25/11/2006
NEWS STORY
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil qualified 15th today in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, with nominated driver Raphael Matos tackling his first ever A1 four-part qualifying session. It is a disappointing grid position for the team, who had high hopes after its double-points finish last time out in Beijing, but the crew will be working hard overnight to try to improve the team’s chances in tomorrow’s sprint and feature races.
Raphael completed 18 laps of testing for the team in the final one-hour practice session this morning before moving onto the afternoon qualifying. Ominous black clouds appeared overhead just minutes before the session began, indicating that teams could be in for a wet session but, although a little light rain fell at the start of the first segment, heavy rain never appeared and qualifying remained largely a dry affair.
Team Brasil's Raphael set his two fastest laps of 1:53.402 and 1:53.343 in the first and third segments respectively, and his lap in the third segment was quick enough for sixth fastest. However, although setting some quick sector times, he was never able to pull together a perfect lap and had to settle for 15th, therefore he will begin on the eighth row of the grid for tomorrow's sprint race, which gets underway at 11am local time.
Raphael Matos: "I liked the qualifying format, it's not to difficult. But I think that there is an advantage if you have a real confidence in your equipment and set-up. It helps if you know you have a fantastic car. Today the car was really difficult, especially in the last two segments. I think the track was cooler on the first run but I made a mistake and then on the last two runs the car was not good and I couldn't push any harder. We have a lot of work to do for tomorrow."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "I'm disappointed with today's result. Yesterday we were much faster and we haven't changed the car so maybe the track has changed. This is Raphael's first time doing the A1 qualifying format, and although he was doing some very good sector times on his laps, unfortunately he didn't do three good sectors on the same lap. We'll have to make a lot of changes to the car for the races tomorrow."
Canada
Sean McIntosh ensured A1 Team Canada kept its top-ten qualifying record intact Saturday as he posted the ninth fastest aggregate lap time at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia ahead of Round 4 of the 12-round 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, starting with Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race.
McIntosh (21), competing for A1 Team Canada for the first time this season, was keen to keep the team's streak of top-ten starts going following James Hinchcliffe's excellent qualifying performances in the Canadian car over the opening rounds in Holland, the Czech Republic and China. The 21-year-old from Vancouver failed to disappoint as he reacquainted himself with the 550bhp, V8-powered A1GP car that he drove to victory in Indonesia in the inaugural A1GP Championship last season.
Straight out on a brand new set of tires for the first of four timed runs, the fastest two being used to set the aggregate qualifying time and the grid order for Sunday's Sprint race, McIntosh lapped the 5.54km Sepang International Circuit in 1m53.142s. His next lap would be faster as he made the most of another set of new tires to post a time of 1m52.210s, the sixth fastest lap of the second session.
Sean's third run, and final outing on fresh rubber, was less fruitful as he admitted he might have pushed a little too hard for the lap, setting a 1m53.424s, ninth fastest from the 22-strong field of nations. The Canadian's last run of the session, this time on old tires, was a competitive 1m53.398s and a faster lap than his previous one. With his first two laps being the fastest of the four, and therefore forming his aggregate lap time of 3m45.352s, McIntosh ended Saturday's qualifying session ninth overall to secure a top-ten grid slot for Sunday's Sprint race. Pole went to Switzerland's Neel Jani with New Zealand's Jonny Reid lining up alongside on the front-row for the rolling start.
Encouraged to be starting 13 spots higher up the grid from last season's rain-soaked A1GP qualifying session in Malaysia, McIntosh's competitive edge meant he was still left wanting more. "The car certainly had pace today,' he commented. "I didn't get the best from my first set of tires but the second run was more promising. The track had warmed up by the third outing and I probably pushed a little too hard. I didn't come here to qualify ninth, I wanted to be higher than that on my return with the team but compared to last season's start position at Sepang it's a definite improvement!"
France
Following a trouble-free third official practice session on Saturday morning in preparation for Sunday's secondr ound in Sepang, Nicolas Lapierre qualified 10th for Sunday's sprint race.
