04/02/2007
NEWS STORY
Germany - 1st and 1st
Again, Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany scored the maximum possible results in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport: in round 7 in Australia, Nico Hülkenberg from Emmerich in Germany started from pole position and won both the sprint and feature races. He also recorded the fastest race lap of the weekend on the Eastern Creek circuit. Only a fortnight ago in New Zealand, A1 Team Germany had achieved exactly the same feat already. After six wins – two in sprint races and four in feature races – Willi Weber's team extended its lead in the overall standings from 19 to 25 points ahead of its new closest rival New Zealand with four events remaining.
A1 Team Germany once again turned its pole position into a good start in the sprint race. Nico Hülkenberg entered the first corners in top spot when a battle unfolded between New Zealand and Great Britain behind him, with both cars touching wheels and British driver Robbie Kerr car gaining one position. A spin of A1 Team Lebanon caused a safety car period in lap five. Thereafter, Nico Hülkenberg maintained his leading position, whilst New Zealand attacked Great Britain and regained second spot. After 14 laps on the 3.93 kilometre long Eastern Creek circuit, A1 Team Germany took its fifth win of the season, having achieved the fastest lap of the race, too.
At the beginning of the feature race, A1 Team Germany realized that the Australian race was not quite a carbon copy of the previous weekend in New Zealand, as Nico Hülkenberg lost his top position at the start to A1 Team New Zealand's Jonny Reid. After a safety car period between lap 2 and lap 7, A1 Team Germany decided to do the mandatory pit stop in lap 9. In the following lap, Jonny Reid came in to get a set of fresh tyres. With his pit stop having been somewhat slower, he lost his position to Germany. Nico Hülkenberg gradually extended his lead, having held an advantage of 3 seconds midway through the race after 24 laps already. After 47 laps, he crossed the line 6.756 seconds ahead of Team New Zealand. Both leading cars were run by David Sears motorsport and were in a class of their own, more than 26 seconds ahead of Ho Pin-Tung's A1 Team China car.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "The sprint race was good but not easy at all as A1 Team New Zealand and later Britain were pushing. I managed to build up a lead of three seconds when the safety car came out. I lost my advantage, so I had to push and we won. In the feature race, I had too much wheelspin at the start. I lost one position and couldn't get past Jonny Reid in the first corner as I was on the outside. Thanks to a quick pitstop, we fought back and I was ahead of A1 Team New Zealand again. This is clearly a victory of the team of David Sears that has helped me regaining my lead. Obviously, we are in a good position in the championship, but we don't relax as my appetite is whetted for further victories."
Willi Weber: "Congratulations to Nico and the David Sears motorsport team. Thanks to them, A1 Team Germany again had a fantastic weekend, celebrated another couple of victories and scored the maximum number of points. This is more than we could expect after an exceptionally good weekend a fortnight ago. Some rivals dropped back in the standings now, but New Zealand emerged as the new strongest opposition. We are in a good position regarding the fight for the title, but we must not forget that there are still eight races to come on four weekends, so everything is open. Part of our successful weekend was once again Christian Vietoris who finished the 'rookie practice session' on Friday as runner-up in only his second outing for us. He deserves to get more miles in the car. Nico and Christian are two great German talents."
New Zealand - 2nd and 2nd
New Zealand has jumped into second place in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport after finishing second behind Germany in both point-scoring races in Sydney today.
The Germans, who qualified on pole, were comfortable winners of both the Sprint Race and Feature Race at Eastern Creek – their fourth win in a row and sixth of the season. Germany also set the fastest lap of the day to tally the maximum 17 points for the weekend.
Kiwi driver Jonny Reid snared 14 points, allowing New Zealand to leap over France on the championship points table after the defending champions could only manage 9 th place in the Feature Race. Germany now has 82 points, New Zealand 57 and France 52, with Great Britain (37 points) and Switzerland (36) rounding out the top five.
A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray said it was an extremely satisfying performance in Sydney following two wins in Indonesia and a pair of 3 rd place finishes in Taupo.
"Two firsts, two thirds and now two second places," McMurray said. "We've hit a purple patch of form with Jonny being a model of consistency in the driver's seat.
