25/02/2007
NEWS STORY
Germany - 1st and 1st
With team owner Willi Weber watching from pit road A1 Team Germany notched up a third successive full-house in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport: Nico Hülkenberg from Emmerich started the races from pole position, won both the sprint and main race and, with his fastest lap of 1m18.701s in the sprint, also recorded the fastest time of the race weekend. Just as it had at the two previous rounds in New Zealand and Australia, A1 Team Germany scored a maximum 17 points once again.
With only three races remaining Willi Weber's team increased its championship lead from 25 to 30 points over chasing A1 Team New Zealand. At the same time Nico Hülkenberg, now with eight personal victories to his name, toppled Frenchman Alexandre Prémat from the top of the eternal best list.
Nico Hülkenberg made a perfect start from pole position in the sprint race to slot into the lead around the 3.28 kilometre street circuit. Loïc Duval from France overtook New Zealander Matt Halliday in the first corner and defended second position all the way to the finish. A1 Team Germany increased its lead to 2.781 seconds over the course of the 15 laps.
A1 Team Germany held its lead at the start of the main race. Strongest opponent in the opening stages was Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Dutch team car closely followed in third position by Robbie Kerr in the British A1 GP car. On lap nine the three leading teams from Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain decided to pit at the same time. After recording almost identical times for the mandatory pit stop the trio returned to the track in the original running order. After the Netherlands had to make a second pit-stop on lap twelve, Germany led from Great Britain and the New Zealander Matt Halliday. Hülkenberg had edged out a lead of more than 20 seconds in the 520 hp A1 GP race car by lap 27. A full-course yellow between lap 35 and 38 reduced the German's advantage to a mere 2.2 seconds. In the remaining eleven laps Hülkenberg, who drove in his own league around the 3.28 kilometre track, extended his lead to 9.5 seconds from Great Britain.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "Another great weekend on a fantastic circuit! The team backs me one-hundred per cent, and I'm beginning to get the impression that our job is getting easier from race to race. The sprint went very well. Loïc Duval was right on my tail at the start, but I was able to pull away slightly. The sprint actually seemed more difficult than the feature race. After the pit-stop I drove just as fast as was absolutely necessary so as not to overstress my tyres in case the safety-car came out – which it duly did. Afterwards I drove on the limit and was occasionally one second per lap quicker than the chasing pack. Our tactics worked perfectly. At the next race Christian is in the cockpit, so the car will be in good hands."
Willi Weber: "I was absolutely delighted to be able to watch Nico and David Sears' team winning in South Africa – congratulations for a deserved victory! The team's unbroken winning streak this year is becoming quite a revelation. After completing his first exploratory laps in practice Nico mentioned just how much fun he has having around the Durban circuit. There is an incredible atmosphere in the grandstands, which fits perfectly to the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport. Nico was in another league in both the sprint and feature races. The 30 point lead means that we can approach the next event without any pressure. This is ideal, particularly as Christian Vietoris competes in both races in Mexico for the first time for us."
New Zealand - 3rd and 3rd
New Zealand has tightened its hold on second place in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport after podium finishes in both point-scoring races on the waterfront street circuit in Durban this morning.
Kiwi driver Matt Halliday finished 3rd in both the Sprint Race and the Feature Race to snare 14 points and extend the team's lead over 3 rd placed France from five to 12 points.
Championship leaders Germany, who qualified on pole, were runaway winners of both the Sprint Race and Feature Race – their sixth win on the trot and eighth of the season. Germany also set the fastest lap of the day to tally the maximum 17 points for the weekend.
Germany now has 99 points, New Zealand 69 and France 57, with Great Britain (46 points) and Switzerland (45) rounding out the top five.
A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray said Halliday drove bravely and well in his first A1GP drive since early November. "The key to street racing is keeping it clean, keeping it off the wall and going fast and Matt did all three," McMurray said. "He had a few valiant attempts at reeling in the hard-charging Great Britain, but he had to defend as well as attack and 3rd in the feature was a good result given the drama behind him."
The Feature Race generated plenty of thrills and spills with 14 cars in the field of 23 failing to finish as the challenging circuit and fierce conditions took their toll on gearboxes throughout the race.
