06/10/2006
NEWS STORY
Team Brazil
Tuka Rocha and Xandi Negrão were in action today at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic for the opening practice sessions of this weekend's second round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Xandi Negrão had his first taste of A1GP when he participated in the rookie practice session today, which comprised two segments of 25 minutes. The 20-year-old spent the first segment familiarising himself with the car and doing some basic brake work. In the second segment, Xandi put in a good lap, and looked set to record some further strong lap times. Unfortunately he was not able to complete his programme and demonstrate this as, ten minutes before the end of the session, a running mistake from the team meant that Xandi had to stop out on track, missing the remainder of the practice.
For this afternoon's one-hour second practice session Tuka Rocha, A1 Team Brasil's race driver for the weekend, returned to the cockpit. He elected to run the session on old tyres, and preserve his new sets for the all-important qualifying session tomorrow. Tuka undertook general development work on the car as well as completing some successful pitstop practice with the team.
Tuka will drive in the final one-hour practice session tomorrow morning, before heading out for the afternoon's qualifying.
Tuka Rocha: "I think things are going to plan for us. We ran the whole session on old tyres and I think we set as good times as possible with them. I'm not sure yet of the potential when we put new tyres on because nearly three seconds is a big gap to the fastest guy today, but in Zandvoort there was a difference of two to three seconds on the new tyres, so I think it will make a big difference. We will be running the same kind of programme tomorrow morning and saving the tyres for qualifying. Also today we did some pitstop practices during the session which went extremely well and the team did a fantastic job."
Xandi Negrão: "I enjoyed myself today. It was my first time in the A1 car and my first time on this track so I started out just by learning the circuit and getting used to car. I struggled a bit on my first outing because I was still learning the corners but, after a few laps, I started to push a bit more. Unfortunately I couldn't finish the session because there was a problem with the car but I'm happy to do what I did. I hope that I helped a little bit and I can't wait to come back and join the team again soon."
Team Canada
A1 Team Canada had a subdued start to Round 2 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, hosted at the Auto Motodrom, Bruno in the Czech Republic, 6th-8th October, as Vancouver's Sean McIntosh (21) and Toronto's James Hinchcliffe (19) both spent time behind the wheel of A1 Team Canada's entry in Friday practice.
Making his A1GP return, having led the Canadian team to victory in his last start in Indonesia (Round 8) in the inaugural season of the nation versus nation series, Sean McIntosh's run in the hour-long practice session yielded little in terms of outright pace but allowed the World Series by Renault front-runner the opportunity to dial back into the 550bhp V8-powered A1GP car.
James Hinchcliffe was left a little frustrated with his outing in the earlier rookie session. The Champ Car Atlantic Championship race winner, who made his competitive debut for A1 Team Canada in last weekend's opening round in Holland, placing 8th and 13th respectively in the Sprint and Feature races, reveled in the sweeping layout of the 14 turn, 5.41km Brno circuit but didn't quite find a workable set-up to propel the Canadian entry further up the running order before handing over to McIntosh.
Sean McIntosh: "We set our fastest lap time pretty late in the session. Friday's one of those days where you have the chance to see where you're at and go from there. We've got some things to work on, I haven't been here before where as some of the other drivers have and they set their quick times on new tires earlier in the session than I was able to. We just need to get our heads down and work on improving things on the car for tomorrow."
James Hinchcliffe: "It was a bit of a disappointing session it's safe to say. Obviously we weren't quite up to speed and there were a few issues with the car. When you go out right away and the car's not there it's really hard to find the time in the session. I'm hoping Sean will be able to be more competitive in the second run to move the team on ahead of tomorrow's qualifying. I really like the track here at Brno unfortunately it just wasn't suiting us in that session."
Team France
On the technical 5.41-km Brno circuit, A1 Team France set the third fastest time in practice today ahead of Round 2 of the 2006/2007 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday. Having already raced on this track in the F3 Euroseries in 2004, the 22-year-old French driver, Nicolas Lapierre, from Thonon-les-Bains, worked steadily on the car's balance and set-up. He completed 22 laps with a fastest lap of 1.47.552.
In the "Rookie Session", Loic Duval, driver of the FFSA French Team, was able to put in consistent times, finishing 1st overall at the end of Official Practice 1, setting a lap of 1.47.893. During this opening session of the weekend, his main tasks were to carry out standard checks and analyse the levels of performance and handling of the car. Preparations for qualifying and the races will continue on Saturday.
