07/03/2006
NEWS STORY
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It's not just Robbier Kerr and Sean McIntosh who have reason to smile about the racing programmes that they have lined up for themselves until the second A1 Grand Prix series kicks off this autumn, as a host of their A1GP rivals have also signed on the dotted line for an assortment of single-seater, touring car and sportscar championships.
They will be joined in the World Series by Renault by A1 Team Russia racer Mikhail Aleshin who will be racing for Carlin Motorsport, with Hayanri Shimoda and Alvaro Parente of A1 Team Japan and A1 Team Portugal repectively on the brink of being snapped up by Victory Engineering.
A1GP's representation in Formula 1 will be A1 Team USA's original driver Scott Speed who will race for Scuderia Toro Rosso and A1 Team Switzerland's top scorer Neel Jani who will be the team's third driver.
On the test-driving side, A1 Team Germany's Adrian Sutil and A1 Team Russia's Roman Rusinov are down to perform this role for Midland F1, in support of A1 Team Swittzerland's new signing Giorgio Mondini who will be the team's third driver.
A1 Team France's in-form pairing of Alexandre Premat and Nicolas Lapierre have both confirmed deals to race in the F1-supporting GP2 championship, with ART Grand Prix and Arden International repectively.They will be joined in GP2 by opening A1GP winner Nelson Piquet Jr who will continue to race for his family team and by A1 Team Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy who will be under Super Nova's wing.
A1 Team USA's Bryan Herta is retuning for another crack at the Indy Racing League with Andretti Green Racing, in which he'll be up against A1 Team USA's sporting director Scott Sharp who is all set to pedal the Fernandez Motorsport Panoz and A1 Team South Africa's Tomas Scheckter who will be racing one of the Vision Dallaras.
The Formula 3 ranks will be swelled by A1 Team Mexico's Salvador Duran who will race for Hitech Racing in the British series and by A1 Team Portugal reserve driver Joao Urbano who has signed to race for the Prema Powerteam in the Euroseries. A1 Team Germany racer Adrian Sutil will race for the TOM'S team in the All-Japan series in conjunction with his F1 testing duties for Midland F1.
A1 Team Lebanon's newest signing, Graham Rahal, is all-set to compete in the Formula Atlantic Championship which will be supporting the Champ Car series in which A1 Team Australia's Will Power will be racing for Team Australia. A1 Team South Africa's Stephen Simpson may also be set to compete in Champ Car Atlantic.
A1 Team India's Armaan Ebrahim is keeping the A1GP theme going by signing to race in the British Formula Renault Championship with Position 1 Racing, with A1 Team Brazil reserve driver 'Tuka' Rocha as one of his two team-mates.
Of those on the verge of clinching drives, A1 Team New Zealand's frontrunner Matt Halliday is tipped to join Kerr and McIntosh in the World Series by Renault as a candiate for the second seat at Tech 1 Racing, while his compatriot Jonny Reid is in line to race in Formula Nippon for Inging Motorsport.
Timo Scheider's winter form for A1 Team Germany has helped him to clinch a return to the DTM (the German touring car series) after a year away,with a deal to race an Audi for Team Rosberg. Among his rivals will be A1 Team Austria's Mathias Lauda who will be racing the third car in the Persson Motorsport Mercedes team.
Christian Fittipaldi of A1 Team Brazil has a packed programme ahead of him both in the Brazilian Stock Car series and the Grand-Am sportscar series in which he has already shared a Cheever Racing Crawford with A1 Team Canada's Patrick Carpentier in the Daytona 24 Hours, coming up against the Chip Ganassi Racing team that numbers A1 Team Mexico's Luis Diaz among its drivers.
Two further A1GP drivers have signed up for a season of touring car racing in A1 Team Australia's Will Davison, who is set to campaign a Ford Falcon for Dick Jonhson Racing, and the driver who took over from him in A1GP, Marcus Marshall, entered to race against him in a Paul Cruickshank Racing Falcon.
A1 Team Netherlands reserve driver Jeroen Bleekemolen is taking the sportscar route, having agreed to partner compatriot Mike Hezemans in a works Spyker C8 Spyder in the Sebring 12 Hours and the Le Mans Series.
A1 Team Ireland's Ralph Firman will do his sportscar racing in the All-Japan Super GT series, for the works Honda team run by Super Aguri Racing, looking to avenge last season when he was pipped to the crown. A1 Team Czech Republic's Tomas Enge will again be at the wheel of Aston Martin Racing's DBR9 in the Daytona and Le Mans 24-hour races.