22/02/2008
NEWS STORY
Brazil
After a successful rookie practice session and a promising start to afternoon practice, A1 Team Brasil's track time was unfortunately cut short when Bruno Junqueira hit the wall in Durban on the trick street circuit. Teams were in action for the first time today at the South African track for round seven of the championship.
Xandi Negrão made his A1GP come-back, taking part in this morning rookie practice. It was Xandi's second outing for Team Brasil, following his rookie debut in Brno, Czech Republic in October 2006. The 22-year-old put in an impressive performance, especially considering his inexperience in the car. He set the sixth fastest time in each of the two 25-minute sessions, and improved his times lap on lap.
Bruno then took over driving duties for this afternoon's one-hour practice. He knows the track as he raced for Team Brasil last year in Durban, finishing seventh in the feature race, and he was right on the pace today. Unfortunately, on turn ten of his sixth lap, while sitting fourth in the standings, he hit the left rear wheel on the concrete wall which then sent him into the opposite wall where he hit the front right corner.
It was a disappointment to Bruno and the team as they lost forty minutes of track time, however, Bruno will be back in the car for tomorrow morning's practice where he will make the most of the time available ahead of the afternoon's qualifying.
Bruno Junqueira: "There's never a good time, but this was definitely not the right time to crash the car. I passed a car on turn nine and then when I got to turn ten I slid into the wall, I don't think I was going too fast so I am just disappointed because we were looking very quick. I'm just going to look ahead to doing a much better job tomorrow."
Xandi Negrão: "The last time I drove the A1 car was 18 months ago and the car feels much better this time around. I kept improving lap by lap and I really enjoyed driving out there. It's a difficult track for sure, but I learnt it quickly and set some competitive times. I will help the team now however I can over the rest of the weekend."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "Xandi did a very good job after being out of the car for a very long time and we're really happy with his performance. Clemente Jr is still part of the team and has been doing a good job, but we wanted to give Xandi another chance. I'm frustrated about this afternoon because we really needed the laps but I've spoken to Bruno and it was just a mistake - he lost the back end. It's tough to recover, but the good news is that he knows the track and the car well and I am confident we can still be competitive and make the most of tomorrow."
Czech Republic
Seventeen years old Josef Kral experienced a demanding debut in the colours of the Czech A1GP team. He discovered how hard the walls around the street track at Durban are but he was able to improve lap times afterwards. Durban and its street tack located on the coast of the Indian Ocean offers great surroundings and a unique atmosphere but it is also probably the most demanding track of the A1GP season.
The track is quite narrow in some parts, hard walls are very close and bumps are not making it any easier for the drivers, they have to be focused also on the straights.
Kral, the youngest driver in the field, had a difficult task ahead - to cope with a massive difference in horsepower between the F BMW and A1GP that is almost 400HP and also to avoid possible mistakes because the walls have no mercy. The first rookie session went without problems and the Czech driver did 11 laps with the best one 1:26.088. The second part did not start well and contact with the wall in the first lap meant an early end for Kral.
Young Kral was able to put this unpleasant experience behind him and was fully focused on continuos improvements during the free practice. His confidence was growing and he was shaving tenth after tenth from his maximum. Together with Johny Reid was the busiest man of the session with 28 laps under his belt. The final 21st place is not important the main thing is that with lap 1:22,727 was in touch with competitors ahead. There will be time to analyze the telemetry data now and find place where he can gain the biggest chunk of time.
Josef Kral: "It is a big jump comparing to the Formula BMW. Durban street track is very demanding and also experienced drivers like Johny Reid speak with respect about it. The rookie sessions were user for learning about the car. Unfortunately, I pushed the gas pedal a bit too much in the second session and it was not possible to avoid the wall. I bruised me knee a bit but hopefully it will be okay. I started the free practice on new tyres like everyone else but obviously I was not able to fully use their advantage and I am still in learning process. I was quite happy at the end of the session. I have to improve at one quick corner and maybe we can be close behind the top ten. The quick corner is about confidence in the car and also to get used to higher downforce that the A1GP car produces comparing to the F BMW. I take this weekend as a learning one. I do not expect miracles and also team do not expect them. I am looking forward to Saturday. We have another practice to find improvements before the qualifying and I believe that after study of the telemetry I will be able to go quicker."
