28/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Brazil
Bruno Junqueira will line up on the eighth row of the grid for tomorrow's A1GP World Cup of Motorsport sprint race at the Brands Hatch circuit in England. After a frantic day, which included changing the team's car between morning practice and qualifying, Bruno qualified in 16th position.
After struggling again in morning practice, following the pattern of results that has blighted the team throughout the 2006/07 season, A1GP officials agreed together with the Team Brasil engineering crew that a complete chassis change was required. The crew frantically prepared the car in the hours before this afternoon's qualifying, therefore Bruno headed into qualifying with no practice in a new car.
Despite this, Bruno set the 14th fastest time in the first segment of qualifying, and was up to 13th after segment two. He fell back to 14th after the third segment, although he did improve his overall combined time, and then headed out four minutes before the end of the final session to set his lap to determine his grid slot for tomorrow's sprint race. He set his fastest time of the weekend with a lap of 1:15.528 but, in an extremely competitive session, and with his limited time in the new car, it was only good enough for 16th spot.
The sprint race will begin tomorrow at 11am local time, with the feature race following on tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. The results of the sprint race will be used to set the grid for the feature race.
Bruno Junqueira: "The new car is better already I think. I was running a second faster than before. I haven't had a chance to test the car obviously, having gone straight into qualifying, but already I can feel that the balance is better. Unfortunately on my third qualifying lap I made a small mistake, and without that I think we could have been 11th or 12th, so we are improving."
Emerson Fittipaldi: "We have made a big improvement. Today we were one second from the quickest car whereas yesterday we were two seconds away. Bruno has to get used to the new car, he told me that he was too conservative on the two fastest corners, so we should go faster tomorrow. It's a shame we are starting from 16th, but we will have a good car for the race tomorrow."
Canada
A1 Team Canada hoped for more than a 14th place qualifying effort today as the Brands Hatch Circuit in England gets set to host the final round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday, 29th April. Vancouver's Sean McIntosh, fresh off the back of his top-six race finish in China two weeks ago, was again behind the wheel but his successes were limited on Saturday with the Canadian entry struggling for pace around the 4.22km Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit.
An earlier indicator of the day's events came in the form of Saturday morning's hour-long practice session. McIntosh, who made his A1GP debut at Brands Hatch in the inaugural meeting in September 2005, posted the 14th fastest time, a 1m16.625s, from the field of 22 competing nations.
Qualifying, held under a brilliant clear blue sky, saw the 21-year-old post a 1m16.074s lap on new tires to start the four-segment session. Sean's second run, on used rubber, placed him 11th overall courtesy of a 1m16.007s tour. Fresh tires in the third segment again saw improvement with Sean recording a lap time of 1m15.593s before he followed that up with a faster fourth and final run, touring in 1m15.335s. Despite the progress made, the competition proved to be faster still with Canada sitting 14th on the timesheets with an aggregate time of 2m30.928s.
Great Britain's Robbie Kerr made A1GP history capturing the first pole position for a nation at their home event. Kerr's best of 2m28.899s pipped Germany's Nico Hülkenberg to the top spot on the grid for Sunday's Sprint race, the results of which then set the order for the afternoon's Feature race.
"We improved every session," said McIntosh after qualifying. "Unfortunately the speed just wasn't there. I can't look back and say I made mistakes at any point or anything like that. We just don't have the pace in the car so we'll have to keep working to see what we can improve. The Feature event is a long race and we know that anything can happen in A1GP. It would have been nice to have been up there in qualifying today but this is what we've been given so we have to go from there. I hear it might rain tomorrow which could help us out but it's disappointing to be so far back today. We're all competitive people here on the team so we're looking for better from our performances!"
France
A1 Team France qualified third for the sprint race with Loic Duval back at the wheel for the last round of this season.
Following a successful final practice session on Saturday morning where A1GP Team France was right on the pace the team went into qualifying in confident mood. Duval ended up third with an aggregate time of 2.29.378.
Loic Duval commented, "In the morning practice I felt comfortable in the car and on the track and well prepared for the qualifying session. I did not make any mistakes and some of the racers really know the track well and it has not prevented them making errors. It has taken me longer than I thought to fully understand how to get up to speed here on this tricky circuit. But I've found the groove now. We had a lot of oversteer and that prevented us pushing too hard towards the end of the session. Originally I had my sights set on pole, but it is not so bad and there will be a lot of work to do tomorrow to finish both races on the podium."
Eric Boullier, Managing Director A1 France added: "Duval's last qualifying for the team this season in third reflects a strong performance even if we were in with a chance of pole. The car has being performing well all weekend. In the last free practice session, the team worked well to prepare a strong package for qualifying. Loic had never driven on this track before but he's right on the pace. The most important tomorrow will be to fight back and race for the win."