Lapierre looked in good shape in the morning practice session as he clocked the sixth fastest time with 1.54.619.
Nicolas explained: "I was wrapping up yesterday's work and was using the old tyres. We wanted to
finalise the set up in the morning to be ready for the qualifying session. But really all weekend
we've been missing the information that we usually gather from the rookie session."
Nicolas Lapierre qualified 10th with an aggregate result of 3.45.410. The 22-year-old French driver set his personal best times in the first and second runs with times of 1.52.693 and 1.52.817. Data collected today will now be analysed carefully by the team in order to improve the car's balance for tomorrow's races.
Nicolas Lapierre added: "For some reasons we need to understand, why we did not make the most of our new tyres and why we cannot get the ratio of tyre-speed correct here. For me the results are
disappointing finishing tenth. Nevertheless, tomorrow should be better. We have had good result last year. If we take a good start, maintain a good pace and plan for a good strategy in the race, on this wide track, the results should be fine."
Jean-Paul Driot, team principal, A1 France added: "I am very disappointed with the qualifying results. We need a good start tomorrow, a good strategy and a competitive pitstop for a better result in the races."
Germany
After recording fastest lap in every free practice session the Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany claimed third spot in qualifying for the fourth round of the A1 Grand Prix Series in Malaysia. As result, nominated driver Nicolas Hülkenberg starts the first of Sunday's two races from the second row. At the opening round in Zandvoort the newcomer was on the second row, at the second race in Brno he started from the front row.
In the first of four qualifying segments around the Sepang circuit Nico Hülkenberg set second fastest time 1m51.836s on new slicks. On new tyres again in the second part he recorded the third fastest time of 1m51.545s in the powerful 520 hp A1 Grand Prix race car. With another set of new tyres for the third outing the German team topped the timing screens in 1m52.017s. The final part of qualifying, which was interrupted by a red flag following an accident, brought second place for the team with a time of 1m52.538s. The sum of the two best times, from which the starting grid is determined, puts A1 Team Germany in third spot.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "We used new slicks in the first three qualifying runs. Under such weather conditions and the constant threat of monsoon rain I drove out early for my first attempt – just like everybody else. There was loads of traffic on the track. I caught up with the Irish car and lost time. The next two runs were better for me, but the circuit conditions in the third and fourth outings didn't allow any of the top teams to improve the absolute lap time. I was hoping for a little more after the excellent showing in free practice, but a good result in both races should nevertheless be possible from the second row of the grid."
Great Britain
Robbie Kerr boosted A1 Team Great Britain's hopes of scoring a maiden A1GP victory tomorrow in the fourth round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, hosted at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, by securing fourth on the grid for the opening 20-minute Sprint race with an aggregate qualifying lap time of 3m43.941s today.
In a repeat performance of last season's qualifying session at the 3.44-mile, 15-turn Grand Prix track, Kerr proved himself to be one of the pace-setters right from the off. Straight out on new tyres for the first of his four timed runs, the Burbage racer posted the fourth fastest lap time with a 1m52.016s to kick start the session. He backed that up with an even faster run in the second segment, also running a fresh set of Cooper tyres, lapping the circuit in 1m51.925s to again set the fourth fastest time.
Fourth fastest once more in the third session on his final run on new tyres, a change to the set-up of the British entry failed to yield the hoped for results as the track temperature continued to rise affecting the overall balance of the car. Tenth fastest in the fourth session on old tyres proved to be irrespective as Robbie's first two runs were enough to secure a second-row grid slot for the Sprint race, the second straight season A1 Team Great Britain would line up fourth in Malaysia.
The fight for pole was settled by Switzerland, courtesy of Neel Jani's fastest aggregate time of 3m43.014s, with Jonny Reid impressing in the New Zealand entry to line-up second on the grid. Robbie Kerr is joined on the second row by third-placed Nico Hülkenberg, the 19-year-old German with an A1GP victory to his credit already this season from the Feature race in Round 1 in Holland last month.
Kerr, who scored a third place finish in the Malaysian Sprint race last season, is optimistic he can improve that result this time round as he prepares to race for A1 Team Great Britain, currently third in the A1GP Nations Standings, for the first time since Round 2 in the Czech Republic six weeks ago.