Halliday started slowly, dropping from 3rd to 6th, but a slick pit stop and a drive-through penalty accorded the Netherlands allowed Halliday to make up ground and he spent the rest of the race locking horns with GBR driver Robbie Kerr in the most compelling contest of the day.
Earlier, Black Beauty dropped one place to finish 3rd in the Sprint Race after qualifying in second spot. Halliday scored four points in finishing behind Germany and France, with the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland securing points for being in the Top 6.
Halliday said a little bit of rustiness was the reason behind his slow starts in both races. "I'm really disappointed I cost us a better position with both starts, but I can't be too disappointed in two podium placings," Halliday said. "Great Britain was quick enough in the right places to hold me off and I didn't want to take too many gambles and risk losing valuable championship points."
Great Britain - 9th and 2nd
Robbie Kerr put A1 Team Great Britain's recent practice and qualifying gremlins firmly behind him to score a sublime second place Feature podium in Round 8 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in South Africa on Sunday afternoon.
An outstanding start from ninth on the grid combined with Kerr's ability to withstand race-long pressure from New Zealand's third place entry on the challenging 2.04-mile Durban street course allowed the British team to celebrate their first podium finish since Round 5's Sprint race in Indonesia and their first Feature podium since Kerr placed second in Malaysia last November.
Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race yielded little indication as to how competitive Kerr would become in Durban as the processional affair saw the former British F3 Champion gain just two spots on his 11th place starting position. Germany's Nico Hülkenberg led from pole, taking his fifth straight win ahead of rivals France and New Zealand, piloted by Loic Duval and Matt Halliday respectively.
Starting the afternoon's 70-minute Feature event on fresh tyres, Kerr launched himself off the line, quickly capitalizing on an opening lap melee to fly from ninth to fifth when the safety car was deployed just seconds into the race. Up to fourth at the re-start, Robbie wasted little time in locking in a podium spot for the British entry with a dynamic move on the Swiss team to take third. Already lapping the slower runners on the twisting streets of Durban, Kerr set the fastest lap of the race to that point on lap nine prior to darting into the pits to make his mandatory pit-stop.
The top-three leaders pitted together, Germany, Netherlands and Great Britain, with Kerr's team executing the fastest of the three stops. An incident in the pits saw the Dutch team served with a drive-through penalty promoting Kerr to second overall when the field filtered through following some frantic activity in the pits. Hülkenberg enjoyed a commanding eleven second lead while Halliday closed the gap to Kerr in second to less than a second.
The ensuing race-long battle for second would prove to be a thriller with Kerr time and again skillfully fending off the advances of his Kiwi counterpart. Despite a slightly less competitive car for the second half of the race, in part due to running on older tyres, Robbie kept the British car firmly planted in second. A late-race safety car period eradicated Hülkenberg's advantage at the head of the pack but the teen-sensation ensured he had enough track between himself and Kerr at the re-start, the German going on to take his sixth straight victory and eighth of the season. A jubilant Kerr claimed second at the chequered ahead of New Zealand's Halliday.
"It's fantastic to put our run of bad luck behind us with a strong result like that," Kerr enthused. "I made a great start and used the new tyres pretty well in the first run. We had a reasonable race car having solved some of the issues that hampered us earlier in the weekend. The team did a great job, I raced hard and we've finally got back up where we belong."
Netherlands - 4th and 6th
A drive through penalty in the A1GP Feature race on the street circuit of Durban has cost A1 Team Netherlands an almost certain podium place. When exiting after the mandatory pitstop Jeroen Bleekemolen, at that moment in second behind Germany, hit Australia's car, which cost the team the penalty.
In this morning's Sprintrace Bleekemolen had a good start and immediately managed to move A1 Team Netherlands up to fourth, at Switzerlands expense. The team finished the 15 lap race also in that position, taking three points.