"To be a clear second in the championship was the chief goal of the team this weekend, so we're delighted to have achieved what we set out to do.
"It's still hard to believe we're in second place among 22 nations competing in this championship. We're obviously proud of the achievements to date, but the success has made us all the more determined to keep producing positive results."
The action-packed Feature Race, which resembled a demolition derby at times with plenty of contact, started perfectly for New Zealand as Reid put his foot down and roared past 19-year-old German prodigy Nico Hulkenberg.
The Kiwi successfully defended his lead at the second corner and was just into his second lap of the scheduled 50 laps when Canada and Singapore bumped wheels, sending the Canadian car flying and rolling. Both nations were forced out of the race, as was South Africa after it clambered over Pakistan while still under a yellow flag.
When the safety car departed at the end of lap seven Reid started well to hold his lead. But shortly afterwards Germany and a host of nations pitted a lap earlier than New Zealand and Hulkenberg managed to edge ahead on the back of a slightly quicker pit-stop.
As the carnage continued behind them, Ireland was another to retire after being struck by Switzerland, Germany and New Zealand cleared out from the pack with China driving brilliantly to earn the nation's first ever podium finish.
Earlier in the day Black Beauty survived a bump with Great Britain on turn three of the Sprint Race only to relinquish second place to the Brits on the very next corner.
A spin from Lebanon towards the end of lap five bunched up the field and as the safety car peeled off at the end of lap eight, Reid timed his charge superbly and regained second spot.
The 23-year-old could not reel in Germany, but scored five points for finishing second, one place ahead of France with Switzerland and the Netherlands rounding out the top five after Great Britain had to retire with a punctured tyre.
China - 6th and 3rd
Sprint Race
A1 Team China got second best qualifying position in A1GP, and Ho-Pin started the rolling-start Sprint race from third row. He took the inner track position before the first corner, but A1 Team Netherlands found its way and took over Team USA and China. Ho-Pin kept trying to overtake Netherlands car, but it was very difficult and risky. He did not get back to sixth position until A1 Team GBR quitted the Sprint race.
Ho-Pin: "It was not a good start as I expected, and I tried to overtake A1 Team Netherlands but did not get that much time because there were only 15 laps in total, and all these cars in front are very fast. I will try again in the afternoon when there were 70 minutes to run. We practiced pit stop many times this weekend, hopefully our team can save times for me and give me this chance to get better result."
Feature Race
From 6th position again in the Feature race, Ho-Pin lost two positions after the first corner. Followed two very bad accidents, many A1 Teams went for their pit stop in lap 8 and 9, A1 Team China car stayed on the track for extra 5 laps and made 31 seconds ahead of A1 Team Germany. The pit stop was very fast, and Ho-Pin managed to take 5th position after getting back on the track. He overtook A1 CZE and A1 NED in stunning style, and finished in 3rd in the Feature race. He achieved A1 Team China's objective for this season: raise Chinese flag in A1GP.
Ho-Pin: "I am very happy to get onto podium of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, the whole team worked so hard to get this trophy. As I said after New Zealand round of A1GP, the new setup of the car is very good and fitting in my driving style. I was getting faster and faster after pit stop, and overtook two cars in front of me. I got my feelings when I was in German F3, I will keep this spirit till the end of the season. And now our team is working towards correct direction, we still need more time to figure out the better setup of the car for each race. We are looking forward same performance in Durban."
Mr. Liu Yu, A1 Team China Seat Holder, who stayed in Shanghai to work on A1GP Shanghai race in mid April congratulated the team over the phone: "I am very happy about team's performance in Australia, just I cannot be there to share the joy with them. We win this trophy fair and square, and all Chinese people should be proud of this honour. It is also perfect timing for us to promote A1GP Shanghai Race in April, it will generate more attentions all over China, so we are expecting a better A1GP race in Shanghai this year."
Netherlands - 5th and 4th
A1 Team Netherlands will leave Eastern Creek with nine points. With a fifth place in the Sprintrace and a fourth in the Feature race the team had two good races, in which Jeroen Bleekemolen laid the foundation for the result with two superb starts.