Loic Duval said: "We are quite confident for this coming weekend. Knowing the track already, as well as the team, has probably made my job a bit easier. I think in the second part of the Rookie Session all the teams were more or less at the same level and, as we have seen, our car was performing quite well. I am relatively satisfied with the set-up of the car and I am sure Nicolas will do some good work for the rest of the weekend to try to stay at the top of the sheets."
Nicolas Lapierre commented: "We had a good second Official Practice this afternoon. Compared to some other drivers, this was the first time I was in the car today and therefore had less running. We did not make the most of our tyres at the beginning but then, near the end of the session we developed a good rhythm. We seem to have a good set-up for the rest of the weekend."
Jean-Paul Driot, Team Principal, A1 Team France added: "We have worked very hard today in the two Official Practice sessions to have a good set-up for this technical track and our car seems to be quite competitive again as it was in Zandvoort a week ago. We will now analyse the data carefully and I think we will be at the top again this weekend."
Team Germany
The Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany continues the rich vein of form that started at the opening race at the second round of the A1 Grand Prix Series in Brno. Nominated race driver Nico Hülkenberg topped the time sheets at the end of free practice around the Czech circuit at the wheel of the powerful 520 hp A1 Grand Prix race car. He had won the opening event of the World Cup of Motorsport at the Dutch track Zandvoort only one week earlier.
During the so-called "Rookie Training" in Brno, which is reserved exclusively for series newcomers to allow them a taste of every race track, the 19-year old "star of tomorrow" from Emmerich claimed third place with a time of 1:49.542 minutes. In the second 60-minute free practice session that followed he recorded a time of 1:46.600 minutes – the overall fastest lap. He was separated from his closest rival Sébastien Buemi from A1 Team Switzerland by 0.901 seconds.
"The circuit is quite bumpy", explained Hülkenberg after having completed 40 laps around the 5.403 kilometre track at the end of his first day of practice in the A1 Grand Prix car. "Together with David Sears' race team Supernova we systematically improved the set-up. The car developed a tendency to oversteer in two corners. We adjusted the spring preload and adapted the dampers to cope better with the bumps. I pretty relaxed about qualifying because the balance of the car is good."
Team Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain rounded out the top-five today in Friday practice ahead of the second round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, hosted at the Auto Motodrom, Brno in the Czech Republic, Sunday 8th October.
Returning to the British entry having scored seven podiums for the team in last season's inaugural A1GP championship, Robbie Kerr (27) recorded just nine laps in this afternoon's official practice session thanks to a mechanical issue curtailing his outing earlier than planned. Despite this, Kerr finished the session fifth fastest to mark a competitive first day of running in Brno for A1 Team GBR.
Having clinched the runner-up spot in the British Formula Three Championship last weekend at Thruxton, scoring three wins from 11 podiums in his rookie season, Cambridgeshire's Oliver Jarvis (22) continued to impress for the British squad in the Friday A1GP rookie-only session.
Charged with learning the 3.36-mile Brno circuit while working towards a competitive set-up for the weekend, Oliver was a front-runner throughout this afternoon's earlier rookie outing. Parked at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the second 25-minute session, Jarvis was deposed in the end by A1 Team France's Loic Duval running a fresher set of Cooper tyres.
Robbie Kerr: "It's great to be back driving the A1GP car. We had the same problem Darren (Manning) had last week in this session with a sticking throttle. Zytek are going to take a look at it and work on a solution. We set some fairly competitive lap times but in the end of the day you always want to learn more about the set-up and how it's working and we couldn't do that. We just have to study the laps that we did do today even harder prior to tomorrow's qualifying run."
Oliver Jarvis: "Well again I had to do some work for the team to kick off the session but that's all part of my role here. I had to learn the circuit initially having never been here before and that went very well. Going into the second half of the session we made some changes to the car and went straight to the top of the timesheets before getting pipped by France at the end. Overall it was a really good session for myself and the team, the car was right on the pace which is good for Robbie."
Team Ireland
Ireland's Michael Devaney and John O'Hara worked hard today to find the right set-up for the challenging Brno circuit, the Irish A1GP team on a steep learning curve at the Czech Republic track. The rookie practice session saw O'Hara make steady improvements to his times throughout, although his session ended with a harmless spin at the first corner. Devaney was also able to make progress with both his understanding of the circuit and the car's set-up, setting his best time on lap 18 out of 22 on used tyres while ten of the drivers in front of him set their quickest times in the first few laps of the session whilst still on new tyres.