From a fourth grid position Jeroen also had a superb start in the Feature race. Already in the first corner the A1 Team Netherlands driver managed to pass New Zealand and France and moved up to second. At the restart, after a safety car because of a crash between South Africa and Indonesia, Bleekemolen paid attention and immediately opened up a gap with the rest of the field. Together with race leader Germany A1 Team Netherlands went in for the mandatory pitstop. There regrettably it went wrong for the team. The lollypop went up too early and Bleekemolen hit the rear of the Australian car on exiting. Luckily though there was no damage for A1 Team Netherlands that after the penalty came out on track in sixth. Bleekemolen was able to push a bit behind Portugal in fifth, but overtaking was not possible anymore. A1 Team Netherlands finished the race in sixth, taking five points. With the three points from the Sprintrace added A1 Team Netherlands now has 43 points and is sixth in the championship.
Jeroen Bleekemolen ; "Lately the starts have been going very well. I now have got the hang of it, especially with the standing start. We were just very quick, especially in the Feature race and able to follow Germany. You must have a perfect weekend to win and this we did not have. Of course we also had the flat tyre which hindered us a bit. I am quite disappointed, because I said beforehand that I came here to win and there was indeed a chance of winning. At least we would have finished second. That's where we belonged. A shame, because we did show that we were quick, but it did not pay off. At the pitstop the board went up and off course I floored the throttle, that is the sign that you are paying attention to. It may be stupid, but it happens. I was glad the car was still going after that and that we were able to get points. You can easily come out in twelfth after a drive through and outside the points.
Jan Lammers; "I am very glad that Jeroen has shown himself in such a fantastic manner. From practice, qualifying, Sprintrace and up to the Feature race there was constant improvement. Good starts, nice. During the race the pace of the car was there. It is a terrible bummer though what happened at the pitstop. That is a shame and has hindered Jeroen in showing how good he really was. The lollypop went up too early. You cannot send anyone out when there is traffic in the pitlane. We will have to learn from this and fortunately there were a lot of positive things. Sometimes you have a really good race and miss out on the trophy. But I think that a second place in the Feature race would have been very realistic".
France - 2nd and 20th
A1 Team France's Loic Duval finished second in the sprint race at Durban adding a fourth podium to his collection, during the 15-lap long sprint-race. In the 50 lap-long feature race Loic's effort were stopped by a drive-shaft failure on lap 2.
Duval said: "It was a tough start from the sprint race. I was surprised to be able to pass New Zealand so easily. Here I was in second place and did not want to let it go. I just could not match the speed from the German car already two seconds ahead of me after one lap."
Duval's ambitions were shot in the feature race when he suffered a drive-shaft failure on his second lap. France now lies third in the championship with 57 points.
Loic Duval added: "For the start of the feature race, I was on the dirty side of the track and did not have a lot of grip and could not keep my second position as the Netherlands passed me. Later, I could do nothing and the safety car was deployed. Then at the restart my drive-shaft broke on the second lap and the race was over for me. What a shame because we were running well during the weekend."
Jean-Paul Driot, Team Principal - A1 Team France added: "Loic Duval secured another good podium in the sprint race. In the feature race he did his best, but the drive-shaft problem cost us the chance of another strong podium finish."
India - 15th and 9th
F1 test driver Narain Karthikeyan took part in his first A1GP street race today, in Durban, South Africa. The sun shone on the narrow and winding street track where an exciting and eventful race unfolded, with the circuit proving to be too challenging for many. Karthikeyan suffered a series of unlucky incidents which hampered a weekend that had originally promised so much. However, the team managed to salvage 15th in the Sprint race and ninth in the Feature race and most importantly, two valuable points.
The weekend began well for the India team, with Karthikeyan setting the second fastest time in first practice, less than 48 hours after testing an F1 car for the Williams F1 Team.
A1 Team India were feeling positive ahead of A1GP's unique four segment qualifying session on Saturday, however the team's performance was compromised after an accident during Karthikeyan's first flying lap. Rejoining the track, Karthikeyan found the car's steering had been badly affected.
A1 Team India worked hard to ensure the orange, white and green car was fixed and ready to race in today's Sprint race, stripping the car and checking the various components. Believing the problem to be fixed, Karthikeyan chose to start the race from the pit lane rather than from his 21st grid slot, and managed to avoid a first corner incident which ended a number of team's races. After several more accidents and retirements, the Indian car finished the Sprint race in 15th, the position the team would take for the 70 minute Feature race.
