder will all start in front of the black car. The Netherlands will be 7th, Ireland 8th and Portugal 10th.
Halliday is sure he can make up some ground in tomorrow's opening race, but he would have preferred to be in less traffic.
"We found more than a second in our final run, so I'm sure we'll be in good shape pace-wise," Halliday said. "It's just a shame we didn't find the right formula earlier because it's made my job a little bit harder being in the middle of the pack.
"It'll be a case of finding the balance between going flat-out and trying to stay out of trouble. The lack of grip makes the track a bit treacherous and I think there's going to be some carnage on race day."
Czech Republic
The Czech team managed to overcome technical issues in the last practice at Monterrey and Tomas Enge put in a flawless drive in the last qualifying runs that moved the Czech car to the sixth place on the grid of the sprint race.
Saturday did not start well for the Czechs and the team lost almost the whole last practice with engine misfiring, which was painful because it was the only session in the dry after yesterday's rain. Enge did just eight laps including in and out laps and finished only 20. The team was forced to alter the strategy for the qualifying and the first two runs were used with the aim to get accustomed to the dry track and qualifying setup. The strategy paid of and Enge set third and sixth times respectively in the last two runs and was catapulted to the third row on the grid. The team is more than happy with the result given troubled start of the day.
Tomas Enge: "Our grid position is for me quite a positive surprise after difficulties in the morning. We had gone to qualifying basically without running in the dry and I had expected to be between 10-15 places. However, the team did a great job in setting up the car and I was able to get a good feeling in the first two qualifying runs. We saved new tyres for the last two runs and managed to jump into the third row. I am confident that we will be competitive tomorrow and just hope to stay out of any trouble in the races."
Antonin Charouz, seat holder: "We lost last practice due engine misfiring and that hampered our qualifying preparation. Fortunately, we were able to salvage something in the qualifying and the third row is very good under the circumstances. Tomas was in a difficult situation but coped well with it. I think that if we had had better last practice we would have been in the second row at least. We need to keep cool head in the races and get clearly to the finish."
Lebanon
The second day of track action for the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Mexico was held in bright sunshine and blue sky in direct contrast to the wet conditions for the first two practice sessions held yesterday. A1 Team Lebanon with its new driver, Graham Rahal joining Khalil Beschir and Basil Shaaban, was pleased to have a dry track for final practice and qualifying. Rahal, 17, was at the wheel this weekend, driving the A1 car in near-perfect conditions and continued to impress with his natural driving ability. In a tightly fought qualifying session Rahal recorded the best start position for the team so far this season, lining up 16th on the grid for the Sprint race tomorrow.
In final practice Rahal used the time to gain more knowledge of the car's handling, and the characteristics of the track in dry conditions. As the session drew to a close the pace hotted up and after comfortably running within the top ten for most of the track time, Rahal settled for 12th quickest at the end of the hour session.
In afternoon qualifying Rahal continued to improve his performance. A1GP qualifying with 15 minute ‘flying lap' segments is new to A1 Team Lebanon's new recruit but he quickly adapted to this style of grid setting, improving his times with each flying lap that he completed and in the last segment recording an impressive ninth quickest lap overall.
Rahal said after qualifying, "It's an interesting qualifying system and I like it, but having the knowledge of how much the new tyres give you is something you need. You can see in my lap times – in the last segment when I knew how much better they were, I was able to maximise them, to a whole new level. I've learnt this now and for Laguna qualifying hopefully we can make another step forward.
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon said after the qualifying session, "We're very pleased with Graham's performance so far. He's shown that he is capable of running on the pace, and has very quickly adapted to the A1 car, which is more powerful than any he has driven previously and has the paddle shift gear selector which is new to him. He has learned quickly and gelled with the A1 Team Lebanon engineers and crew; he already looks at home with the car and the team. Tomorrow is another big test for him, but I'm confident he'll rise to the challenge and try his best for A1 Team Lebanon."