Antonin Charouz, seat holder: "Josef is not in an easy position and nobody can expect miracles. He is the youngest driver in the field. I am a bit upset that he crashed today because I had told him about trickiness of the track. On the other hand, he is very young and crashes are part of racing. The most important thing for the rest of the weekend is to keep cool head and try to improve step by step and not to try to do a super lap from zero. Every single lap is important for him and the priority is to finish the races. If he is there till the end, abything can happen, especially on this track."
France
Today, A1 Team France had its first day's practice on the Durban circuit in South Africa. Nicolas Prost did the two rookie sessions in the morning and then handed over to Jonathan Cochet for the afternoon. Both drivers' mission was clear: to set up the car without taking any risks. Durban is the only city circuit on the A1GP calendar and the slightest mistake can be very costly, as it generally involves contact with the guardrail.
The drivers did their job today with Nicolas setting the 9th quickest time and Jonathan the fifteenth. It's a good result as the day's aim was not to go for a time, and the team feels pretty optimistic for the rest of the weekend. The basic set-up has been decided so Loïc Duval should be on the pace right from the start of tomorrow morning's sessions.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "The Durban circuit is very tricky as a few drivers found out to their cost! Our aim was to prepare for the rest of the weekend on a step-by-step basis. And, of course, not to damage the car. Nicolas and Jonathan are both professional drivers, and they did a great job which should help us to fight at the front in qualifying tomorrow."
Jonathan Cochet, test driver: "I got a real kick out of driving today. The Durban circuit is great fun with its quick sections and tight corners. It takes a little time to get used to it, and I wasn't able to get the best out of the new tyres in the opening laps. But I went quicker and quicker with every run. I was on the point of setting a good time at the end of the day when I had to lift off due to a red flag. But it doesn't really matter, as we were not going for a time today. Loïc, the car's ready and waiting for you!"
Nicolas Prost, rookie driver: "I'm happy with today as it enabled me to get my bearings at the wheel of the A1 Team France car. Overall, I'm satisfied with my level of performance, which I achieved in very little time. I also felt very confident behind the wheel. Taking risks in some of the trickier corners was out of the question so I lost the odd tenth here and there. But this didn't stop me from giving the team the maximum amount of feedback."
Germany
Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany began the seventh A1GP World Cup of Motorsport race weekend in South Africa by topping the time sheets. Nominated driver Michael Ammermüller recorded the fastest lap in downtown Durban during the morning session and claimed second position at the end of the practice day around the only street circuit on the calendar.
The race weekend started with fastest lap for A1 Team Germany in the 'Rookie' session, which is exclusively reserved for newcomers to the series. Michael Ammermüller from Pocking, who had never seen the temporary race track prior to the morning session, recorded a 1m19.390s lap and with it a 1.3 second advantage over his closest rival the Swiss driver Marcel Fässler.
"The circuit is very tight and demanding, and there are virtually no run-off areas. The track has a lot of grip," described the 22-year old professional racing driver of his first impressions of the 3.28 kilometre street circuit. The Bavarian completed 29 laps in his first test session. Numerous accidents, which also caused the individual practices sessions to be interrupted, demonstrated in the Rookie practice just how challenging the circuit is.
In the afternoon Michael Ammermüller spooled off 17 laps. Repeated accidents again caused the practice session to be aborted. "The technicians from David Sears Motorsport worked on the mechanical set-up," summarised Ammermüller. "The direction in which we worked before lunch was very good. We reduced a tendency to oversteer and improved the traction. We tried something different in the afternoon, but then went back to the set-up that we'd used this morning."
All the teams are faced with a difficult tactical decision during Saturday's four-part qualifying session to determine the starting grid for both the sprint and feature races on Sunday. "Normally you wait until the very end of the session to make the single lap you are allowed because the track surface is at its cleanest which allows the fastest laps times," explains Ammermüller. "However, today we saw that accidents quickly lead to a red flag or even to the session being finished early. Choosing exactly the right time for a fast lap on Saturday will be decisive."
Great Britain
Promising start for Oliver Jarvis and A1 Team Great Britain as the 24-year-old sets third fastest time in Free Practice.
Round seven of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport got underway today with teams participating in practice sessions at the challenging Durban street circuit in South Africa. Oliver Jarvis was in action for A1 Team GBR and drove in this afternoon's one-hour session, in which he set the third fastest time.