In the Sprintrace this morning A1 Team Netherlands started from an eighth grid position. Bleekemolen had a superstart and immediately passed A1 Team China and A1 Team USA in the first corner. A crash by Lebanon caused a brief safety car situation and at the restart the A1 Team Netherlands driver almost was able to overtake Switzerland in the first corner. In the end the positions remained unchanged in the remaining laps and A1 Team Netherlands took the first two points of the weekend.
From a fifth grid position Bleekemolen again had a perfect start of the Feature race, this time it were Switzerland and France who were overtaken straight at the start by A1 Team Netherlands. A spectacular roll by Canada caused the second safety car situation of the day. Many teams went in for their mandatory pitstop shortly after the restart of the race. A1 Team Netherlands went in as well, but this time the stop did not go without a hitch and some seconds were lost in the pitlane. But Bleekemolen managed to keep his third position. Shortly after though A1 Team China came on strong and not much later passed A1 Team Netherlands in the first corner. Bleekemolen was unable to cling on, but had enough space with the Czech Republic to finish in fourth and take seven points for the Champioship.
Jeroen Bleekemolen; "I think we had a pretty good weekend. Fifth and fourth, just like the last race, but now in reverse order. I am quite pleased. Two times a very good start where I was able to make up some positions. It was too bad that we lost the podium in the race. Our stop did not go 100 percent perfect, but everybody has got something sometimes. We can be quite pleased with this and are in reach of fourth place in the Championship, it is only two points. We are doing well and have been competitive in the last few races. Especially now that we are going to Durban, where we should be able to run in front, it is looking good".
Dave Stubbs; "Looking at where we came from, qualifying in eighth which was a little dissapointing, finishing fifth in the Sprintrace and fourth in the Feature race is pretty good. We have moved up in the Championship table again. A lot of that was down to the two fantastic starts Jeroen had in both races. Maybe it is a bit disappointing not finishing on the podium, after their pitstop China had the better of us and were able to do quite a few hot laps on their new tyres, passing the Czech Republic and us"
Jan Lammers; "All things considered we have had the maximum result this weekend. We moved up from tenth to a joint sixth place in the Championship. Jeroen did a very good job, with a very good start in both races. The podium might have been possible, we had a good weekend, China just had a fantastic weekend. That's the reality. They took more risk with the late pitstop and it paid off. Looking at the races as a seatholder instead of team principal we had a fantastic race day today, with the well deserved podium finishers".
Switzerland - 4th and 7th
A1 Team Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi finished fourth in the sprint race at Eastern Creek and earned another four points in the feature race to take Switzerland's overall total to 36 points in the championship. Switzerland has now climbed to fifth overall in the classification.
Buemi commented, "The start of the sprint race was not easy as New Zealand , Jonny Reid and Great Britain were very strong. I considered passing France Loic Duval, but I did not want to take any big risks at that stage. I am satisfied to have finished in fourth after starting from third row. I kept my pace all race and took
another good start after the safety car introduction and protected a second line start for the feature race.
He continued: "I have mixed feelings for the feature race. I would have liked to score more points this weekend. I feel that the course of the race would have been changed if I did not miss the start as I immediately lost a few places. After the start I already reacted in the second hairpin and overtook two cars. Our
effort was stopped because the pace car was deployed after Canada's accident. But then after the restart I found my pace. We had a bit of trouble at the pit stop with one of the wheel guns and again I lost a few places. After earning three points in Zandvoort and one point in Brno, and nine points in New Zealand I'm pretty happy to have scored another seven point on my first visit to Australia."
Max Welti, team principal, A1 Team Switzerland added: "Sébastien Buemi had an excellent weekend. It started with the sprint race. He established that his car was as quick as most of the teams. He drove a fantastic race without mistakes and had quick reactions when needed. Sebastien was also wise with using his tyres. Despite Sebastien missing his start in the feature race, he reacted exceptionally well all along these 50 laps and never gave up. His tough fight wasn't made easier by a complication during the pit stop with one of the wheel guns that suddenly locked while changing the wheel. This weekend Switzerland has climbed three places in the championship and now ranks 5th with 36 points. To finish one point only behind Great Britain is an incredible boost to our team's spirit."
