05/10/2006
NEWS STORY
Mexican duo Salvador Duran-Sergio Perez returns to the action this weekend, just five days after Duran achieved the first podium of the season for A1 Team Mexico at the Netherlands. The drivers are already at Brno, waiting to commence the race weekend this Friday on Round 2 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Both drivers have already raced at the venue in other series and now get together aiming that A1 Team Mexico collects more points in the International series, where currently are second in the point standings, just two points shy of the German team (11-13.)
About the 5.41-Km. (3.36-mile) circuit Salvador Duran made some comments: "I have been here before two years ago. The track is really tough. Hopefully in the first three laps around the circuit I remember it again in the best way possible. Brno is one of the most technical tracks I have ever raced on. It is very hard. The corners have a long diameter. Here you have to be very patient, since the circuit has a lot of elevation changes. It is located in a kind of mountain, I mean; it is set in a natural amphitheatre. Suddenly, (the track) goes up or down and in addition, it has long straights, very fast. A good setup definitely makes the difference to succeed at a track like this one."
"At some corners the car develops oversteer and in others understeer. Therefore, it is very difficult to get a good balance to have a perfect car," he said. "We have already achieved a second place and a fifth last weekend and now I am looking forward to represent again my country. We are looking for the championship. To do so, we need to be consistent and collect points each race. However, I am not only looking for that, I also want podiums and we are going for more! We arrived in Brno on Wednesday afternoon and the promoters hope to have a lot of people coming to watch us racing, as it happened in round 1 at the Netherlands and we hope to give a good show to the fans that will see for the first time the series in their country."
On the other hand, Mexican test driver Sergio Perez is ready to participate in the rookie driver practice sessions (under 25 years old), which will be held on Friday. Regarding this participation, he said: "I have already raced once here last year. We did not have a wet race and I finished seventh and ninth in the two-race German Formula BMW meeting. I have only raced here during one weekend. Personally, I like very much the Autodromo Brno. It is a track pretty complicated. You have to be very precise exiting each one of the 14 corners; you have to be very careful with that. The circuit has very long straights. I have to adapt to the car quickly and give the best information possible to cooperate in the setup."
"Personally, I like very much the track. I am excited for being able to test here. Now that I have a car with such power and I am in the A1 Series with Salvador (Duran), I am so excited with this opportunity," he added.