South Africa
It was another nail-biting A1 GP qualifying session, something that has become a trademark of this increasingly popular new motor racing formula, and this time it was Stephen Simpson who really came good in South Africa's "Vulindlela".
The 22-year-old from Cape Town produced his best qualifying effort of the series by taking a strong pole position ahead of the two leading teams in the championship, France and Switzerland. Simpson's qualifying time (the aggregate of his two best times out of the four individual qualifying sessions) was 2 min 44,895 sec. France's Alexandre Premat was 0,953 sec in arrears, with the gap to Switzerland's Neel Jani 1,252 sec.
Simpson was second behind Premat after the first 15-minute session, first after the second session ahead of Italy and Switzerland (he produced the fastest lap of the weekend and the first sub 1 min 23 sec up to that point) and then dropped back to second behind Premat with just one tenth of a second separating the two.
It was now all down to one flying lap in the fourth and final session and the South African did not disappoint. He was the last car out of the pits and the last car to complete his timed lap. Premat was on provisional pole after completing his final lap in a blistering 1min 22,315 sec. As Simpson flashed across the finish line and the pit wall television monitors flashed his 1 min 22,078 sec lap time, the South African's pit crew (and this writer) erupted with joy. He had pipped Premat by a comfortable nine tenths of a second time and his lap time was a best-of-the-day 1 min 22,078 sec.
"I feel really good," said an elated Simpson. "When I woke up this morning I didn't think I'd be on pole at the end of the day. I knew we had a good car – we did well in the wet practice yesterday and were quickest in this morning's dry practice session – but this is great. The whole team has worked hard for this and I'm happy I was able to deliver the goods.
"We have a very good atmosphere in our team and I'm really enjoying myself. I came into this series with a lot less experience than many of the other drivers and I've gained in confidence with every race. Now I feel I can compete with and beat the top drivers.
"I'll be looking to make a good start in tomorrow's sprint race. I have some very fast and experienced drivers just behind me on the grid and, if I can be first out of the first corner, I know I have the car to bring home South Africa's first victory. We're not in contention for the championship, so I'll be going all out for a win."
Japan
The weekend didn't start as well as A1 Team Japan would have liked. For Friday practice rain had fallen overnight and the day was predominantly drizzle giving Hayanari little chance of finding a dry line on the track. One of the first cars out, he soon discovered how difficult the conditions were and slithered off the track on the third lap of the first session. The car hit a tyre wall and suffered heavy damage to the front left corner. The repairs were completed for today's morning's practice which saw Hayanari put in some promising laps in conditions that were compromised for a different reason today – oil on the circuit from a previous race.
Hayanari was happier with the grip, although still aware that the Mexican circuit is always going to provide less grip that most. He put in faster times on new tyres and as the track was cleaned by traffic. His aggregate time put A1 Team Japan in 17th place on the grid.
Hayanari Shimoda "The track was much more slippery than I expected yesterday. I was going into turn six and couldn't stop. The traction was so bad. I locked up and went off. It was even slippery driving in a straight line! It was much better today but we need to find another second at least. I've talked it through with the engineers and we hope to be able to find some time with changes overnight."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands will start the Sprint race of the A1 Grand Prix in Monterrey tomorrow from a seventh grid position. During qualifying this afternoon Jos Verstappen set an aggregate time of 2'46.975 (1'23.297 & 1'23.678). The conditions at Fundidora Park were completely different from Friday. Today it was warm, the sun was out and the clouds disappeared during the morning.
In the free practice this morning A1 Team Netherlands was well in front of the field. In 25 laps Jos Verstappen set a third fastest time.
In the first run of qualifying Verstappen went out on used tyres and ended in fifteenth place. After the second run, on new tyres, A1 Team Netherlands climbed to eighth. A1 Team Netherlands moved up further to sixth after three of the four runs, but dropped back one place at the end. The pole surprisingly went to South Africa.