Germany
Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany starts the finale from the front row: The freshly crowned championship winning team, which sealed the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport at the penultimate round of the series, snatched second position on the grid in qualifying at Brands Hatch with nominated race driver Nico Hülkenberg. The team continues an impressive trend as a result: The black-red-gold 520 hp A1 GP race car has secured a position on one of the first two rows of the grid during ten of the eleven race weekends of the 2006/2007 season.
On new tyres in the first of four qualifying segments Nico Hülkenberg posted the second fastest lap of 1m14.984s. In the second run he slid off the 3.703 kilometre circuit and elected to abort his flying lap immediately. The third attempt and corresponding time of 1m14.598s meant third fastest time. The sum of A1 Team Germany's two fastest laps meant that the German was in fourth position. In the fourth and final run the 19-year old driver from Emmerich recorded the fastest time of 1m4.430s despite making a small mistake. As a result he jumped up the order to second position overall only 0.129s behind Great Britain.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "It really was a fantastic feeling to drive around this sensational track with new tyres in qualifying. In the first run I managed a good solid lap on new tyres. In the second outing I aborted the lap after I'd slid onto the grass on used tyres. The third attempt was good as the grip was increasing all the time. On the fourth run I inadvertently caught the shift-paddle again when I was braking on the bumps into turn eight and entered the corner in second instead of third gear. Sunday's race will be exciting from the front row as I want to win again."
Great Britain
Robbie Kerr created A1GP history today as he led A1 Team Great Britain to pole position at Brands Hatch today ahead of the season finale, Round 11, on Sunday, the first time ever a home nation has occupied the top spot on the grid in a round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
The Briton left it to the dying seconds of this afternoon's four-run qualifying session to steal pole from 2006-07 Champion's A1 Team Germany, Kerr capturing his second straight pole following his first of the season two weeks ago in China, which in turn led to his maiden A1GP victory.
A strong showing from the British team in Friday's practice sessions laid the ground work for this afternoon's qualifying challenge, Robbie kicking off the day second fastest for Great Britain in Saturday morning's hour-long practice. While France ended the first 15-minute qualifying segment at the top of the timesheets Robbie's session started well with a third place lap time of 1m15.072s. On old rubber in the second session Kerr proved to be a force to be reckoned with, setting the second fastest time to climb to second overall on aggregate scoring.
Armed with a new set of Cooper tyres for his third run, the British team again left it late to send Robbie out of the pits but there was nothing to fear as he hustled his way round the 2.62-mile Grand Prix Circuit at Brands Hatch with a stunning lap time of 1m14.381s to go P1 for the session and P1 overall with one qualifying run left. Producing a late scare with a brief 'off' on his warm-up lap on his fourth and final run, Robbie dug deep to recover the situation. Germany's Nico Hülkenberg held provisional pole as Kerr rounded the final turn at Clearways but it was the Brit who'd triumph as he fired himself across the start-finish straight and into series history with a home pole for Great Britain.
Reflecting on a wild last run and his second consecutive A1GP pole Kerr said, "I knew I had to keep my new tyres warm going out at the start of the lap but as I turned into that corner they weren't quite hot enough and I caught the dirt. It was a bit of a heart stopping moment but I got the tyres cleaned off to start the last lap and it turned out to be a solid effort. It's great to be on pole but we've got to focus now on getting things right for tomorrow's races, especially the longer Feature. We know we have a good car so I'm really looking forward to racing here at Brands tomorrow."
"It was a superb performance from Robbie and the whole British team," commented Team Principal John Surtees. "Today's result is particularly pleasing as it was so competitive with the lap record from last season's visit being smashed in qualifying. It was a great effort and bodes well for tomorrow!"
India
Narain Karthikeyan took part in final practice and qualifying for the A1GP Brands Hatch today, at the UK round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Returning to one of his favourite tracks, Karthikeyan has been quick in all sessions, and looked to secure fourth place on the grid until his final flying lap was hampered by a slowing car. India will now the Sprint race from fifth on the grid.
Karthikeyan was on the pace from the first practice session yesterday, setting the second quickest time of the day, with only the car of home team Great Britain able to beat his best time. In this morning's final practice session, India recorded the fifth fastest time, after a number of teams opted to use fresh tyres while Karthikeyan conserved his supply for the afternoon's qualifying session.
