29/08/2007
NEWS STORY
Nicolas Prost had his first test session in an A1GP car on the Silverstone circuit (Great Britain) yesterday. Thanks to his performance the young French driver was announced as the rookie in the team for the 2007-2008 A1GP Championship. He will take part in free practice on Friday in all the rounds, and will probably find himself competing in some races during the season.
Nicolas got behind the wheel of an A1GP car at 14:00 on the 3,619 km circuit and soon got the measure of his Lola-Zytek, the same car as the one driven by all the young hopefuls racing in the championship. He was soon on the pace and covered over 40 laps in the afternoon. Nicolas had his first taste of the car under the watchful eye of his father Alain, four-times F1 World Champion.
A1 Team France ended the day in second place with Nicolas Lapierre setting a time of 1m 10.531s in the morning. It was not beaten until late on in the afternoon when Team South Africa improved it by 0.047s.
Nicolas Prost: "The A1GP car is the most powerful single-seater I've driven so far, and I immediately felt at home behind the wheel. The whole team and Nicolas Lapierre did their best to help me and I'd like to thank them all. My aim for today is to improve my knowledge of the car and to progress. I'm proud of having obtained the role of rookie in A1 Team France, and I can't wait to make my contribution to bringing the cup back to France."
Alain Prost: "A1GP has chosen to give pride of place to bio fuels this year and I'd like to congratulate them on this initiative. Motorsport must come to terms with present-day preoccupations. Today also marked Nicolas's debut in the championship and I have to admit that I'm delighted with his performance. It will be a pleasure for me to attend several races this year, and I lend my full support to A1 Team France whose aim is to recapture the Cup it won at the end of the 2005-2006 season."
At present Prost is lying third in the Spanish F3 Championship; he also raced in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours at the wheel of a Saleen, and finished in fifth place in the LM GT1 category.