"Sepang's a good open track so I'm confident we can push for a win tomorrow," Kerr stated. "The racing's usually pretty good here and the track really lends itself to overtaking opportunities, subject to the weather of course! We had a competitive car in qualifying and we now know what works and what doesn't in relation to set-up. I can't wait to go racing tomorrow!"
India
A1 Team India continued to make good progress today at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia. At the track where Armaan Ebrahim took his first victory in Formula BMW Asia, the 17 year-old driver put the Indian car on the tenth row of the grid.
The team benefited from a number of set up changes made overnight, to finish 19th in the morning's practice session. While some A1GP teams set quicker times by running on new tyres, A1 Team India choose to conserve their new rubber for the all important qualifying session.
Under slightly cloudy conditions, A1 Team India took to the track in the afternoon for the four ‘flying lap' runs, of which the best two times aggregated set the team's grid position.
Commenting on his performance in qualifying, Ebrahim said, "Conditions were good on track today, I had a really good first lap, but then on my second flying lap I was blocked by the USA car which I think lost us about half a second. Unfortunately I made a couple of mistakes on my third hot lap and on my fourth attempt, we were running on old tyres which lost us time. Tomorrow I will be hoping to make up plenty of positions in the Sprint race to give us the best possible starting position for the Feature race."
Yohann J Setna, Seat holder for A1 Team India added, "Armaan did a good job on his first qualifying lap and was actually 2.8 seconds quicker than his best time this morning. His second lap was even quicker, but he was held up quite badly by another car. I think that lap would have put us up a couple of positions on the grid. He should pick up some places tomorrow in the Sprint race as he tends to be good at rolling starts. Armaan is very much a racer and drives better in a racing situation when he is being challenged rather than on one qualification lap."
Ireland
Michael Devaney will go into tomorrow's A1GP event in Malaysia having qualified 13th on the grid after a qualifying session marred by a collision with Germany's Nico Hulkenberg. The Irish driver was on his first flying lap of qualifying when his car was struck from behind by Hulkenberg's, pushing him into a spin.
The young Rathfarnham star recovered to set timed laps in the remaining three qualifying segments, moving into a mid-field slot. His best times were set in the second and third segments, his final run slower as track conditions appeared to deteriorate ahead of an expected thunderstorm.
Michael Devaney: "Obviously the first run was ruined so that cost us. We improved the car during qualifying and I kept it the same for the last two runs, but the last lap was slower and I wasn't able to improve. We seem to be stuck outside the top ten and unable to make the big step we need to get up with the leaders."
Andy Miller, Technical Director: "We made some progress with the set-up this morning and again during qualifying but the incident with Germany lost us our first run and we had to play catch-up after that. We'll go through all the data and decide on the best set-up for tomorrow's race, the aim being to pick up our first points."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Clearly the pace is not there so in the end a mid-field qualifying slot was what we expected after practice. The incident with Germany was completely unnecessary as every driver should ensure he has a clear track for qualifying – running into the back of our car isn't the cleverest solution to traffic."
Lebanon
Track action at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Malaysia, the fourth round of the series continued today, with the field of national teams taking to the superb Sepang circuit for final practice and qualifying. Khalil Beschir is driving for the team this weekend, with team mates Basil Shaaban and Alex Khateeb supporting him from the pits.
Morning practice finished with Beschir 21st fastest, although the times were not indicative of qualifying pace as many teams opted to preserve their new tyres while others prepared for the qualification session with trial new tyre runs.
Prior to qualifying the drivers gave fans the chance to have photographs taken with them and their programmes signed at the official all-driver autograph session held in the main grandstand area at the circuit.
In afternoon qualifying Beschir struggled with car set up during the four ‘flying lap' runs but improved his times with new tyres and showed progress as he turned more laps and became increasingly comfortable with the A1GP car. At the end of the session Beschir had posted times which gave him an eleventh row grid position, lining up 21st for the Sprint race tomorrow.