Karthikeyan was disappointed with today's qualifying session commenting, "I'm not really happy with how it went in qualifying, we should be further up the grid. I was blocked by France on the last lap; we were a minimum P4, maybe even P3 before that. We still need to find a couple of tenths in the car, and I think if we had been doing this all season as a team, we would be right up there. Certainly Great Britain has found something in their car or Robbie [Kerr] has, they certainly put in a great qualifying lap to take pole.
"I think the weather's going to play a big part tomorrow, the forecast doesn't look very promising and I've heard there's a good chance of rain, which will make the race even more entertaining. It could also be my first time driving this car in the wet, so it's going to be interesting. We've found a pretty decent set up this weekend, we just need to be consistent and get a podium, that's the aim tomorrow."
A1 Team Seatholder Yohann Setna reflected on the day, saying "We'll start tomorrow in P5, so Narain has equalled our best ever qualifying performance. We could have been a little bit faster but we got very badly blocked by the French in the last qualifying segment. I think we could have done another 1.14.7 which could have put us third on the grid for the Sprint race. But generally it was a good performance, we have a great set up for the race and the car works well on old tyres so I'm pleased."
Ireland
A1 Team Ireland produced a much improved qualifying result today securing 12th position for tomorrow's sprint race, having struggled to find a competitive set-up in the practice this morning. Lead driver Richard Lyons set an individual best lap time of 1m15.951s, compared to the fastest lap of pole sitter Robbie Kerr who produced a lap of 1:15.072s.
Having struggled to find a suitable set-up in the morning practice session, the car's performance was dramatically improved when the team switched to new tyres for the qualifying runs. A gain of almost two seconds was achieved over the times set in the morning practice, leading to a sense of optimism for the sprint and feature races tomorrow. With a sell-out crowd expected at Brands Hatch, and close to 300 sponsors, guests and friends of the team attending, the teams' focus is on attaining a top six finish.
Richard Lyons; "The weekend had a difficult start due to undetermined problems in practice, but the car was transformed as soon as we had the opportunity to use new tyres. Most teams only found up to one second a lap, but we were able to find almost two seconds which points to a tyre problem in earlier practice runs. I am now really looking forward to participating in the race which will be closest to home for me, in front of a crowd consisting of our sponsors, fans and friends."
Gary Anderson, Technical Director; "We struggled through yesterday and this morning to get our car to respond to changes in set-up. We went into qualifying a bit unsure of how the car would perform, and it responded better than expected. However, we still feel that we could have improved our time if more could have been done in practice."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal; "The team has worked very hard to make a good step forward in performance this weekend. After Richard's performance in the qualifying sessions, which will see him starting from the sixth row of the grid, we feel that this will certainly give Richard the opportunity to race for points and hopefully be in the top 10 for the feature race tomorrow."
Lebanon
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has entertained crowds of motorsport fans around the globe with its unique brand of nation versus nation motor racing, with over 20 nations competing for the championship, visiting four continents and ten countries with eleven rounds and twenty races of fast and furious racing. The final round takes place in England this weekend and the qualifying for tomorrow's races were held at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England this afternoon. The session ended with A1 Team Lebanon starting 19th for the Sprint race tomorrow.
The Lebanon team resumed their preparations for tomorrow's races with the final practice in the morning only giving Khodair three laps of track time, after an excursion off the track left the Lebanon driver stranded in the gravel and unable to continue in the session. In the afternoon the A1GP qualifying session saw the teams compete head to head in four segments of 'flying lap' runs, with the best two lap times combined to produce the grid positions for the Sprint race, the first of the two A1GP races which headlines this weekend's action-packed schedule.
Khodair said of his qualifying session, "I made a mistake this morning that ended my session early and compromised our performance this afternoon, as I hadn't had enough track time in the run up to qualifying. We'll make the best effort we can from our grid position and I'm hoping that we can gain more places in the races tomorrow."
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon added, "It was always going to be a tough qualifying session because Khodair's mistakes in both practice sessions left us with little time to set up the car. Although he improved his lap times in each segment of qualifying, he has not realised his potential due to these circumstances. We'll be on the grid tomorrow aiming to improve on the grid position from the Sprint race and then make further progress in the Feature race."
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia will line up in sixth place on the grid for the final race of the second season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, following the qualifying session at Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, the historic English racetrack which hosts the twelfth round of the Series.
A1 Team Malaysia was determined to use every minute of track time to be as prepared as possible for the final two races in the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport calendar. Running on used tyres for the final practice session to keep three sets for the all-important qualifying, Yoong set strong, consistent lap times and worked on improving the balance of the car for the afternoon session, ending the session with eighth quickest lap.
