27/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Brazil
The final round of the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport got underway today at the Brands Hatch circuit in the UK. Bruno Junqueira was in action for the team for a one-hour practice session this afternoon.
Bruno's race weekend got off to a positive start yesterday when he took the top step of the podium at the traditional Thursday PR event. The A1GP drivers were taken to stunning Leeds Castle, in Kent, where they enjoyed a very British morning of clay pigeon shooting and apache rally driving, before enjoying a lunch in the castle library. Bruno showed his mettle in the apache rally driving competition, blowing away the competition and taking home the winner's bottle of champagne!
Unfortunately, practice didn't go quite as well as yesterday's rally driving, with Bruno having to settle for 16th place in the standings, two seconds off the time of Robbie Kerr for Team GBR, who finished the session at the top of the timesheets. This afternoon's outing was Bruno's first time driving on the Brands Hatch full Grand Prix track, although he did finish second in the 2003 Champ Car race on the Brands Indy circuit.
Bruno Junqueira: "The car is so loose, it's almost unbelievable. There is just no way to drive properly or to go to fast. We made some changes at the end of the session which improved it slightly, but we still need to make big changes to the car. The track is pretty cool, I love it, it's just a shame that the car is so loose I can't enjoy driving it properly - let's see if we can change that for tomorrow."
Canada
Sean McIntosh cracked the top-ten in Friday practice for A1 Team Canada as the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent, England plays host to the season finale of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday, 29th April. The 21-year-old from Vancouver placed tenth in practice from the 22 competing nations, Sean keen to break Canada back into the top-ten of the A1GP Nations Standings with a strong final outing of the season.
Québec's Kevin Lacroix was first out for Canada on Friday, the 18-year-old participating in the ‘Rookie-Only' session in the morning. Lacroix's first trip to the famed British circuit was unfortunately marred by a stomach virus, the teenager valiantly fighting through his illness to undertake his rookie duties before handing over to McIntosh for the rest of the weekend. A brief spin followed by a fuel shortage led to the day's first red flag being attributed to the Canadian entry but Lacroix would get going again to rack up a total of 19 laps setting a best of 1m17.680s to place 13th fastest.
"I was trying to take in everything as I was learning the track while not feeling at my best today," commented Lacroix. "I was feeling worse towards the end of the session but overall the car was picking up speed and that was then reflected in Sean's times later in the day."
McIntosh, no stranger to the Brands Hatch Circuit from a successful period racing in the Formula Renault UK Championship in 2004-05, was quickly on the pace as he fired the Canadian car into the top-eight early in the afternoon's hour-long practice. His best run, a 1m16.419s set on his 24th lap from a total of 31, ended the day as the tenth quickest with Britain's Robbie Kerr fastest on home soil.
"That wasn't too bad," stated McIntosh. "It was good to get out there and make sure everything was running well with the car and work away on getting a good base set-up. There's one particular corner where I need to improve a little but I'll have a sleep on everything tonight and come back in the morning and see what needs to be done. Hopefully we can push in qualifying as it's crucial to the outcome of the Sprint race. It's great to be back competing at Brands Hatch. I know where everything is and like last time we raced here, the atmosphere feels pretty special."
France
The eleventh and final round of the 2006-07 A1GP takes place at Brands Hatch this weekend. After free practice on Friday, A1 Team France's driver Jean-Karl Vernay clocked the third fastest time during the rookie session (1.16.611). Loic Duval was third quickest for A1 Team France Loic Duval (1.15.813) and ahead of Jonathan Summerton's A1 Team USA in the afternoon's official practice session. Weather was still overcast and temperature conditions had not improved very much.
Jean-Karl Vernay commented, "This track is very special to drive on and surprised me. A good number of the competitors know it well. It is up and down like you can't believe. A real roller coaster ride! - bit like Ledenon in France but much more difficult to learn. It was my first time here. But I did not do too badly. I did not push too hard since the car was suffering from quite a bit of under-steering. I hope I have prepared good notes for my team mate Loic."
Loic Duval continued: "Good work for my 21 laps. I completed my best lap towards the end of the session before the red flags. Nothing is simple here even with Jean-Karl Vernay's information. The turns are quick and the track is quite bumpy with many blind turns too. You need to have lots of confidence in the car to be fast. Overall, I would say that today we had a good mixture for a good session. The team worked well, and the car is 90 per cent perfect. My driving lacks a bit of practice. I am only at 60 per cent of my capabilities. By tomorrow's qualifying I should have made up the difference."