John O'Hara: "This is a really enjoyable circuit to drive and I tried to learn as much as possible in the one hour session. We've been struggling under braking and the car has a bit too much oversteer and that ruins our speed through the corners. Unfortunately I was right behind the German car at the end and made a small mistake and spun off, but the car was fine and we didn't lose any track time today which was important."
Michael Devaney: "We are not yet quick enough around here and the main problem is that we cannot carry the speed through the turns which is pretty important as there are lots of long, constant radius and 90 degree corners. There's no doubt we started making some progress with the set-up, but we have some way to go before we can challenge the front runners which includes drivers who have a lot of previous knowledge of this track."
Andy Miller, Technical Director "Both the drivers were learning the track today and we had to let that take effect before worrying too much about the car. We can see where the problems lie and are trying to make the car more stable into and through the turns. Towards the end, on quite old tyres, we were beginning to get on the pace and if we can make a bit further progress with the set-up overnight hopefully we can get into the top 10 tomorrow."
Team Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon completed the first day of racing action at the Brno Circuit in Czech Republic today, with Graham Rahal finishing 16th fastest in the first Official Practice session and Alex Khateeb driving in the earlier Rookie Session. The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport makes its second stop on the 12 event global tour for the Series with the Czech Republic hosting the 23 nations this weekend.
The first driver on track for A1 Team Lebanon this weekend was Khateeb, 22, the only one of A1Team Lebanon's four drivers to be eligible for the pre-event Rookie Session, with the team using the two 25 minute testing periods to prepare for the weekend ahead.
"It's a great track to drive," said Khateeb after his session."It's quite hilly, long and with plenty of corners. It flows well, so it's very enjoyable. I spent the first part of the session concentrating on specific technical tasks and then in the second part I focused on other aspects of our race preparation. We're not racing, but using the opportunity to gain valuable data and track feedback for the team to use as they head to Sunday's Sprint and Feature races."
Graham Rahal joined his team mates, Khalil Beschir and Basil Shaaban, for this week's A1GP event and will be racing for the team in Brno. He was out on track for his first practice session of the weekend late this afternoon and spent the hour familiarising himself with the track, his first visit to the Czech circuit, and working on improving the car set up.
He said after the session, "We're struggling with the set up at the moment, which puts pressure on the tyres and this then affects the car handling. It's an interesting track, particularly the back section which is fun to drive. We need to start developing the car and find more grip, but we'll work on this overnight and will be looking to improve on our laptimes tomorrow."
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon adds, "There's certainly more to come from the car. The engineering team will be reviewing the session today with Graham and working towards improving the car for tomorrow. I don't think our fastest lap is representative of our performance relative to the other nations, but it's always difficult to gauge at this early stage of the weekend."
Team Malaysia
The opening day of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport racing took place today at the Masaryk Automotodrom Brno, the most famous race track in the Czech Republic. Paying its first visit to the venue, the A1GP teams all took to the track today for practice sessions ahead of Sunday's race. Twenty of the teams took part in the early afternoon Rookie Session, but A1 Team Malaysia was unable to participate, as there are no Malaysian drivers qualified for this pre-event test.
A1 Team Malaysia regular driver, Alex Yoong, is representing his nation in Brno and used the one hour practice period to prepare for the Sprint and Feature races. He posted 15th fastest time, although the team were concentrating on specific preparation programmes rather than outright speed.
Yoong said, "It's an unusual track. Time isn't important today, as we spent quite a bit of time bedding in new brakes, when the tyres were fresh so we didn't set a quick time. Nevertheless, we're still a little off the pace. I think there's a little more to come from me; I need to understand what the track needs in terms of setup to get the best from it, and there's definitely quite a bit more to come from the car, as we're still not reaching its limits."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, "I think there were quite a few teams struggling to find the right setup this afternoon. The first practice session is always a mix of working through various technical procedures that need to be done, learning the circuit, and from this starting point, developing the car to maximise its potential for the track. We have another one hour session tomorrow to continue this work and, after some analysis with the engineers, I know Alex will be back in the seat tomorrow looking for those extra seconds that he needs to break into the top ten."
Team Mexico
Friday was the first day of activity in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the 5.41-Km Brno circuit. There, Mexican driver Sergio Perez started testing for the A1 Team Mexico and in the first practice for rookie drivers only, his best lap was at 1'51.226 and in the second session he improved his time, setting a lap of 1'50.090 to take sixth spot.