While working on the car in between today's races, the team discovered the engine mountings were fractured. Unable to fix the problem on the India car in time, the team did an outstanding job to switch the gearbox, suspension and settings to a back-up A1GP car. With only minutes to spare the team made it on to the track for the Feature race grid.
The Feature race was no less chaotic than the rest of the weekend, with the A1 Team India car the innocent victim in a first corner accident. Recovering, Karthikeyan was running in 9th place when a driveshaft failure ended his race, three laps from the end. However, with more than a three lap gap to the next car, the team retained ninth place, ahead of A1 Team Pakistan.
A1 Team India driver, Narain Karthikeyan commented, "It was a disastrous weekend to be honest. A lot of it was out of our control, we were chasing a problem that was very difficult to solve. The engine mountings were broken, and by the time we found out, it was too late to fix our race car, so we had to use a spare instead.
"The spare car didn't feel quite right, it took me a couple of laps to get used to the handling, and it felt underpowered compared to my race car. It turned out to be unreliable as well, when the driveshaft broke just before the end of the race. But the team did a great job to get the car ready for the Feature race and we managed to collect a couple of points."
A1 Team India Seatholder Yohann Setna commented, "I think we've had the worst weekend of anyone here. Whatever could go wrong , went wrong. We shouldn't have anymore bad luck for the rest of the season! The boys did an absolutely super human job to get the car on the grid for the Feature race. The job was just mammoth. I think there's probably only a few teams in the pit lane that could have got the car ready in time. I'm so proud of the boys and the way Narain coped with all the problems.
"Narain got into trouble in the first corner of the Feature race, through no fault of his own, but managed to keep it out of the wall and I think it was probably his experience that helped him out of that situation. The car was handling very badly, it isn't ideal to go into a race with a spare car. But I think it says a lot about the team and Narain that after such a terrible weekend we can still come away with two points."
Brazil - 17th and 7th
A1 Team Brasil equalled its best result of the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport when Bruno Junqueira finished this afternoon's feature race in Durban, South Africa, in seventh position, scoring four points. It was a good result for the team, who had suffered mechanical problems and crash damage for the whole weekend, and started the feature race from 17th on the grid. Bruno also scored the first points for the team since the Beijing round in November.
After qualifying in 18th yesterday with a hurriedly prepared A1GP spare car, after sustaining crash damage in yesterday morning's practice, Bruno began the 15-lap sprint race from the ninth row of the grid. On the first corner after the rolling start, two cars in front of Bruno collided, leaving the Brazilian with nowhere to go. He tapped the rear of another car and was forced in the pits for a nose-cone change, emerging in 21st. Over the coming laps he was able to take advantage of three retirements, and then passed Pakistan on the final lap, to cross the line in 17th.
Bruno made a good, clean start in the 70-minute feature race, avoiding a difficult first corner in which a lot of cars encountered problems. He was up to tenth by the end of the first lap, and after the round of pitstops, just outside of the points in 11th. On lap 17 he passed China to occupy tenth, and then gained three further positions to move into seventh, the position in which he finished, collecting four points for the team.
Bruno Junqueira: Sprint Race: "I did a good start but I didn't want to take any risks. I could have tried to go from 18th to 10th but I thought it was better to be safe. But then two cars crashed in front of me on the exit of the corner and I just didn't have anywhere to go and I hit some car and had to come into the pits. We were setting some fast lap-times but I was a lap down."
Feature Race: "At the start I gained quite a few positions, especially when some guys had a problem at the first corner. Then someone stopped and I went to ninth, I passed a guy for eighth and then another car stopped and I was in seventh. I had a couple of runs at the Portugal car but he blocked me, which is how it works here. I still had a lot of push-to-pass available, but I didn't take any huge risks. Seventh is the good result for the team, especially after such a terrible weekend, just to finish with the car in one piece for the boys and get a solid finish. I'm never happy to be seventh but, looking at the whole situation, it's good."
Fernando Paiva, Team Principal: "Getting seventh today was a nice effort for the troubles we've had all weekend, which endured through the sprint race this morning. Having a crash on the first corner doesn't help, but I think Bruno, being the professional that he is, held himself together well to get the result this afternoon. I guess the way that this season has been going, this result is a good effort for us to build on. We really need to go to the next three races and get back to where we belong, so points here in Durban sets the stage for that.