Eric Boullier, managing director A1 Team France commented: "The drivers used every minute of their sessions to familiarize themselves with the track. Being fast on this track is not easy. They have done a good job overall. We have one more session tomorrow before the qualifying runs on the track."
Germany
Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany started the final weekend of the 2006/2007 season at Brands Hatch as newly crowned champions in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport. Nominated driver Nico Hülkenberg used Friday's free practice session to adapt both himself and his 520 hp A1 GP car to the circuit he had previously never seen.
While 19 nations took the opportunity to field newcomers in their cockpits and to be able to participate in the so-called "Rookie Session", the A1 Team Germany squad had to stay in the pits with its experienced regular driver Nico Hülkenberg. He was only allowed to make his first exploratory laps in the subsequent free practice session which was open to all competitors.
The 19-year old German from Emmerich circulated the 3.703 kilometre long Grand Prix version of the track, located south-east of London, thirty times. In the process he posted his best time of 1m15.943s on his penultimate flying lap. A1 Team Germany claimed fifth position in the field of 22 participating nations.
"The learning curve on this picturesque and very demanding circuit is clearly visible," stated Hülkenberg. "I drove my fastest lap just before the end of the session even though I didn't use new tyres and the used rubber was long past its best. The more laps I did the more I became accustomed to the track and its many blind corners, crests and bumps. The car was excellent from the word go. I feel much more at home in the cockpit than I did last time in Shanghai. We only changed the camber and adjusted the wing settings slightly."
Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain dominated the timesheets in Friday practice at the Brands Hatch Circuit today ahead of the season finale of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday, 29th April. Oliver Jarvis and Robbie Kerr carried through with the British team's current rich vein of form, including wins in Mexico and China, as they returned to home soil. Jarvis led the way in the morning's ‘Rookie-Only' session with Kerr, who'll race for the team on Sunday, emulating his team-mate's success in the afternoon's official practice session.
Cambridgeshire's Oliver Jarvis, back in an A1GP car for the first time since his memorable Feature race win in Mexico City last month, topped both 25-minute rookie sessions at the 2.62-mile Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in Kent. His morning's best, a 1m15.043s, was sixth tenths of a second faster than the USA's Jonathan Summerton in second. Jarvis then handed over to Kerr for the afternoon's official practice session, with all 22 nations participating. Robbie blitzed the opposition, the former British F3 Champion back at Brands and looking to become the first driver in A1GP history to take a ‘home' win on Sunday. Despite a late-off, Kerr's fastest lap, 1m15.086s, was half a second clear of India's Narain Karthikeyan in second place.
Robbie Kerr: ‘It was a good session right the way through. We knew the car was fast from this morning's outing and we tried a few other things, some worked, some didn't but overall we're looking strong. I think there are still improvements to be made in the car and driver, so hopefully we'll go even quicker tomorrow. I was actually held up on my fastest lap so I know there's more to come."
Oliver Jarvis: "It's great to get out on track with a car that's spot-on straight away! For me the car was close to perfect, they might want to make a couple of small changes but I think it's pretty much there. Robbie's in a fantastic position, the car's great, he knows the circuit and the team's on a high, basically everything's set up for a good weekend!"
Tony Clements – A1 Team Great Britain Seat Holder: "Both Oliver and Robbie have shown that the car's well prepared for the weekend ahead. Unless we have the kind of bad luck that blighted our debut event here at Brands Hatch I think we're going to stay up there and be competitive. Robbie should be knocking on the door come Sunday so we'll see!"
India
Narain Karthikeyan showed he had lost none of his skill around the Brands Hatch circuit today, after posting the second quickest time of the day. Only A1 Team Great Britain could beat the former F1 racer around the 2.3 mile British circuit.
The day started well for the Indian team, Karthikeyan taking to the track for the two rookie sessions – designed to give nations with a developing motorsport background more track time. The team set the third fastest time in the morning, despite losing a significant amount of track time with a puncture.
After a two hour break the Indian car was back on track for the second practice session. After studying data with his engineer, Karthikeyan made further improvements, taking nearly four tenths off his best time from the morning session.
Earlier on in the week, Karthikeyan and team Seatholder Yohann Setna visited Leeds Castle, a historic site located in the nearby Kent countryside. Together with a number of other A1GP drivers, Karthikeyan participated in a traditional English country pursuit and grass kart racing.
In more familiar surroundings, the Chennai born racer demonstrated why he is regarded as such as threat at the Brands Hatch circuit, having won two races here earlier in his career. "I've completed a number of F3 races at Brands, so I'm very familiar with the circuit. Today went well, but we still have some work to do on the car and we can improve the set up further. We lost quite a lot of time in the second rookie session with a puncture. A1 Team Great Britain is still very quick, so we have to close up the gap to them. If we do that I think we'll be quite comfortable tomorrow. There is quite a large Indian population in the UK so I hope if we continue improving we will give them good reason to come and cheer us on over the weekend."