The A1GP qualifying session in the afternoon saw the 22 nations completing four 'flying laps' within the four 15 minute qualifying segments and with the two best lap times combined, the grid positions are set. With three sets of new tyres Yoong made the most of the fresh rubber to set sixth best time overall, and line up on the third row of the grid.
Yoong said of his day, "It was a good day. The session went to plan, we just inched up and got a bit quicker little by little, and I was quite happy with that. It was a definite improvement on the last few events. There is a tinge of disappointment as on my last run the South African car was circulating a little bit slowly in front of us and it cost us a couple of tenths, which was at least one place.
Our focus is on defending our fifth place in the World Cup of Motorsport points standings, so we have to be a little conservative in the Sprint race and make sure we bring the Malaysia car home in the top six in the Sprint race and top ten in the Feature race, so that we gather more points for our national team."
Jack Cunningham, A1 Team Malaysia Team Principal, reviewed the day commenting, "Our weekend is progressing well with all the team putting in their best efforts today for a strong starting position. It's a very close contest with the front of the grid all running at a very similar place, so it's going to be an exciting battle tomorrow. We are very determined to finish no less than fifth in the overall championship and I know everyone in the team wants to achieve this. I also hope that A1GP will put on a great showing of thrilling motor racing, as we're now famous for, so that the loyal British fans trackside and fans of A1GP all around the world are given a finale to remember."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands will start the final Sprintrace of the A1GP season tomorrow from an eighth grid postion. In the four runs this afternoon Jeroen Bleekemolen set an aggregate time of 2'30.144 (1'15.177 + 1'14.967).
With that A1 Team Netherlands did not have the desired result, but as far as laptimes go it was an improvement compared to the free practice this morning, where the team finished in tenth.
In the first qualifying run A1 Team Netherlands had some bad luck. First the session was suspended with a red flag, just as Jeroen Bleekemolen had started his outlap. After the restart Bleekemolen encountered heavy traffic on the track and set an eleventh fastest time.
In the second run Bleekemolen improved his lap time and A1 Team Netherlands moved up to ninth. After the third run, in which A1 Team Netherlands again set a faster time, the team stayed in ninth. The fourth and final run made A1 Team Netherlands gain one more spot, with Bleekemolen putting his fastest laptime of the weekend on the clocks.
After qualifying Jeroen Bleekemolen was not pleased with the eighth grid position; "I wanted to be comfortably inside the top of the field, to get a better start of the race. But, we are not there. Eighth is not really bad, but it certainly isn't good. We had some bad luck in the first run, with the traffic, but in the final two runs we had a clear track. Compared to this morning, we have made up quite a bit. Now we are half a second off the pace. We need to find that as well, which won't be easy. The red flag in the first run was a shame. My tires were just warmed up and I was just speeding up. Luckily I was able to set better times in the final two runs, but it does disturb your rhythm. Tomorrow we will try to move forward as much as possible, in A1GP you never know where you end up. It could be that nothing happens and you finish in eighth, but you can also win the race. We will go for it and try to get two good starts again, like we managed with the last few".
Jan Lammers had also hoped for a better grid position; "Eighth is not good. We had thought that we would be closer to the front. Unfortunately Jeroen had traffic in his first run, that was too bad. This is so competitive that you do need that first run to learn from, then you start building from there. If you lose your first run straight away, it is too close together to make up for that entirely in the third and fourth session. I think that we lost it today in our first run. But with the A1 races it is not over 'until the fat lady sings'. We will wait what tomorrow will bring and see what the result is".
New Zealand
New Zealand will start from the 5th row of the grid after qualifying 9 th fastest for tomorrow's A1GP World Cup of Motorsport finale at Brands Hatch in England.
New Zealand's only challenger for 2nd place in the championship, Great Britain, will start on pole with title winner Germany in second spot. France, Italy and India round out the top five.
GBR became the first nation in two seasons of A1GP racing to secure pole position at its home event, but Black Beauty driver Matt Halliday is confident the Kiwi team can pick up the four points needed to cement the runner-up spot in the championship.
"Given where we are on the grid the key will be to stay out of trouble early," Halliday said. "You can't be a hero as the chief goal is to finish in the points and make sure Great Britain doesn't overtake us on the points table."
Earlier in the day Halliday had set the 9th quickest time in the second official practice after taking over from Jonny Reid, who injured his hand when hitting a barrier in yesterday's first practice session.
The competitive nature of this weekend's round was readily apparent as t he entire field of 22 cars was separated by just 3.374 seconds. Halliday was less than a second behind the pace-setting France with Great Britain and the USA close behind.
A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray says Reid's injured hand is on the improve, but he will definitely sit out tomorrow's 20-minute Sprint Race and 70-minute Feature Race, leaving Halliday to carry New Zealand's hopes.