Neel Jani's recovery continues to progress to the doctor's satisfaction. He should be back with the team driving in Durban for the eighth race of the season on Sunday, 25 Feb
France - 3rd and 9th
Loic Duval finished third in the sprint race at Eastern Creek adding a third consecutive podium to his collection, during the 20 minutes-long sprint-race. In the 50 lap-long feature race Loic scored two more points and a ninth place. During the race, the weather remained overcast, but the track was dry.
Duval said: "It was a tough start from the sprint race. I was surprised by New Zealand, Jonny Reid and Great Britain, Robbie Kerr's aggressive strategy. I made a big mistake at the start. The first corner is quite bumpy and I used three push to passes. I waited for the right moment to overtake and after the restart behind the pace car I passed Robbie Kerr in good conditions. The car was not perfect so we have to improve it a bit leaving from three to fight for first place."
Duval scored two more points with a ninth place in the 50-lap feature race. With 52 points France is in third place in the championship.
Loic Duval added:" I had a slow start and lost two positions. I was hoping to make up but we lost time in the pit-stop and I only rejoined the race in 12th place. I pushed as hard as I could, but there is only one place to overtake in good conditions on this track and I could only make it up to 9t.h"
Eric Boullier, Managing Director A1 Team France added: "Loic Duval completed his third consecutive podium in the sprint race. He had a good race and the third place that he earned after passing Robbie Kerr after the restart behind the safety car was outstanding. A good preparation to the feature race. But Loic lost at
the start and then the safety car came out stopping his efforts. During the pitstop, we had a problem with a wheel and lost 7 positions. Loic did his best but with a ninth finish today, France has lost one position in the overall championship classification.
Malaysia - 7th and 6th
A1 Team Malaysia finished in sixth place in the Feature race and seventh place in the Sprint race at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Sydney, Australia, today, recovering well in a challenging weekend for the team.
The team faced some challenges in the practice sessions, running in the lower grid positions for much of the time. With mechanical issues and routine engineering tasks using up valuable track time the team used their expertise to review their strategy prior to qualifying and with Yoong's driving skill were able to improve to 10th place for the Sprint race grid.
In the Sprint race, with only 15 laps of racing, Yoong knew that the first lap would be his chance to gain ground. At the green flag the Malaysian moved immediately to lie eighth. He maintained this position as the race unfolded and after a safety car period mid-distance Yoong kept his placing and by the chequered flag, with the British car ahead dropping out of the race, he finished in 7th position, just one place out of the points.
The Feature race, with the Malaysian starting from seventh place, saw drama from the start, with Singapore nudging Canada into a barrel roll off the track, bringing out a safety car period. Six laps later the race restarted and Yoong held position, pitting for his mandatory tyre change as soon as allowed. Returning to the track he improved a place to sixth and held this position until the chequered flag.
A1 Team Malaysia remains sixth in the A1GP World Cup standings with 35 points, only two points behind the British team currently lying fourth.
Yoong reviewed the races saying, "In the Sprint race we had a good start and made up a couple of positions, but didn't really have an opportunity to make up any more with so few laps. We had a great start for the Feature race, but the French car weaved towards me and I had to back out of the first corner which allowed the Czech car to get past, so I should have been third or fourth. From then on I was just pushing as hard as I could. After the pitstop I had problems with the front right tyre graining, so although I could keep the Swiss car behind me, I couldn't make an impression on the Czech car ahead. We take away some points, which is good for the team and we move on to Durban for more A1GP action."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, reflected on the weekend saying, "We have produced a top ten finish for Malaysia and, importantly, amassed more championship points. Our goal now has to be to get in the front running pace right from the start of the weekend. There are many positives we take away from Australia, but we know we need to do more if we're to get further up the championship points table".
USA - 8th and 8th
After a poor start for A1 Team USA, driver Phil Giebler pushed hard throughout the Australian A1GP Feature Race to finish the day in eighth place and earn three championship points.