A1 Team Seatholder Yohann Setna was happy with the team's pace on the first day of running, commenting, "It was a pretty good day, we were P3 in the rookie session, despite losing track time with a puncture. The second session this afternoon was very good and the team found a good balance on the car; there's a couple of small changes we want to make before tomorrow, but overall Narain is happy. I think Narain is suffering a little with his wrist, which he hurt in the accident in Shanghai and we had to bandage it up half way through the second session. But I think it's causing just a little discomfort rather than a big problem. We set some good times on both the new and the used tyres today, which is a good sign for the race."
The team are experiencing no lasting effects from the last lap crash in Shanghai, Setna adding, "There wasn't a lot of mechanical damage, it was mostly body work, but the team have replaced the driveshafts, suspension and the gear box, but to be honest, we've taken it for granted that the team would get the car ready in time as they always put in 100 per cent effort to get the job done in time."
Ireland
A1 Team Ireland had a difficult first day of practice for the final round of the A1GP Wold Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch in the UK, Reserve Driver John O'Hara spinning off early in the rookie session and Race Driver Richard Lyons reporting handling problems which left him down in 17th place at the end of his first practice session on the famous track.
Arriving at Brands Hatch fresh from the team's strong showing last time out in China, the team was hoping for a positive start to this important weekend, but instead a balance and braking problem caused a loss of time leaving Lyons and O'Hara to spend long hours with engineer Gary Anderson.
John O'Hara: "We started off ok when the track was quite dirty but as the lap times came down I was finding a few problems with the car oversteering and also had some issues under braking. Unfortunately I spun off the track before the end of my session when I think I put a wheel on the grass before turning into a corner. The car was fine, but it was frustrating to end the session early in that way."
Richard Lyons: "Looking at the data from today I seem to be losing quite a bit of time on the first and second corners, but then am ok in the faster mid-part of the track. I am not downhearted after today as we have seen a few things we can work with tomorrow morning in final practice and Gary and I have a plan which we are going to work to. I am really determined to work hard at this and get better performance from the car tomorrow."
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon began the final weekend of A1GP racing at Brands Hatch today, with the opening sessions of practice at the Kent circuit. In the morning Allam Khodair, driver for the team, was 14th fastest of the rookie drivers, with his first experience of the track. In the afternoon session the team recorded 15th quickest lap, although Khodair's session was curtailed after an off-course excursion ended with retirement for the Lebanon entry after only nine laps.
The Brands Hatch circuit is the venue that hosted the first A1GP race event in September 2005, kicking off the first season with a record audience of 70,000 fans trackside. Since that time the Series has travelled the world in two seasons of competition, with this finale bringing it to a conclusion at the historic British motorsport venue.
The team arrived in Kent earlier this week in preparation for the A1GP Sprint and Feature races with drivers Allam Khodair and Khalil Beschir taking part in the pre- event PR activity, trying their hands at the traditional English country pursuit of clay pigeon shooting, at Leeds Castle in Kent.
Following this, the drivers travelled to Brands Hatch and spent the afternoon with the engineers, walking the circuit to have a close look at each challenge that this track presents. At each corner the drivers learn the characteristics of the track from the engineer and driver coach which assists their preparations for the weekend.
Khodair said of the sessions today, "We made a number of changes to the car before this weekend, so this morning was our first opportunity to run the car. Inevitably there were adjustments required and we spent much of our time working through various modification. Nevertheless, we posted a respectable time in this session. In the afternoon I was caught up in a freak situation, which ended with retirement for the Lebanese team."
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon added, "Although we didn't have much running this afternoon the laps that Allam did complete have given us confidence for the rest of the weekend. This circuit is one of the most difficult on the calendar, and with many drivers already having experience here, Allam has done well to put in the level of performance that we've seen today. Everyone has pulled together as a team and we'll be out tomorrow with high hopes of improving on today's results."
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia began the final weekend of A1GP racing in Brands Hatch, Kent today, with seventh fastest lap time for Alex Yoong this afternoon. Young rookie driver, Aaron Lim had his first experience of the challenging circuit with 16th fastest time in the morning session which is reserved for young racing talents to work with their nations' A1GP team and gain experience of the Series.
The Brands Hatch circuit is one of the most famous and historic racing venues in the UK, hosting Formula One races from the 60s to the 80s and today being a hub for World Superbikes, German Touring Cars and other top international racing series.
