04/10/2006
NEWS STORY
Sitting seventh in the A1GP Nations Standings following the opening round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport last weekend in Holland, A1 Team Great Britain now heads to the Czech Republic and the Auto Motodrom near Brno for Round 2 of the 12-round global series, Friday 6th – Sunday 8th October.
Darren Manning's points scoring finishes in Round 1's Sprint and Feature races, where he finished fifth and seventh respectively, netted a total of six points to open A1 Team GBR's title attack having finished third overall in the inaugural championship last year behind World Champion's A1 Team France and second placed A1 Team Switzerland.
Last weekend's opener at Circuit Park Zandvoort, before an impressive Sunday gate of 75,000 spirited race fans, reflected the true nature of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport with 23 nations present and two new winners in the form of A1 Team South Africa, who triumphed in the Sprint race with Adrian Zaugg driving, and A1 Team Germany, winner's of the Feature race courtesy of Niko Hülkenberg and early points leaders heading into this weekend's second round in the Czech Republic.
A1 Team Great Britain will be represented at the 3.36-mile, Brno-based Auto Motodrom by series returnee Robbie Kerr and rookie racer Oliver Jarvis (right). Kerr (27), the 2002 British F3 Champion and current 2006 World Series by Renault competitor, makes a welcome return having raced for A1 Team GBR through the first ten rounds of the 2005-06 A1GP season, scoring a total of seven podium finishes along the way before handing over to former BAR-Honda F1 test driver, Darren Manning, for the final round in China last April.
In addition to Kerr's presence, Cambridgeshire's Oliver Jarvis (22) will be fielded once again in Friday's ‘Rookie Session' having fulfilled the role for the first time in Holland last weekend before dashing back across the English Channel to Thruxton for the final round of the British F3 Championship. Looking to seal the deal on second place in the Driver Standings behind newly-crowned Champion Mike Conway, Jarvis, winner of the 2005 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, duly delivered to clinch his 11th podium of the season to beat Bruno Senna to the runner-up spot in an impressive rookie year which included three wins.
Jarvis takes to the track first on Friday in the rookie session before Kerr takes the wheel for the afternoon's official practice session.
A1 Team Great Britain Team Principal John Surtees is keen for a strong showing this weekend to build on the foundation laid by Darren Manning in Holland last time out: "It was important that as a team we came together at Zandvoort and got off to a strong start straight out of the box so to speak. Consistency is rewarded in A1GP and while our results weren't maybe quite what we had hoped for given our pace earlier in the weekend in practice and in qualifying, we came away with points in both races to get ourselves established in the running. In Robbie and Oliver, and of course Darren, we have a terrific talent pool from which to make our driver selection for the races."