About his performance during the day in the Czech Republic, Perez commented: "In the first practice I only went out to test the new (brake) discs. So, at the beginning I could not push because of that, I had to get them up to temperature. The other competitors set their best times basically with new tyres. Later, I was able to go faster. For the second session I went out with other new parts for the brake system and my car had good tyres on - not new, but still good enough. Almost everybody had used tyres; maybe the only driver with new tyres was the French one, who at the end was fastest.
Overall, I feel very happy. Each time I go out I adapt myself more to the car; I need more laps, but we are already among the fastest rookie drivers. I think we are going in the right direction. It's just a matter of time to do even better. This time the team did not ask me to be conservative. That boosted my confidence. At the beginning the car was kind of nervous and we made some changes, but it developed more understeer. Therefore, Salvador (Duran) and the team will have to work further on this."
Sergio participated on Thursday in a truck race as part of the public relations activities around the race weekend. Perez finished second, while the winner was the Czech Republic driver. "It was fun, Salvador supported me a lot and he helped me, because the vehicle did not have much power. We had a great time."
For the last practice session of the day, Salvador Duran was seventh fastest with a 1'48.424 lap time. Regarding his performance he said: "On the second lap we did our time. Something was wrong with my gear box and before getting my pit box, it broke. It was a pinion what was broken, with this I lost my third gear and then the session ended for us. I could not go out to the track again; we will do so until Saturday's practice session prior qualifying. In fact, I did only one fast lap, it was not the best lap. I think I could go faster later. The car developed a lot of understeer. It's not good enough, but we have time to improve its balance."
Team Netherlands
During the first free practice of the A1GP at Brno, A1 Team Netherlands set the 11th fastest time. In the one hour session A1 Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen set a time of 1'49.360. That fastest lap was set by Bleekemolen right at the beginning of the practice session. In total Bleekemolen drove 17 laps on the circuit in the hills just outside Brno.
Jeroen Bleekemolen: "The fastest times of the session were all set straight in the beginning, during the first timed laps. At that moment I went off, which wasn't too handy. We had a reasonable amount of understeer. During the session we were able to improve the car some more, so in comparison we were quite a bit better at the end. But especially on this circuit you can then do little more with your tyres at the end of the session. We started here with the Zandvoort set up, this is a totally different track then Zandvoort though and it just did not work yet. I think we should be fairly competitive. Now it was the case of setting your fastest time in your first or second timed lap, then you are in front".
Jan Lammers: "We were resetting our sights today, of course it is a huge change of scenery compared to Zandvoort. I don't think we are much further away here from the fastest time then we were in Zandvoort on a dry track. Today we were not able by far to get the maximum out of our tyres. When you take that into account you end up at a gap of about one second with the fastest time. We will have an extensive debrief later on, during which we will decide in which direction we will go tomorrow. As far as absolute pace is concerned we should be within the first six or eight. I expect that we will go out on used tyres tomorrow morning, so it won't look to great in the first practice. We hope that we can get an idea whether or not we are in the right direction. For tomorrow afternoon we will take will make a prediction for running on new tyres, you can never determine that in advance. During the qualifying that prediction should then turn out good or bad".
This afternoon at 13.00 hours the Rookie test was held, in which Renger van der Zande made his debut for A1 Team Netherlands and drove the 550 bhp strong orange car for the first time, on a new track. In the two 25 minute segments the A1 Team Netherlands reservedriver could get used to the car, the circuit and the team without pressure. Renger drove a total of 19 laps and in the end finished in 12th overall.
Renger van der Zande: "This was absolutely superb, really a extraordinary experience. Jan told me to build up easy. The first session we used to break in the brakes, during the second session I was able to cover some more kilometers. Of course I did not know this track, which made things not so easy. There are some corners here where you really have to let your car roll, I had to get used to that. But soon I was able to turn in to the corners faster. This is totally different then Formula 3, but very nice!"
Team New Zealand
New Zealand driver Jonny Reid has slipped comfortably back into the driver's seat in the opening practice for Sunday's second round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in the Czech Republic.
In his first A1GP race weekend drive since November of last year Reid set the 8th fastest time in today's shakedown at the Brno circuit, clocking up 23 laps in the one-hour session.
Black Beauty was 1.9 seconds behind the fastest car, Germany, which impressed by setting a lap time almost a second quicker than second placed Switzerland, with France, the Czech Republic hosts and Great Britain rounding out the top five.