Yoong has raced on the circuit during his early years of racing and returned here for the first A1GP event two years ago. He enjoys its challenges and was pleased with the team's performance in this opening day of A1GP competition.
Yoong reviewed his practice session saying, "A good first day for us. We worked through our programme, slowly chiselling our way at it, although there's more time to find. I don't think we're far away from being where we want to be, but we'd have to find quite a lot of time if we were to beat the British team, as they are looking very quick, perhaps with the home team advantage. I love the circuit and have run on it quite a bit, although only once on the Grand Prix circuit."
Lim said of his Brands Hatch experience, "The track is lovely. It's very, very challenging, a bit of a driver's circuit with so many different parts to it. First we had to do the routine work of brake pads and discs, and I really enjoyed driving it. It's all new to me as well, with so many gradient changes, camber differences, big corners, long straights, and it's all very challenging for a young driver like me. I'm looking forward to coming back here - and next time I hope I'll be racing!
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, added, "It's been an encouraging start for the team here in Brands Hatch. I'm pleased that we could give Aaron a chance to sample this great track which all racers love to drive. Alex drove well too. We know how important it is to be on the pace from the first session and with our performance today we've achieved that and hope we can just continue with this progress, working as a team to the common objectives of winning."
Netherlands
After the first day of the A1GP at the Brands Hatch circuit A1 Team Netherlands has not found the right course yet for the rest of the weekend. In the Rookie session this morning Renger van der Zande set an eighth and tenth fastest time and in the official free practice in the afternoon Jeroen Bleekemolen set a twelfth fastest time. With that result A1 Team Netherlands will have their work cut out in order to move more upfront in the free practice tomorrow morning and qualifying.
Renger van der Zande made his debut on the Brands Hatch circuit in the Rookie session of two times 25 minutes, which was suspended a couple of times with a red flag and also had some yellow flag situations. In the somewhat messy session Renger set his fastest time in the first 25 minutes with a lap of 1'16.987. That first half was held under cooler conditions than the second part and the times of almost the entire field were not faster in the second half.
Renger van der Zande; "The circuit is really cool, with a lot of elevation. It looks a bit like Zandvoort. I was looking forward very much to drive here, it is a challenging track. You can see that the raw pace is there quite early, but then you see that the drivers who have driven here more often have got an advantage in finetuning the car. As far as the car is concerned we do have to look into that quite a bit, there is lot of time we can gain there. Both with me and Jeroen you can see that it does not sort the desired result yet. We have not gone the right way in the car set up. All of this did not help us. Furthermore it was a very messy session, lot's of red flags. It was not a good Rookie session".
In the one hour free practice session Jeroen Bleekemolen was also not able to compete with the top runners. This session was also suspended a number of times with red flags. Close to the end of the free practice, which ended prematurely like the Rookie session earlier after a spin by Great Britain, A1 Team Netherlands was still inside the top ten, but right at the end the team dropped a few places. Bleekemolen did set a fastest lap of 1'16.438.
Jeroen Bleekemolen; "It has not been the best start of the weekend, that much is clear. The car has to be improved quite significantly. We do have a rough idea, at least we do know what is happening with the car on track. Now we do have to find out how we can solve this. Today we did suffer from oversteer too much. But, we still have tomorrow with a free practice where we should be able to gain some. I am not worried too much yet, but we do have to move more upfront. The circuit is really fun to drive, very challenging. I do feel confident about the qualifying, if we are able to get more from the new tyres. That has happened every time so far. Of course we do have to get a good grid position for the race and not be somewhere in eighth or ninth, we want to be among the first three or four on the grid".
New Zealand
New Zealand driver Jonny Reid will take no further part in this weekend's final round of the A1GP season after a crash in the first official practice at Brands Hatch in England.
Reid hit a barrier on the second lap of the one-hour session, leaving the 23-year-old with a swollen left hand and unable to grip the steering wheel. Although the left front corner of Black Beauty was bumped off, it was quickly repaired and the car would have been fine to complete the session. With Reid out of commission, however, it won't be back on track until tomorrow's second practice session.
Fellow foundation driver Matt Halliday, who was to share driving duties with Reid, will now be behind the wheel for the rest of the weekend as New Zealand strives to cement second place in the championship behind Germany. The accident took place on an uphill braking area that is supposed to be the slowest corner on the circuit, but A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray said the impact was significant and the team's only concern was for Reid.
"His index and middle fingers are swollen and bruised and will be given a thorough examination later today," McMurray said. "We're just relieved that he walked away in one piece because your heart always skips a beat when a car hits a barrier like that."