"Matt drove us to a podium finish in the first-ever A1GP race here at Brands Hatch in 2005, he enjoys the track and we're sure he'll do us proud tomorrow," McMurray said.
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan is set for the season finale of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport tomorrow, which will take place at the Brands Hatch circuit in the UK. Nur Ali, who has represented the team throughout this 11 round season, is again behind the wheel of the green and white car. Under sunny skies, the final practice and qualifying took place today, the Pakistan car's time putting the team on the 11th row of the grid for tomorrow's Sprint race.
After analysing data from yesterday's session, Ali took over a second off his best time in this morning's final practice session. Ali was exploring the limit in the final minutes of practice when he got out of shape coming out of the infamous Paddock Hill bend and spun off into the gravel. With no structural damage, the team were able to clean the car and tyres in preparation for this afternoon's unique four segment qualifying session.
Ali was first out on track in the first qualifying segment, but was admittedly cautious after his spin in practice. However, Ali improved his lap times in each segment, setting his fastest lap in segment four.
Speaking about his performance in qualifying, Ali commented, "This afternoon didn't go quite as planned, we were fairly consistent this morning with our lap times, and I thought we would be able to carry that into qualifying, and of course improve on it. However, the first two segments weren't great and I was quite frustrated by the times.
"I got my head together and remembered everything the team had told me for the second two qualifying laps, but it was too late to improve a great deal further. I'm frustrated with myself, I know I can do it, I know where I'm making mistakes and I just need to get a few things right. I'm focusing on the races now and looking forward to making amends in the Sprint race. I just want to forget about today and improve our position for the team and Pakistan tomorrow."
Reviewing the day, A1 Team Pakistan team manager Bobby Issazadhe said "Nur had new tyres for the first and third sectors, but I don't think he managed to get the most out of them; this is a very challenging circuit and is very difficult to drive on the limit. Nur was a little slower on his first two qualifying laps than he had been this morning, I think he works better if he has the opportunity to build up pace rather than being under pressure to perform on one single flying lap. He had a small spin in the last few minutes of practice this morning, and I think that made him quite cautious in his first few qualifying laps."
A1 Team Pakistan Seatholder Arif Husain added, "The team have done a great job this season, after a late call up to the team, Nur has proved to be extremely dedicated and enthusiastic and has always tried his best for the team. Brands Hatch is a very challenging circuit but I'm sure both Nur and the team will put in 100 per cent to get the best possible result for Pakistan in the season finale."
USA
A1 Team USA's crew did outstanding work to provide Jonathan Summerton with a second opportunity to qualify Saturday and he made productive use of it to put the "We The People" car 11th on the grid for the A1GP Sprint race at Brands Hatch.
In the opening qualifying session, Summerton set about reaching for the pole. He was running 1/10th of a second quicker than his fastest lap of the weekend as he entered Hawthorn Bend. Then it all went wrong. The car slewed left and right and traveled across the grass at high speed, eventually coming to rest after impact with the metal barriers.
Summerton wasn't injured, but was the A1 Team USA car too badly damaged to continue, a situation that would force it start Sunday's Sprint race in 22nd spot?
A1 Team USA's crew scrambled into action.. During the second 15-minute qualifying segment, the car was repaired, checked and pronounced ready to race. Summerton would have two segments in which to set the required two lap times.. In third qualifying, he circulated in 1:15.737, then showed his grit and determination in the fourth segment. Putting the past out of his mind, Summerton posted 1:14.771, the fourth best lap of the segment. The two-segment aggregate time of 2:30.508 moved him halfway up the grid to 11th.
"I caught up with some cars going slowly on their warm-up laps and tried to let them know I was there," Summerton said of his opening-segment incident. "I ran wide on the apex of Hawthorn and caught the bumps on the exit of the corner and it sent the car into the grass.
"The team did a great job getting the car back out there so I could make my last two qualifying runs. It was good to come out of the last session in P4."
In the morning practice, under saw warm, sunny weather, A1 Team USA made good progress. Even as the tires went well past their top performance, Summerton was able to maintain a degree of speed. The 19-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., finished the session in third place with a 1:15.493, less than 2/10ths of a second out of first.
"We made the car much easier to drive today," Summerton said..
A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger praised the work of the crew.
"Our mechanics and engineers pulled together magnificently to get Jonathan back on the track for the final two segments in qualifying," Weidinger said. "They have him a solid car. It was an amazing recovery for us. It was unfortunate that we lost the first two segments, but Jonathan bounced back to put us in a decent starting position for the Sprint race."
To check out our Brands Hatch Qualifying gallery, click here