New Zealand's Engineering Team Director David Sears says Reid has impressed the team with his attitude and driving ability.
"Jonny's been applying himself very well, he's looking focused and sharp and we're expecting him to be right up there on race day," Sears said.
Because Sears and his Super Nova Racing outfit also run the German team, Reid and the New Zealand team's engineer have the data from the uber-quick German car to look at in a bid to make further improvements.
The New Zealand team is also pleased that the jammed wheel nut that cost them dearly in last weekend's Feature Race in the Netherlands won't be on the car this weekend.
The part, which took an age to remove during a routine pit stop and dropped New Zealand well back down the field, was found to be defective and has been replaced.
"It was off-set and not going on properly, so we've been given a new one free of charge," Sears said. "Fingers crossed, we hope that issue has been resolved."
Today's practice was held in dry, but overcast conditions. However, there is a strong probability of rain on the weekend.
Team Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan travelled to the Czech Republic from last week's A1GP season opener in Zandvoort, Netherlands, in preparation for the second race weekend in the 12 event calendar of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, hosts the race and was given a warm reception by the teams, many of whom are visiting for the first time.
It is A1 Team Pakistan's first trip to the Moravia region, in which Brno lies, with Nur Ali a newcomer to this typical European track. The new recruit to the team and to A1GP was given special dispensation to run in the Rookie Session of the weekend, which gave him valuable additional driving experience ahead of the official practice session.
In the late afternoon official practice session, Ali was able to build confidence and develop his car using the data from the earlier track time. In the second hour of running, A1 Team Pakistan used the session to work on qualifying and race setups.
Ali said at the end of the sessions, "Today was much better than last week. I understand the car a lot more than I did last week and things are starting to come together. I'm glad we could have the waiver to run this morning, as we didn't run in the Silverstone test. This morning was fine and this afternoon it was going well, until the middle of the session when the car went loose and wasn't handling very well. We changed the setup and improved a bit, but I know there's lots of room for further improvement. Tomorrow's a whole new day and we'll hope to continue progressing in the right direction."
Arif Husain, Chairman, A1 Team Pakistan, added, "Nur is continuing to learn quickly with A1 Team Pakistan. It's not easy to jump into a new car, work with a new team in a new series, and we know it will take some time for everyone to settle in. Of most importance is to see the A1 Team Pakistan car racing on this global motorsport stage and representing this great nation of wonderful people. This series, with its equal machinery always provides us with close racing, and this weekend will, I'm sure showcase this, particularly at this challenging circuit. We look forward to watching Nur representing his home nation in the Czech Republic for the two Brno races."
Team South Africa
It was a big day for two young South African racing drivers at the 5,4-km Brno Automotodrom circuit today. Stephen Simpson was back at the wheel of Vulindlela for practice two after sitting out the opening round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Zandvoort in the Netherlands last weekend, and Jennifer Murray became the first woman driver to drive an A1 car in the rookie practice session.
The 21-year-old Simpson, who was voted Most Improved Driver at the end of the inaugural 2005/2006 A1GP season, was delighted to be back in action after watching his compatriot Adrian Zaugg win the opening race of the new season in the Netherlands. Zaugg is competing in the final round of the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championship, in which he is lying second and in contention for a series win, at Monza in Italy this weekend.
"It's great to be back," enthused the Cape Town resident, who finished the one-hour session in 10th place, 2,6 sec behind pace-setter and winner of the feature race in the Netherlands, A1 Team Germany's Niko Hulkenberg.
"We made a new seat after Zandvoort, but it didn't work out. We spent most of the session working on race set-up. The car is good and I was happy with my performance, although I am still learning the circuit.
"Unlike some of the other drivers ahead of me on the time sheet, I have not driven here before. The track surface is very abrasive and you have to get in your quick lap early, before the grip goes away. Some of them are rookies this year and benefited from the earlier one-hour rookie practice session. There's a lot more to come from me yet."
Second quickest was Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland, nine tenths of a second off Germany's best time of 1 min 46,600 sec. Third was Nicolas Lapierre of France, followed by local favourite Tomas Enge of the Czech Republic, Robbie Kerr of Great Britain, Congfu Cheng of China, Salvador Duran of Mexico, Jonny Reid of New Zealand, Pier Guidi Alessandro of Italy and South Africa, making up the top 10.
