23/03/2007
NEWS STORY
The 2006/07 season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport continues this weekend with the ninth round of the Series being held in Mexico City. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, named after Mexico's most famous motor racing sons, Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez, plays host to the 23 nations competing in this international race series which pits country against country.
The venue for this race is new to the Series and with only one of the drivers in the A1GP field having prior race experience of the circuit it will be a level playing field for all the teams. A1 Team Lebanon, as well as many other teams, will be using one driver for the whole weekend, to gain as much advantage as possible from track time available.
Allam Khodair, the Brazil-born Lebanese driver who joined the team in South Africa, will be in the cockpit for the Mexican round of the Series. Capitalising on his rookie status, the team will run him in all the practice sessions of the race weekend, before Saturday afternoon qualifying and the two races on Sunday.
The Mexico City circuit lies 2500 feet above sea level, with a 4.46 km lap length that features 16 turns. It is renowned as a demanding circuit with sharp elevation changes and quick corners, so it is expected to produce close, exciting racing for the A1GP fans.
Khodair, who had his first experience of the A1 Team Lebanon car in Durban three weeks ago, says of the Mexican challenge, "Having completed a race weekend in the A1GP car, I'm feeling more confident and better prepared for this event. I didn't know quite what to expect when I went to Durban. Although I'd met with the team and we'd had lots of discussions, it's not until you get in the car and drive it that you can start to understand it.
"I've had my ‘rookie' weekend and now we can start to gel together as a team, developing the car and making it as comfortable and as competitive as possible over the course of the practice sessions. Of course, I'm still very inexperienced compared to most of the drivers in A1GP, but that doesn't worry me. I just want to do the best job that I can for the team and for Lebanon."
A1 Team Principal, Tony Snook, adds, "Allam coped well with the demands of the street circuit in South Africa, which was never going to be an easy location for a driver's introduction to the A1GP car. Now he's going to have the chance to put the car through its paces on a permanent race track and I think that will be a little easier for him, particularly without concrete walls inches from the car.
"The Mexico event will give Allam and the team further experience of working together and developing the car, and I hope that we'll be able to see improvements in Allam's performance and overall lap times as the weekend progresses."