12/09/2006
NEWS STORY
The Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany starts the second A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season with a new driver line-up and excellent performances. The only global race series pitting nations against one another and contested with single seater race cars is held on 13 circuits in five continents.
At the pre-season tests in Silverstone, Nico Hülkenberg recorded best time of the day on 31 August in the A1 Team Germany 520 hp A1GP race car. With Michael Ammermüller the team signed yet another new face. Timo Scheider, who started for the German national team during the debut season, is nominated once again in the driving squad. After starting in monoposto racing, Scheider continued his career in the DTM between 2000 and 2004, completed a single season contesting long-distance races in a GT1-Sportscar and returned to the DTM at the start of 2006 with Audi.
"We have united the strongest components for the new season", explains Willi Weber. "Thanks to the wealth of experience gained in formula-car racing over the years, David Sears' Supernova team proved to be invaluable in the debut year and will again run our car. Also Timo Scheider, who helped us to our best result during the debut season with second position in Laguna Seca and who has claimed several good results since then in the DTM, is a known-quantity in A1 Team Germany. I'm delighted that with Michael Ammermüller and Nico Hülkenberg we have also gained the services of two of Germany's most promising single-seater young talents for our team. With this line-up we want to fight regularly for the top positions during the forthcoming season."
Twenty-year old Michael Ammermüller from Pocking in Bavaria, who currently races in the GP2 series after finishing as runner-up in last year's Formula Renault Eurocup, spooled off his first kilometres for A1 Team Germany at the end of August. "I watched the series with great interest last winter", explains the Red Bull-Junior driver. "Now I can look forward to starting for the German team. The car feels similar to a GP2 race car. If you compare who was running when with new or old tyres A1 Team Germany was always amongst the leading group. It was a good start to the new season."
After finishing his karting career Nicolas Hülkenberg from Emmerich located at river Rhein won a brace of titles in the Formula BMW ADAC Championship during his debut season – the Rookie-Cup, but more importantly the complete championship. The young talent impressed many onlookers in Silverstone on his first outing: Driving without doubt the most powerful race car in his career to date, Hülkenberg recorded a time of 1:10.615 minutes on 31 August to conclude the test, with 20 other competing nations, as fastest on that day. "That was an incredible experience", said the 19-year old race-driver. "It was great fun; the gear shift paddles on the steering wheel were excellent. I got used to the car quickly even though my fastest race car was only a Formula 3. I was at Silverstone for the first time and I really like the circuit."