Beschir said after qualifying, "I am the least experienced of all the drivers ahead of me on the grid and most of them have been driving the A1GP car more frequently and more recently, than me. I'll be doing my best tomorrow to represent Lebanon and the Arab world on this Malaysian track and I hope that I can improve on my starting position in the two races."
Brian Ireland, A1 Team Lebanon Chief Engineer, added, "Khalil's lack of seat time in this car is reflected in our results today. Overall, he's shown good improvement from the first session yesterday morning to today's qualifying. It's not easy to get back in the groove in such a short space of time. We're working together to make car changes which will give Khalil more confidence to push a little harder and this in turn will bring lower lap times. Now we'll focus on the races tomorrow, including various strategies depending on weather conditions, which could play a major role in the outcome of these races.
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia completed their final preparations for the home round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport with a morning practice session in which Alex Yoong finished seventh quickest and afternoon qualifying with the popular Malaysian driving to seventh place on the grid.
Fairuz Fauzy drove for A1 Team Malaysia in the first practice session yesterday, providing useful input for the team and handed the car over to his team mate Alex Yoong for the remainder of the weekend.
Yoong was sixth fastest yesterday afternoon and continued with his strong form, finishing seventh fastest in final practice this morning.
In afternoon qualifying Yoong was a little uncomfortable with the car for his first run and the team identified a brake problem which they quickly resolved and made a number of setup changes in efforts to improve the performance of the A1 Team Malaysia car. After the four segments of qualifying Yoong's two fastest laps resulted in a seventh place start for the Sprint race.
He said after the session, "It was a very difficult session, with the conditions changing a lot and whilst there wasn't any rain, the sun came out and made it very hot for the last two sessions. We saved our new tyres for those last two sessions. Seventh on the grid is still up there and we can still have a very good result. We'll work on a race set up for tomorrow and we will aim for a good result for our home fans."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, added "We're comfortably within the top ten for race day. We would all like to have started further towards the front of the grid at our home event, but this is a highly competitive series, the field is full of very talented drivers, including Alex of course, and we know that the racing tomorrow will be fast and furious. Our strength is our teamwork and I know we'll all be on top form tomorrow and giving all the fans here an extremely exciting day."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands will start the A1GP Sprint race at Sepang tomorrow from sixth on the grid. In qualifying Jeroen Bleekemolen set a combined time of 3'44.932 (1'52.534 + 1'52.398). A good result for A1 Team Netherlands which had a difficult start to the weekend on the 5.5 kilometer long F1-circuit.
This morning, in the final free practice session A1 Team Netherlands was still unable to battle in the top of the field, the team finished in sixteenth position.
Just before the qualifying started in the afternoon it started raining a bit and the skies above the circuit also became darker and more threatening by the minute. But at the start of the first session it was dry and A1 Team Netherlands went out right at the beginning, as did almost all other teams, in order to get at least one dry run. In the first qualifying segment Jeroen Bleekemolen put A1 Team Netherlands in fifth position.
In the second session it also stayed dry and Jeroen Bleekemolen went out on track first. He managed to improve on his time slightly, but China just squeezed in front of A1 Team Netherlands. After the third run, in which everybody ran on used tyres and there were no major changes in the order, very dark clouds started coming towards the circuit and it looked like it could start raining heavily any minute. But it still stayed dry and with eight minutes left in the session Bleekemolen went out on track. The track proved to be less quick then in the first two sessions and Jeroen was unable to improve further on his time.
A1 Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen was very pleased with this qualifying result; "Off course I am very happy with this, because yesterday and this morning we were running quite bad. When you see where we are now, this is just super. We have just been able to improve so much. Everyone has worke very hard to get the car ready each time, yesterday evening and this morning before qualifying.. That is just perfect. We have done this as a team and this is why we do this, these are the nice moments. The race tomorrow will be warm, but that won't be too muc of a problem. It could go in any way, it could rain and on used tyres the it's a complete different running order. It will be close though, that is sure".