Ireland - 6th and DNF
In spite of an encouraging performance throughout the weekend and a 6th placed finish in the Sprint Race which netted the team a much needed championship point, Team Ireland was forced to retire from this afternoon's A1GP in Durban, South Africa, after driver Richard Lyons touched one of the street circuit's unforgiving walls. Lyons was holding 8th place at the time and battling with Mexico and Brazil following a Safety Car period.
This morning's Sprint Race saw Lyons start 7th on the grid and finish 6th after overtaking Mexico at the first corner, so he started from 6th place on the grid for the Feature Race. Disaster struck at the start, however, when the engine stalled and Lyons had to be push started by track marshals, rejoining at the back of the field and then working his way through to 8th thanks in part to a superb pit stop by the Team Ireland mechanics.
Richard Lyons: "At the start the car didn't even really move, the engine just died as I was trying to balance the clutch to make the most of the rubber that had been laid down on the formation lap. I had some brake balance problems during the race and the accident happened when I was trying to hug the wall at Turn 3 and the rear touched it where there is a bit of an angle. I'm very disappointed – we had the chance to score well today."
Gary Anderson, Technical Director; "We made another step forward this weekend, starting with us being 2nd in practice on Friday. The accident on Saturday morning set us back and we didn't start qualifying as well as we could have, but in the end Richard put in a good time. The Sprint Race was good, but two mistakes this afternoon cost us the start and a potential finish."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal; "We had a great beginning to the day with a strong performance in the Sprint Race, but quite literally from the start of the Feature Race we were in trouble. After stalling Richard did well to come back through the field but ultimately this was always going to be a race of attrition and it's disappointing that we became one of the accident statistics."
Lebanon - 19th and 15th
A1 Team Lebanon had a weekend of strong running in Durban, South Africa for the eighth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The team has introduced a new driver for this weekend, Allam Khodair, who joins Khalil Beschir and Alex Khateeb for this event. Khodair has driven all the sessions, gaining his first experience of the A1GP car, at one of the most difficult circuits on the Series calendar.
The temporary street circuit of Durban features a tight track with concrete walls lining the 3.2 kilometres of tarmac. In the practice sessions Khodair quickly settled into his new role and by qualifying had improved his lap times by over three seconds. After a hectic qualifying hour A1 Team Lebanon finished 19th fastest to line up in this position for today's Sprint race.
The Sprint race featured a number of incidents as the cars took the rolling start and stormed down to the first corner, a tight hairpin. In the ensuing melee, an incident ahead of the Lebanese car left Khodair having to brake hard to avoid a slowing Malaysian car, but he wasn't able to avoid running into the back of this car, losing a front wing in the accident. Khodair limped back to the pits for repairs and with the quick work of the Lebanon pitcrew he was able to return to the track, although having lost a lap, and having to cope with a slow puncture for the last seven laps, he was only able to finish 19th by the end of the 20 minute race.
In the Feature race the drama started on the grid. Stalling cars delayed some nations, while at the hairpin a mistake by Indonesia, pushed the South African car into the concrete wall, with the Malaysian and Lebanon cars stranded behind it. Extracting the car, Khodair continued, but a similar incident a lap later ended with Lebanon losing the front wing and an unscheduled pitstop. Returning to the track, the Lebanese entry raced on, pitting for the mandatory tyre change and then returning in 16th place. By half distance the team had improved to 13th place, but unfortunately had to retire after Khodair injured his forearm in a in the incident, forcing retirement for A1 Team Lebanon.
Khodair said after the Feature race, "That was a tough day for us, but we've gained so much experience here. My first races in A1GP have been on one of the toughest circuits, and I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to continue in the Feature race as there was a good opportunity to get a points finish."
Tony Snook, A1 Team Lebanon, Team Principal, added, "Allam proved to be a very professional driver this weekend, backed up by the hard work of the mechanics and engineers who did their usual first class job. He was new to the A1GP car and was introduced to the Series on this unforgiving circuit. He rose to the occasion and improved his times throughout the weekend. Despite setbacks not of his own making he worked through the problems.