In a tough start to Sunday's Feature Race, Giebler slipped from eighth to eleventh position by the end of the first lap. As other teams began pitting, A1 Team USA moved up to third. After leaving the pits in 12th place following eleven laps, Giebler overtook France in Lap 12 and opportunistically worked his way up the field. The "We The People" car then remained in a intensely competitive battle with Team Switzerland, racing neck and neck till the end of the race to an eventual eighth place finish.
In the morning's Sprint Race, A1 Team USA finished eighth as well, after a bad start and subsequent push to make up position.
Said Giebler following the Feature: "It's always disappointing to lose key positions at the start of the race, but at the same time, on a track in which passing is so difficult, it was vindicating to move up the grid successfully and, in the end, be able to walk away from the weekend with three championship points."
"The Team did a good job of getting us back in the game after our poor start in the Feature Race," said A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger. "Although Phil did well to battle back and defend his position, it is tough once you lose three positions on the grid at the start of the race. More and more we are seeing how critical the start and pit stops are in this exciting and very competitive racing series. Overall, we are pleased with the development of our rookie driver Jonathan and the fact that we finished eighth out of 22 this Sunday in Australia. The Team will now prepare and pack up the car for one of our favorite races on the calendar - the street race of South Africa."
Great Britain - 19th and 10th
Robbie Kerr managed to salvage a solitary point from a weekend that promised much but failed to yield the hoped for results as Round 7 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport visited Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway.
A puncture in the morning's Sprint race wiped out Kerr's sterling qualifying efforts from the previous day, dropping the British entry from a certain podium finish to retirement in the pits, before the Burbage racer showed his true grit to fight his way from the rear of the field to tenth place, and the final point, in the afternoon's 70-minute Feature race. Despite just one point scored from the last five starts, Great Britain still clings to fourth overall in the Nations Standings with four rounds remaining.
With a podium finish to their credit from the previous visit to the 2.4-mile Sydney circuit, the British team was optimistic of another strong showing in Australia following Kerr's qualifying performance on Saturday, the former British F3 Champion claiming third on the grid for Sunday's 20-minute Sprint. Kerr looked like capitalizing on his starting slot early in the proceedings as he took the fight to the front-row pairing of Hülkenberg and Reid, racing for Germany and New Zealand respectively.
Blocked by Reid at the first turn, Kerr then picked up a puncture on his front-right tyre, the full impact of which would be felt later in the Sprint. Passing Reid for second, Robbie's steady handling looked like it might reap reward with a podium finish until a safety car period and the subsequent loss of tyre pressure had a terminal effect on the stricken British entry. With New Zealand and France passing for the final podium spots, the punctured tyre eventually let loose at Turn 1 leaving Kerr to hobble back to the pits and into retirement. Nico Hülkenberg won the Sprint ahead of Reid and France's Loic Duval.
Sunday afternoon's Feature race saw Kerr take the start down in 19th and despite a brief off on the opening lap he was quickly making up lost ground. When racing re-started following an early safety car period Kerr was firmly on a charge, sprinting from 19th to 15th on the first lap under green. Taking his mandatory pit stop a lap after the leaders, Robbie was soon fighting in the top-ten, even banging wheels with France as the dueling nations fought for track supremacy. Despite late-race pressure from Brazil's Tuka Rocha, Kerr defended tenth to the checkered to score a welcomed point for Great Britain. Hülkenberg triumphed again for Germany, their sixth win of the season, with New Zealand's Jonny Reid taking second ahead of China's Ho-Pin Tung.
"It definitely wasn't the weekend we should have had," reflected Kerr. "We deserved more and for whatever reason we've just been unlucky these last few races. The Feature race was never going to be easy starting at the back. I managed to get up to tenth but the car was struggling for grip at the end so I just couldn't match the pace of the guys ahead. Hopefully we'll get more from the Durban event."
Brazil - 21st and 11th
A1 Team Brasil was in action today at the Eastern Creek circuit in Australia for round seven of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. It was a day of mixed fortunes as Tuka Rocha was forced to retire from the sprint race with a mechanical failure, but put in a great drive in the feature race to recover from a 21st position starting place to his eventual 11th place finish.