A1 Team Netherlands team principal Jan Lammers saw the sixth grid position as a result of excellent teamwork; "Pleased of course. It was already clear for us yesterday that this was going to be difficult to turn this weekend around. But it would give us the most satisfaction if we would be able to get this turned into the right direction. The whole team and especially the engineers have worked together very well and made good use of our data simulation. Jeroen also did a very good job, when we had the car ready and waiting he delivered. We still have some work for tomorrow, but at least the front row is in our sights and we are able to really race. It will be a tough race tomorrow. Everyone is close together, there will be lots of hard fought battles like we are used to in A1GP. Sixth is not where we should be, that is further up the grid. But when you see where we are coming from and where our direct competition is, we can be quite pleased", said Jan Lammers who briefly looked back on yesterday; "Renger just did a good job on Friday. A first time on this circuit. He has again proven that he is a valuable asset to the team and that he is quite capable of laying a solid base for the rest of the weekend. So this is a true team effort with Jeroen behind the wheel".
New Zealand
New Zealand will be on the front row of the grid for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race in Round 4 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Malaysia.
Kiwi driver Jonny Reid qualified in second position by posting fast times in the opening two segments of today's qualifying session around the Sepang International Circuit, ending up third fastest in the opening hot lap before setting the quickest time of the entire qualifying session in the second segment.
He dropped to 11th fastest in his third run, but the average time of his two opening segments was enough to propel Black Beauty on to the front of the grid alongside Switzerland and Reid didn't even need to race the fourth and final qualifying segment, choosing to keep the car in cotton wool and save a set of new tyres for tomorrow's races.
New Zealand team owner Colin Giltrap said the car was "brilliant" and Reid was in fine form.
"Jonny's pumped and we're delighted for him because when the pressure went on he responded with the quickest lap of the day," Giltrap said.
It is the second time in as many drives this season that Reid has qualified for the front row. He qualified on pole during Round 2 in the Czech Republic, only to crash before the first corner.
Giltrap said a number of teams were worried about driver fatigue in the stifling heat and humidity during tomorrow's 70-minute Feature Race, but Reid was confident his fitness and focus would last the distance.
Earlier today Reid had posted the 4th fastest time in the second of the Official Practice sessions, following on from his 3 rd` ranking after Friday's first practice run.
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan continued its weekend programme at the Sepang International Circuit today, as 22 national teams took to the track for qualifying. In a system unique to A1GP, Nur Ali completed four ‘flying laps' within the four 15 minute qualifying segments, with his best two times aggregated to produce an overall qualifying position on the 11th row of the grid.
Taking part in his first event at the Malaysia circuit, Ali gained valuable time in the A1 Team Pakistan car, while the track temperature reached 46 C° and humidity hit 80 per cent. A quick lap in the final qualifying session was hampered by the Lebanese car, which had stopped on track, suffering from a technical failure.
Ali said at the end of qualifying, "Again a slightly frustrating end to the day, during my last flying lap I had to lift to avoid the A1 Team Lebanon car which was slowing down in front of me. I think that would probably have been our fastest lap of the weekend. But we can't be too disappointed, a lot of laps lie ahead of us tomorrow and as long as we stay out there and out of trouble, we should be able to gain some positions.
"We're going to work on set up and strategy now, just to make sure we have everything in place for the Sprint and Feature races. We really don't want to mess up on the pit stop, as that could really hurt us. I think we stand a chance of a good result tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to racing around this amazing circuit."
Arif Husain, Chairman, A1 Team Pakistan, added, "Nur is continuing to make good progress at Sepang, with the team's times improving in each session. It is great to see the car race around this magnificent Formula One facility, flying the flag for Pakistan. Hopefully we will put on an entertaining race for all the fans in Pakistan tomorrow. "
South Africa
South Africa's ‘Vulindlela' with Adrian Zaugg at the wheel qualified 8th out of 22 for the fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport this afternoon.
The 20-year-old winner of the A1GP season-opening sprint race in the Netherlands in October finished 2,2 sec behind pole position winner A1 Team Switzerland (Neel Jani), who was also on pole for the inaugural A1GP at Malaysia's state-of-the-art Sepang circuit in November last year and went on to win both races.