In the Feature race, had we not had to replace a nose cone we would have been lying in the top ten with a potential points finish when he had to retire with an arm injury. He shows great promise for the future and the team are delighted he's on board and will be driving the car at Mexico."
Canada - 13th and 21st
The unpredictable nature of street racing was evidenced Sunday in South Africa as A1 Team Canada frustratingly failed to score points for the second straight A1GP race meeting. Round 8 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, hosted on a 3.28km temporary street course in Durban's North Beach district, yielded few positives for Toronto's James Hinchcliffe as a 13th place Sprint race finish was followed by retirement on the opening lap of the Feature following contact from Indonesia's entry.
Having failed to score last time out in Australia, the team's challenges in South Africa were notable after a lowly 20th place qualifying effort on Saturday. With overtaking notoriously difficult on street courses, not least on one as tight as the Durban layout, Hinchcliffe's first test Sunday was to improve his grid position for the afternoon's Feature race with a strong finish in the 20-minute Sprint.
A decent start and the expected race attrition allowed the 20-year-old Champ Car Atlantic standout to climb to 13th at the checkered while Germany's Nico Hülkenberg led from start to finish to wrap up his fifth straight victory, equaling the record set last season by France's Alexandre Premat for most number of A1GP wins with seven. Behind the German, Loic Duval claimed second for the French team with New Zealand's Matt Halliday rounding out the Sprint race podium celebrations.
Hinchcliffe's hopes of a better showing, and a top-ten points paying finish, were quickly dashed for the second consecutive Feature event as he was taken out on the opening lap although less spectacularly than his barrel rolling exit from Round 7's race in Australia. James' initial concern related to a clutch problem on the grid, the Canadian careful not to stall for the Feature race's customary standing start.
While he launched himself cleanly off the line, he was speared from behind by Ananda Mikola in the Indonesian entry under braking into the first turn. With terminal damage to the car Hinchcliffe was forced to retire from a race which would go on to see just seven cars finish on the lead lap.
Nico Hülkenberg continued his domination of the series for Germany, the teenager scoring his sixth consecutive win and record-setting eighth from 16 starts. Great Britain's Robbie Kerr captured his first Feature race podium since Round 5 in Malaysia with a fighting second over New Zealand's Matt Halliday, the Kiwi continuing to set the pace shown by his compatriot Jonny Reid in previous rounds.
"You have to be smart when street racing,' stated Hinchcliffe. "Unfortunately after I made a decent start, despite some clutch problems, the Indonesian guy just ran too deep into the turn and whacked me – race over. The car was much better today and with the attrition rate in the Feature I'm sure we could have scored some much needed points. It wasn't to be here so hopefully Mexico will be kinder!"
South Africa - 7th and DNF
South Africa's Adrian Zaugg endured a heart-breaking weekend at the wheel of Vulindlela. The 20-year-old followed up his seventh place finish in the 20-minute Sprint race this morning with a luckless outing in this afternoon's 70-minute Feature race.
He was stranded against the tyre wall on the opening lap after two cars collided in front of him in turn one, a 90-degree hairpin, and he rode over a piece of one of the cars. The safety car was deployed and Zaugg managed to get going again to rejoin the field in 19th place.
After two laps behind the safety car, the race got underway again, but just two laps later an over-ambitious attempt by Indonesia (Ananda Mikola) to pass Zaugg down the inside of turn one saw the two cars collide. Mikola retired on the spot while the South Africa limped back to the pits.
The South African team spent the next 40 laps repairing the extensive damage to Vulindlela and Zaugg rejoined the race - to the delight of the partisan crowd - with five minutes remaining. He was rewarded with the fastest lap of the race - on the 49th and final lap - and was officially classified in 17th place, 38 laps behind the winner.
"This was not the South African debut I had hoped to make this weekend," said a disappointed Zaugg. "But that's motor racing. It was just bad luck. We made some adjustments to the car after qualifying, as I was not 100 per cent happy with the set-up, and we were really looking forward to a strong performance in the race.
"A big thank you to the team for getting me back out in time for a few laps at the end of the race. The car was great and as we saw from the lap times, we might have done quite well had we not been the victim of other people's mistakes."
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