In this morning's 20-minute feature race, Tuka started 20th after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday. He made a good start, moving up a position past Team Lebanon and then gained two further positions, passing Teams South Africa and Indonesia. Unfortunately, the Team Brasil car was suffering from a problem, which had also hampered qualifying, and Tuka experienced a sudden drop in fuel pressure, which got so bad he was unable to continue.
The retirement meant Tuka had to start the 70-minute feature race from 21st on the grid. He made an outstanding start, and by the end of the first lap was in 12th position, and then gained a further position on lap seven, and by lap eight was in tenth position, after passing team Italy. After the round of pitstops, Tuka was in 11th position and set upon pursuing tenth placed Team Great Britain. Although he put enormous pressure on GBR's Robbie Kerr, especially in the closing laps of the race, he was unable to pass, and crossed the line in 11th. However, after suffering set-up problems all weekend, the team was happy that Tuka was able to maintain competitive lap-times and keep the pressure on the frontrunners.
Tuka Rocha: "I had a great start, like all the races I've done and then after that I just kept pushing and I was actually impressed because the whole race I kept the lap times the same level as the guys in front of me. That was really important, because it showed we have made some progress and improvements. However, we still have something very wrong with the car. The guys in front of me just slide through the corners, and my car just moves around too much. Before the next race in Durban we will be analyzing everything, making a lot of changes and rebuilding the car because we are sure something is wrong."
Ireland - 10th and DNF
Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi crashed Team Ireland's Richard Lyons out of a strong 7th place in the A1GP of Australia at Eastern Creek on Sunday. Lyons, starting 10th on the grid, moved up to 9th at the start and a superb pit stop by the Irish crew elevated him further to hold 7th with the USA, France and Switzerland behind.
Buemi tried a reckless out-braking manoeuvre on the Irish car, mainly managing to hit its rear and damage the suspension. The Team Ireland car returned to the pit lane where the mechanics replaced the top rear wishbone and sent Lyons back out onto the track to try for fastest lap, but the damage to the car had badly affected the car's handling and he retired after three laps.
Richard Lyons: "It's a bit difficult to get a result when someone drives into the back of your car and pushes you off the track. I am not sure what tactic that is, but maybe the guy has to take his brain out to get his helmet to fit. We'd had a good race up until then, again the pit stop was great and we were making up places. Malaysia (Alex Yoong) in front of me was struggling so I think I could have taken him, but Switzerland put an end to that."
Gary Anderson, Technical Director: "Richard was having a good race and there were points to be had before the Swiss car hit us. These things happen, the main thing is we have learned more this weekend and been able to run inside the top 10. We could have scored points, we didn't, so we move on."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Gary, Richard, John O'Hara and the whole team have worked really hard to move things forward over the last two race weekends and today a top 6 finish was on the cards. The race incident isn't worth agonising over – I doubt Buemi will build a career on that. The main thing is to stay positive and keep working hard. We don't need luck, just to keep working hard with positive people and those in Irish motor sport who want to see a national team competing to win in A1GP. We look forward to Durban."
Canada - 13th and DNF
A1 Team Canada came away from Round 7 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday empty-handed following a disappointing 13th place Sprint race finish and a spectacular Feature race retirement for James Hinchcliffe at Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway.
Blocked at the start of the morning's 20-minute Sprint, Eastern Creek's tight, 3.93km configuration yielded little opportunity for Toronto's Hinchcliffe to make up the two spots he dropped from his 11th place grid slot. Traditionally a processional race as the field protects its position ahead of the 70-minute Feature race, the Sprint results forming the start order for the afternoon's race, James was held in 13th through to the checkered flag, his first non-scoring finish for Canada since Round 1in Holland.
Pole-sitter Nico Hülkenberg claimed his third straight A1GP win with the Sprint race honours, the teenage rookie scoring Germany's fifth victory of the season to further extend the team's points advantage over France in the Nations Standings. Hülkenberg was joined on the podium by New Zealand's Jonny Reid and France's Loic Duval in third, the leading trio continuing their podium streak having shut-out the top-three slots two weeks earlier in New Zealand.