Second was New Zealand (Jonny Reid), followed by Germany (Niko Hulkenberg), Great Britain (Robbie Kerr), China (Congfu Cheng), Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen) and Malaysia (Alex Yoong).
"I lost about four tenths of a second on my first qualifying run when I had to avoid the incident between Germany and Ireland (Germany tagged Ireland in a corner as the pair started their first timed run)," said Zaugg. "I could have finished fifth.
"I ran a bit wide on my second qualifier and spoiled my chances of improving on my first time. The circuit cooled down a lot with a few drops of rain during the fist two sessions, but the temperature went up again for the last two sessions and nobody really went any quicker. We used new tyres for Q1 and Q2 with the threat of rain and saved a new set for Q4.
"Tomorrow we must have a good start in the sprint race and try and make up a few places, score some more championship points and be in a stronger position to challenge for a podium in the feature race."
Switzerland
Neel Jani stormed to pole position for tomorrow's sprint race at Sepang, Malaysia. Earlier in the morning, ten young Petronas Formula Xperience drivers (who are part of the support races to A1 GP) invited Neel Jani to meet them and inspect their cars.
Jani took part in a long Q&A session with the drivers and gave them plenty of advise on how to drive faster and how to get the best out of their cars. In a reciprocal move Jani invited Malaysia's future driving stars to the A1 Team Switzerland pit garage where they could watch and cheer for him in final practice.
Jani was in good shape in the morning and then pulled it all our in the afternoon to seal pole position for A1 Team Switzerland.
Neel Jani said: "I am very pleased with the result. Today is my first real race weekend and also my first pole of the season, the third of my career and my second at Sepang. I pushed very hard from start to finish. My first lap was really good and as the session went by, it got tricky as the rain threatened, but it was very hot and humid and the track was slowing down. In the end we took the risk not to go out anymore, as there was a red flag in the fourth session when Team Lebanon blocked the track for a short and had spread debris on the track. We had a good strategy for qualifying and it paid off. We made sure to save our tyres too for the race. It's a great boost for what is a completely new team of mechanics and engineers and we're working really well together. I cannot thank the team enough. Overall, this track is so interesting and challenging. It will be a an interesting race as I am far from the limit of my car and I have some more speed in reserve. I am in pole on the grid for Sunday's sprint race and this gives me confidence for a good race."
The Swiss driver achieved his best times respectively in the first (1.51.608) and 2nd session (1.51.505) that brought his two best times to a final aggregated time to 3.43.014 for the two first sessions ahead of New Zealand and Germany.
Max Welti, team principal, A1 Team Switzerland commented, "What a good day considering that we had serious tyre problems in the third free official practice session and no data from our rookie session. It shows that a well-oiled team always works well together."
USA
Team USA will start from tenth position Sunday in the A1GP – World Cup of Motorsport Sprint Race at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
Although Team USA driver Phil Giebler had trouble in the first two qualifying segments he posted the fastest time in the fourth and final qualifying segment with a 1:52.521. Team USA was later promoted to tenth place after stewards judged that the "We the People" car had been blocked by a slower car during the crucial second qualifying segment. 14 of 22 cars set their fastest time of the day in this second qualifying segment.
"I only had two shots with new tires, so the second segment of qualifying was critical," said Giebler. "But I was held up for 5 or 6 corners by another car who also turned into me on its cool-down lap. We were lucky the TEAM USA car was not damaged seriously."
The Sepang racing circuit offers a wide racing surface which will yield a number of passing opportunities during Sunday’s Sprint and Feature Races. Team USA is confident it can improve its finishing position by taking advantage of this.
Team USA Owner Rick Weidinger said "We are disappointed by the results of the first two qualifying segments – one error and one block – but are cautiously optimistic about our chances of moving up the grid from the tenth spot in the Sprint Race to another podium finish in the Feature Race". Weidinger continued, "After two poor segments, Phil showed his mettle by posting the fastest time of all drivers in the fourth qualifying segment which speed and precision, I hope, carries into the Sprint and Feature Races where Team USA can secure Championship points."
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