Reid says he's "had better days", but is simply pleased that the car is fine. "When I realised it wasn't going to take the corner I tried so hard to keep it off the wall," Reid said. "I'm still struggling to comprehend what happened because I'd given the brakes a good work-out and it was on an uphill slope.
"Hitting the wall is a strange feeling that I've never experienced in an A1 car before, but I'm thankful we'll be back on track tomorrow. Matt is equally determined to ensure we keep our nearest rivals, Great Britain, at bay and my role changes to supporting him and the team as best as I can."
Germany has already taken the A1GP title and New Zealand is 14 points ahead of the third-placed British with a maximum of 17 points on offer this weekend.
Home town hero Robbie Kerr has started the weekend in fine fashion by setting the fastest lap in the first practice session, a full half a second quicker than India, with France two/hundredths of a second further back.
Pakistan
After a difficult start, A1 Team Pakistan and Nur Ali showed signs of improvement today at the Brands Hatch circuit, at the British round of the 2006/07 season. The A1GP Brands Hatch, Kent forms the finale in an 11 round season that has seen Pakistan take on 23 countries in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Having arrived in the UK on Tuesday, A1 Team Pakistan driver Nur Ali took in the delights of the English countryside at nearby Leeds Castle. In the grounds of the 13th century castle, Ali, together with a number of A1GP drivers, took part in a clay pigeon shoot and kart race. After returning from the PR event, Ali spent the afternoon walking the track with his engineer in preparation for today's practice sessions.
Speaking about his first day at Brands, Ali said, "As with the last 10 venues, I'm learning this circuit, having never driven it before. I'd heard a lot about Brands Hatch before I came here; that it had a fearsome reputation and that it was very go off track and get stuck in the gravel. I was probably thinking about that too much during the first session and I was being overly cautious. In the second session I disregarded all that and shaved time off in every sector to improve my time dramatically. I wish I had had a little more time this afternoon, as I think we could have improved further. This morning, I really didn't like this track, this afternoon, I love it, and can't wait to get back tomorrow morning."
Ali spun off in the second practice session, while experimenting with the racing lines and commented, "I went in too hot and went off, but luckily there was no damage on the car. The team did a great job and got the car ready and back out, giving me another 25 minutes on track, which was essential. So a big thanks for them for turning it round so quickly."
A1 Team Pakistan team manager Bobby Issazadhe said, "In the first Rookie session, we had some issues with the brake discs. Nur competed in a Star Mazda race last weekend and I think it took him some time to adjust to back to the A1 GP car. The steering is very heavy and the brakes are quite different in this car.
"In second practice he was still learning the circuit, but started to pick up the pace. Unfortunately he did have a small spin, I think he just missed his braking point; Germany did the same thing at the same place on track. We managed to get the car back out, it was full of gravel, so we had to do some work and clean the car up.
"Nur has certainly been improving here; this is a very difficult track compared to Shanghai and very different. Shanghai is very wide and there is plenty of room to make a mistake, whereas here, there's no room for error."
USA
As the sun burned away the clouds over the British countryside, A1 Team USA's Jonathan Summerton put in a strong and promising day of work for A1 Team USA in both the rookie and full practices Friday for the A1GP season finale at Brands Hatch.
This is the last event that Summerton will be eligible as a rookie in A1GP--the World Cup of Motorsport--and he posted second place in the first all-rookie session with a 1:15.665 lap on the historic 2.65-mile, 9-turn Grand Prix circuit. As the temperature rose, teams struggled to maintain pace, but Summerton held firm with a 1:15.71 and took first place in Rookies II. He was second fastest in the combined sessions.
"The car felt great right from the start," Summerton said. " It was easy to push hard. This is a fun track--you can go really fast into Paddock Hill Bend."
The 1-hour afternoon practice session for all A1GP teams was punctuated with red flags, caused by numerous cars landing in the gravel traps. Summerton, of Kissimmiee, Fla., ran cleanly throughout, but struggled to find a clean lap. Still, the car was quick in the first and second sectors, posting an ultimate time of 1:15.815 for fourth position.
"It wasn't so easy in the afternoon session," Summerton said. "Still, we got through a lot of test items from our list, and we are well prepared to go faster tomorrow."
A1GP's unique four-session qualifying format is Saturday and the Sprint and Feature races are Sunday.
"We had a very good day," A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger said. "We've shown the speed to compete for the front of the grid in qualifying and run at the front in the Sprint and Feature races. We've made progress throughout the season and it showed today."
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