19/02/2008
NEWS STORY
A1 Team Pakistan heads to the Durban street track this weekend, for round seven of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Adam Khan will be back behind the wheel of the Pakistan car as A1GP heads into the home stretch of this season's calendar. A1 Team Pakistan are hoping the strong form they recently showed in Taupo and Sydney will continue, and give them a solid end to the third season of A1GP.
The Durban race track is a two mile tight and twisty street circuit on the south coast of South Africa. It is the only street track on the A1GP calendar and it shares similar qualities to the famous Monaco Formula one track. The layout is constructed from existing roads along the coastline, with concrete barriers and catch fencing narrowly enclosing the popular street circuit. The nature of the track places the fans are right next to the action as the grandstands are only metres from the track, giving the spectators an unrivalled view of all the action.
Commenting ahead of the weekend, Khan said, "The track at Durban is really narrow, there is no room for error because you are so close to the concrete walls during the whole lap. I have driven at Durban before in the first season of A1GP, so I have some experience of how tight it can be there, we just need to keep out of any trouble with traffic and hopefully get a points finish on Sunday.
"Durban is one of the most popular races on the calendar, there's a great atmosphere and the fans really enjoy the racing. Team morale is really high within A1 Team Pakistan, and with a strong crowd at Durban, I'm sure we will be highly motivated to get a good result."
A1 Team Pakistan seatholder Arif Husain added, "Last time out in Sydney the weather was a strong factor in the outcome of the race in Sydney. Adam showed great maturity in how he handled the car and we were extremely impressed by how well he coped driving in such difficult conditions.
"The weather in Durban should be an improvement on the race day in Sydney, but Adam has shown he can cope well under pressure, which he will certainly need to do on a narrow street circuit. Durban is a great track, but overtaking can be a big issue, so we need to qualify well to be able to be up there on Sunday. No doubt we will see a few incidents with drivers getting a bit too close to the wall, but we hope that we can have a clean race and leave South Africa with some more points."