Hinchcliffe's Feature race proved to be short lived following contact on the opening lap with Singapore's Christian Murchison. Running side-by-side into Turn 4, Canada edged ahead under braking but Murchison's front-left tire tagged Hinchcliffe's right-rear pitching the 20-year-old rookie into a spectacular barrel roll which left him parked upside down in the gravel trap – race over.
Both drivers emerged unscathed from the incident but the subsequent failure to score for a second straight outing dropped Canada down a spot to tenth in the Nations Standings having arrived in Australia sitting ninth overall following a pair of top-six points scoring finishes in New Zealand. Germany's Hülkenberg claimed the Australian Feature win with Reid second again for New Zealand while China's Ho-Pin Tung celebrated the team's first-ever A1GP podium in third.
"Well I'm pleased to say the car held up really well during my crash," stated Hinchcliffe post-race. "Lola does a great job constructing these cars and all I'm left with thankfully is a bruised knee and a bruised ego. I'd made a great start, I was pushing Ireland for position, they had the line into turn four so I let them go but then I guess Christian ducked in there as well and we hit. It was a racing incident, nothing more but it's really frustrating as we had a good car with the potential to pick up points."
South Africa - 16th and DNF
South Africa's Alan van der Merwe endured a heart-breaking weekend at the wheel of Vulindlela.
The 26-year-old former British Formula Three champion paid the price for only managing to qualify 17th for the 20-minute Sprint race, finishing 16th after the shorter of Sunday's two races and having to start the 70-minute Feature race from the inside of row eight alongside Italy's Enrico Toccacelo.
"I got hit up the rear in the rolling start, which lifted the rear of Vulindlela off the ground at the critical moment," said Van der Merwe of his Sprint race. "As a result we lost a couple of places and once the race settled into a pattern it was not easy to overtake.
"Two guys put me on the grass when I did try to overtake. It's not just the front runners who take losing places seriously in A1GP – they are all racing for their nations."
Fighting hard for track position and trying hard to make up places at the start of the Feature race, Van der Merwe was one of three cars that went wide and into the Aussie dirt at turn two - the others were former A1GP race winners Mexico (Salvador Duran) and Great Britain (Robbie Kerr).
The Safety Car then came out after Canada (James Hinchcliffe) and Singapore (Christian Murchison) tangled in turn four, launching the Canadian into the air and a one-and-a-half turns barrel roll. A shaken but thankfully uninjured Murchison was extricated from his crumpled car as it lay upside down on the side of the track.
When the race was about to resume after the now depleted 20-car field had followed the Safety Car for five slow laps, Van der Merwe, running in 18h place, crashed into the back of Pakistan (Nur Ali) and was immediately out of the race. This incident kept the Safety Car on the track for another two laps.
"Pakistan was slow to accelerate out of turn nine under the safety car and Alan perhaps had an eye on all the cars driving away from Pakistan, which led to our retirement," said Mike Carroll, technical and sporting manager of A1 Team South Africa.
New Zealand's Jonny Reid, who had managed to out-accelerate Hulkenberg at the start of the Feature Race and remain in the lead after the two Safety Car incidents, was demoted to second behind Germany after the mandatory pit stop. He went on to finish second ahead of an impressive Ho-Pin Tung, who gave A1 Team China their first podium.
A highlight of the race was an audacious move by the talented Chinese driver when he passed the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen on the outside of the 260 km/h turn one for third place on lap 22. Race co-commentator John Watson, a former leading Formula One driver, described it as the best overtaking manoeuvre of A1GP so far.
Lebanon - DNF and 17th
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Sydney, Australia, reached its climax today with A1 Team Lebanon racing hard in front of a large contingent of Lebanese supporters. It was a tough day for the team, with a retirement from the Sprint race and a 17th place finish from the Feature event.
Alex Khateeb represented A1 Team Lebanon at this round, with team mate Khalil Beschir on the pitwall assisting by displaying the pitboard for his team mate and Basil Shaaban watching from his UK base. The Australian round of the A1GP Series is the team's adopted home race, with the large community of over 300,000 diaspora in the country, the team enjoys the support of many passionate fans. Displaying a giant flag the Lebanese congregated on the hill close to the first turn and cheered on their national team throughout raceday.
