28/08/2007
NEWS STORY
The first day of the A1GP test at the Silverstone circuit ended for A1 Team Netherlands with s sixth place, six tenths behind South Africa. Apart from a leaking radiator in the morning session the team experienced no other problems and both Jeroen Bleekemolen and Arie Luyendyk jr. were able to drive. With four minutes left A1 Team Netherlands was still in third, but Great Britain and South Africa passed in the dying moments.
Bleekemolen took most of the driving duties today and set his fastest lap of the day in the afternoon, with 1.11.069, driving the 2.2 mile International Circuit.
In the morning the team had finished in seventh. Jeroen Bleekemolen was busy together with the team to get the car as good as possible and drove a total of 39 laps. Straight after the break it was Arie Luyendyk's turn. The A1 Team Netherlands Rookie had his first real outing with the A1 Team Netherlands car on a racetrack, after doing the demo run at Vudel Vol Gas.
Luyendyk jr. was enthusiastic about his real A1GP debut, but did admit he had to get used to shifting with paddles and the car. "I am not driving that much here, but it is fun and I am quicker every lap out. My fastest lap was a 1.14.1 but that was using tyres we had used all morning. With new tyres you can be one and a half or even two seconds quicker, but I still am over a second off the pace. I had to get used to the paddle shift system and the grip and power of the car."
For Bleekemolen it was his A1GP test debut as well, last year he did not drive at Silverstone. "We worked very well today and did manage to find quite a bit. It was a very useful day. This did not show in the time sheets unfortunately. I had a red flag twice during my first timed lap on new tyres and that is exactly the one you have to capitalize on. In terms of position today was not so good, but on used tyres we were competitive constantly. We should have been inside the top three, both in the morning and in the afternoon sessions. For tomorrow we have discussed some things we want to try. We did not get a change to do this during the races, fortunately now we have got the time for this."
Jan Lammers joined Bleekemolen in his analysis of the day; "Reasonably happy with sixth. I do not think though that this reflects what we are capable of, which is better but I don't know how much. The top three is certainly possible. I am glad that Arie jr managed to get his first laps under his belts. He really has to come from behind and get some mileage before he can start thinking about speed. We did try a lot today on the car and much information to study. There still is a lot more room for tomorrow."