30/08/2006
NEWS STORY
The first day of the official A1GP test at the Silverstone circuit went very succesful for A1 Team Netherlands. In the first three hour test session of this morning Verstappen set a third fastest time with a lap of 1:10.763, after being in first place for a long time. During the second test session A1 Team Netherlands finished in second, with a lap time of 1:10.821.
Conditions at Silverstone, where almost all teams were present today, were good. It stayed dry all day and the sun came out regularly.
The team did not suffer any technical problems all day and was able to try out many different set ups.
At the end of the day Jos Verstappen was very pleased about this first of two test days. "We have done a lot today to improve the car compared to last year. I have a very good feeling about it. I really think that we have got a better balance in the car, on this circuit anyway. Hopefully this will be the same on the other circuits as well. Today I was in the car today after about four months, but of course you know where all the buttons are and what you have to do, so I got used again quick. I am very pleased, it went very smooth today. If you are in third this morning and second in the afternoon, you can conclude that you are there. We have been able to do a lot and are definitely heading in the right direction."
The new A1 Team Netherlands Team Manager, David Stubbs, also reflected on the day with a very positive feeling. "It went pretty well really, the car ran well all day with no reliability problems. We progressed through some reasonable set up changes and Jos was pretty happy with the car and he was consistent. The important thing was that he was also consistently quick towards the end of the day. And that’s the best we can do I think. We are quite pleased with that". Stubbes liked his first real introduction to A1GP and A1 Team Netherlands. "I think A1 is great. And to be honest, this is a particularly good team. The way that the guys seem to gel together in this team is very good, which is very important with a small team. All works well from the engineers to everyone else."
David Stubbs is a very experienced Team Manager in motor sports. The Englishman started his career at Williams Grand Prix, where he was appointed Team Manager in 1985. After his move to Brabham in 1987 Stubbs worked for the PSR F3000 team of Paul Stewart. In 1997 Stubbs became Team Manager at Stewart Grand Prix. After the takeovers by Ford (Jaguar) and Red Bull he stayed on in that position.