In the Sprint race, the rolling start saw Khateeb take the green flag and through the first corner cleanly. The Team Lebanon driver drove well in the first few laps, staying with the pack until a gearbox problem when Khateeb spun off track and into the wall, ending his race. The A1 Team Lebanon car was returned to the pits after the race and the crew immediately set to work to remove the gearbox, investigate the cause of the problem, and replace the necessary parts, as well as repairing the damage sustained in the Sprint race accident. With less than two hours to complete the task it was the team effort that ensured that A1 Team Lebanon were back on the grid for the Feature race.
At the green flag Khateeb stayed out of two incidents ahead which left three cars off track and two rivals hitting each other and retiring from the race. The drama required a safety car period to clear the cars and debris and with the Team Lebanon car lying in 15th place, the race restarted on lap 44. As the race reached half distance he maintained his position, fiercely defending it from the Australian car through the mid section, but his fight came to a premature end with a steering problem forcing Khateeb to retire to the pits for repairs. A committed pit crew were able to fix the car and the Team Lebanon driver returned to the race, although out of contention having lost three laps to the rest of the field.
Khateeb said after the Feature race, "It's been a tough, challenging weekend, both for myself and my team. They have been brilliant; particularly today when we had a number of issues. They are so dedicated and worked so hard to make sure we could race this afternoon, especially with so many Lebanese flag–waving supporters all around the track spurring us on."
Tony Snook, Team Principal, A1 Team Lebanon commented, "A1 Team Lebanon has shown its strong teamwork today, managing to rebuild the car very quickly after the problems of the Sprint race. Alex was unlucky to have a gearbox issue in the Sprint race, but recovered well to drive well in the Feature race. He tussled hard with Australia, so it was disappointing for us to have another mechanical problem in the Feature race. We have the Lebanese fighting spirit and will return to Durban hoping to have better fortune there."
Pakistan - 20th and DNF
A1 Team Pakistan completed the seventh round of the 2006/07 A1GP season today, at the Eastern Creek circuit on the outskirts of Sydney. The day's main race was dramatic, with a number of overtaking manoeuvres and accidents and five nations failing to finish. The team finished 20th in the Sprint race but failed to finish the Feature race after an incident with A1 Team South Africa.
A1 Team Pakistan arrived at the Eastern Creek circuit earlier this week, with Nur Ali taking to the track for the first time on Friday. A further practice session and qualifying on Saturday saw the team line up on the 11th row of the grid for the Sprint race.
The 20-minute Sprint race began under cloudy skies this morning, with A1 Team Pakistan taking its place for the customary rolling start. As the field of cars passed the start line to begin the first lap, Ali closed up on the pack to pass the A1 Team India car. Ali maintained his position for a number of laps until the race was re-started after a short safety car period. In a close battle, the Indian car regained position and A1 Team Pakistan went on to finish the race in 20th place.
After a colourful opening ceremony, Nur Ali took up his 20th grid slot for the 50 lap Feature race. After numerous accidents on the first lap, Ali stayed clear of the unfolding melee to move up to 17th place. The field of A1GP cars lined up behind the safety car while marshals cleared away debris from the earlier incidents. But just before the restart, the A1 Team South Africa car hit the back of the Pakistan car, ripping off the rear wing and ending the team's race.
Reviewing his afternoon, Ali said, "I'm very frustrated with the results of the second race. I was feeling very confident and focused ahead of the race, I've really enjoyed competing at this circuit, it suited my driving style and I think we could have had a good result here. It was a bit of a shock when South Africa hit me, I was accelerating at the time, so I can't quite understand what happened, but I get on well with Alan (van de Merwe) and I'm sure we'll have a talk about it later."
A1 Team Pakistan Team Manager Bobby Issazadhe, "We were really unlucky today. Nur was showing good pace and I think we could have had a decent battle with India. Caution has to be exercised under safety car conditions and Nur was really unfortunate to get caught up in the incident. He didn't do anything wrong, the data shows that he was actually accelerating at the time of the impact. Nevertheless he showed good progress this weekend and we will build on that at the next race."
To check out our Eastern Creek Race Day gallery, click here