Jos Verstappen; "In general we are fairly pleased, but it can always go better. We just didn't go any faster. There was still not enough grip. We will set up the car a bit different for tomorrow and we hope that this will improve our performance".
Jan Lammers: "We have improved the car quite a bit compared to yesterday. We took a few steps forward, but also a few steps back. For tonight we think that we are able to find the right compromise. If we make a good guess there, we should be better tomorrow. The first race always is difficult, because you cannot really overtake. In the second race there are more possibilities, also with the pitstop. But overtaking here will be more difficult then for instance in Sentul and Durban. So, it will be fairly difficult".
Britain
Conditions weren't ideal in the practice sessions before qualifying. The two one-hour sessions yesterday were wet and today's session in the dry was compromised by oil on the track from a previous race. Robbie Kerr took his time to learn the circuit without making the mistakes of other teams who pushed too hard for the conditions. The team covered a good amount of ground evaluating the car and circuit and felt well prepared for qualifying.
The dry conditions of the afternoon didn't bring the improvements in grip that the team hoped for and the car consequently lacked the pace that was needed for a good grid slot. Robbie will start from the eighth row of the grid and will be looking to work his way through the field in the Sprint race following overnight improvements.
Robbie Kerr: "We're nowhere near where we should be. For whatever reason the car's slow at the moment. I'm fairly happy with my laps. There's no way we should be 2.3 seconds off."
John Surtees: "Of course we've had extremely changeable weather conditions with the rain yesterday and then dry today. Frankly we were looking hard for grip that we didn't find. Obviously we'll discuss this with the engineers. We know that the engine's OK so it's purely not getting the power to the road for Robbie to produce results."
Malaysia
The rain of opening day practice at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Mexico, left Monterrey to be replaced with clear blue sky and bright sunshine, giving Proton sponsored A1 Team Malaysia and driver Alex Yoong a chance to experience the handling of the A1 car in the dry. In final practice Yoong posted 17th fastest time and in afternoon qualifying he finished 11th quickest.
Oil laid on the circuit from the support race cars running earlier in the day delayed final practice and also created a dusty track from the clean up operation. Yoong opted to wait in the pits for the first quarter hour leaving others to clear the dust and with previous experience of the circuit he could afford this luxury. His knowledge showed through as he got on the pace quickly and ran comfortably around the top ten for much of the session.
In qualifying Yoong also drove well and showed his talent posting eighth quickest time in the first segment and following this with another quick lap to position him ninth overall. Dropping to 13th place after the third segment, Yoong recovered with a strong fourth qualifying segment to finish 11th quickest.
Yoong reviewed his day saying, "It's a tough, demanding circuit with high kerbs and big bumps, which makes it a challenge to find the right setup for the car and the changing weather conditions. We weren't pleased with the car in the morning and made a number of fairly radical changes. Happily, they helped to improve the handling of the car and we were able to improve our performance this afternoon. Even in the last session, though, we were still having trouble getting temperature into the tyres due to the smooth surface of the track. I'm pleased we're starting just outside the top ten; we have a real shot at getting more points for Malaysia in the Sprint race from there and if we can do this, we'll be set for a good start position in the main Feature race. But the competition is tough and I don't underestimate the task ahead tomorrow, particularly with the unpredictable weather we've seen so far this weekend."
Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia adds, "A1 Grand Prix has become more and more competitive as it has progressed through the season. There are now a number of ex-Formula One and IRL or Champ car drivers such as Jos Verstappen, Christian Fittipladi, Tomas Enge, Patrick Freisacher, Ralph Firman, Bryan Herta and Patrick Carpentier, and there are also the up and coming drivers who are doing well in GP2. The competition is growing race by race. Against that background, our task will be more difficult each weekend as the series matures and we will need to respond to that challenge. Our qualifying position is, therefore, all the more gratifying. Alex is proving that he has the talent as a leading driver in the Series and the team is performing well. From 11th we know we can position ourselves well for another good result against this quality field."