Jennifer Murray, who is 23, impressed all concerned during the rookie session that got this week's programme off to a start, with a mature and faultless debut in Vulindlela, finishing 16th out of 20 rookies with a best time of 1 min 53,68 sec, 5,175 sec off the best time set by France's Loic du Val.
Second best rookie was Oliver Jarvis of Great Britain, followed by A1 team USA's Jonathan Summerton, the Czech Republic's Jaroslav Janis and Canada's James Hinchliffe.
"Jennifer did an excellent job for someone who has come straight to A1 from Formula Ford," said A1 Team South Africa technical and sporting manager. "Last week the most powerful single seater she'd driven was a 160 bhp 1.8-litre four-cylinder car. Earlier this week she tested a 460 bhp three-litre V8 Formula 3000 at the demanding Vallelunga circuit near Rome.
"She did well in Italy and today she showed great maturity in the 550 bhp 3.4-litre V8 A1 car. She was quicker than four other drivers, all of whom competed in the opening round's two races in the Netherlands," Carroll added.
"This has been a roller-coaster week for me," said Jennifer. "It's all happened so quickly, the invitation to drive in the rookie session for South Africa, the F3000 test at Vallelunga and then my first time in Vulindlela today. I've really enjoyed the experience and am so grateful to all concerned for this great opportunity.
"The F3000 Lola and the A1 car are very, very different to what I am used to and I now have a new respect for all top single seater racing drivers. I realise I have a long way to go before I'm at the required level to race competitively in A1, but I've made a start and I hope I get the opportunity to go forward."
Team Switzerland
A1 Team Switzerland driver Sebastien Buemi, 17, took part in the first two Official Practice sessions at the technical 5.41-km circuit of Brno in nice weather conditions. Despite a small mechanical problem in the first 25 minutes of the "Rookie Session", which made Buemi lose a bit of track time, steady developments were made throughout the day in preparation for Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's races and these will continue on Saturday morning. Buemi covered a total of 29 laps and finished in an encouraging second position with a fastest time of 1.47.501.
Sebastien Buemi said: "Even though I knew the circuit from previous experience, I had to familiarise myself with the car in the first session and do some normal checks. We have then improved throughout the day. In the first Official Practice, I had to overtake two cars when I was running with a new set of tyres and therefore I have lost a bit of time. However, I am satisfied to finish second. We will have some work to do to improve the car in the long run as this is what really matters."
Max Welti, Team Principal, A1 Team Switzerland commented: "We had a reasonable good start to the weekend. The track is beautiful but it is tricky to have a good and balanced set-up here as the tarmac is so unbelievably abrasive. You can only do one quick lap. We are of course happy with our scratch position, however, what is much more important is to see who is the quickest over the whole day of running and in which sector. This is quite a difficult task as you have to analyse all the different sector times and lap times. Just looking at our position at the end of the session, we can see that we are among the fastest teams but we are not the fastest. We will therefore continue working very hard this evening and tomorrow morning to have a good car for qualifying and the races."
Team USA
Phil Giebler used practice Friday to learn the Brno Automotodrom and prepare the A1 Team USA's Lola-Zytek for the second A1GP race of the season rather than trying for the ultimate lap time. Giebler was 13th out of 23 entrants, running a lap of 1:49.5 with an average speed of 110.35 mph.
Each team had one set of tires for the one hour session and the fastest laps were set when they were fresh. Giebler had never driven the 3.36-mile track before Friday and was in the early stage of his learning curve when the rubber was at its best.
"It was a very difficult track to learn," Giebler said. "All in all, we made good progress with the car. At the end, running with tires that were in the same condition, we were right there with the top guys. We weren't looking at total lap times. We were focusing on sector times and gathering data."
Giebler and A1 Team USA will have one hour of practice Saturday prior to qualifying.
"Tomorrow is a totally different game," Giebler said. "Those top times were done by rookie drivers who had raced on the track before and in this morning's rookie session and on fresh tires. We have no real worries."
Jonathan Summerton drove in the two 20-minute all-rookie sessions for A1 Team USA and had the fifth fastest overall time at 1:49.849, an average speed of 110.04 mph. He was fourth in the first session and fifth in the second. "I'm happy with the car and everything went well," Summerton said. "The team worked together very nicely. We were able to help with the setup information and I'm happy to contribute."
A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger believes the team, which finished second in the opener last weekend at Zandvoort, The Netherlands, is operating at a high level of efficiency. "We set objectives of learning the track and tuning the car," Weidinger said. "It was a very professional effort and result. We've established a platform to go faster in the final two days at Brno."
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