Due to the nature of the circuit, the team took the decision not to bring a new rookie driver and to forgo the rookie practice sessions. Therefore, the first time the team took to the track today was for the afternoon session. Jarvis has not driven the A1 car since the Zhuhai, China races in December, and is also working with a new race engineer this weekend as Richard Owen stands in for the injured James Goodfield.
Jarvis did have the benefit of having had driven in the rookie session last season so he had some track knowledge ahead of the session. The objective of the session was for Oliver to get comfortable with the car and the circuit, and to work on getting a good balance for qualifying, as well as working on race set-up.
Oliver made steady progress in his opening laps and then jumped into the top five half way through the session. On his 20th lap, 13 minutes before the end of the session he set a time of 1:19.207, putting him third fastest and just four tenths behind session leaders Team Netherlands.
Tomorrow will see Jarvis back behind the wheel making the most of the final one-hour practice session ahead of the afternoon's all-important qualifying sessions for Sunday's Sprint and Feature races.
Oliver Jarvis: "I think it was a very productive session. We were steady at the start and made good progress throughout to finish P3. It's obviously not exactly where we wanted to be, but we've got Germany in front who did the rookie session, and the Netherlands who raced here last year. So if we can keep progressing at the rate we are then I'm sure we'll be in good shape for qualifying."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "We are very pleased with our practice position today, especially considering it has been two months since Oliver last drove the car. In addition to that we did not have the benefit of the rookie practice session, and we have a new race engineer for this event due to James' injury. It all bodes well for tomorrow and we are confident ahead of qualifying."
Ireland
Irish rookie, Niall Quinn, was back in the cockpit as Belmayne A1 Team Ireland took to the streets of Durban with Portadown's Adam Carroll taking over for the afternoon.
In the 29-degree heat, Niall took to the dusty track bedding in brakes to help the team prepare for the weekend ahead. The 500bhp cars powered through the twisty wall-enclosed track with Niall undaunted by the challenge having had previous experience on street circuits in Formula BMW. With it being his first run on a dry track in A1GP, he gradually brought his lap time down as he got chance to push harder towards the end of the session, clocking a 1m 23.401s.
Adam Carroll got his first taste of the Durban streets in the afternoon official practice session, with a cautious approach to help gain as much information as possible heading into Saturday. The walls are unforgiving as many drivers found out, causing four red flags over the course of the day to interrupt proceedings. Adam settled for a 1m 20.354s without wanting to push too hard on the first day on track and the team were feeling positive as the final session came to a premature end when the Netherlands hit the wall at Turn 10.
Niall Quinn: "It was good. I'm happy with the progress we made bedding in the brakes and then getting a few quick laps in. I messed up my last lap which was a bit of a disappointment as it could have been a good one, but that's racing. It was a good experience driving on a street circuit. It was pretty tight and at the beginning there was absolutely no grip as there was dust and sand everywhere. Towards the end the grip was better but it's still nowhere near good so you can't commit. Some corners it's very difficult to get on the power because of the bumps and even the straights are quite bumpy; it's a tough circuit. My main job was bedding in brake disks and pads which took up most the session so there was very little time to push, but the more weekends I'm here, the quicker I will get!"
Adam Carroll: "The circuit is quite good. It's got a couple of really hard corners and Turn 10 in particular is really slippery in the mid-part of the corner. I don't want to do anything silly, we're struggling in a few places but hopefully we can improve tomorrow. Car doesn't feel too bad but its quite hard round here as its so bumpy its hard to get a feel for things. But we're just trying to generate more grip and keep it out the walls and later on we'll push harder."
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "Mission accomplished. We really wanted to get off to a solid start this weekend as the worst thing on a street circuit is starting behind everyone else. Niall's objectives were to go out and get the team ready for the rest of the weekend which is exactly what he did. It's his first time running on a dry track and unfortunately it's a narrow, dusty street circuit but the lap times were coming down throughout the session. Niall continues to get to grips with the car and improve within the team so we're very happy with his performance. We're very happy going into this afternoon. We've got some good feedback from Niall to try for set up and we look forward to getting out there with a new set of tyres and hopefully posting a competitive lap time this afternoon.
"We finished P16 this afternoon which isn't ideal but we've been doing a lot of work on the set up. It's a new circuit to Adam and he's been trying to learn it but there have been a lot of red flag incidents which stopped us running as much as we'd like to have done. We're still on the learning curve, we'd have liked to have been further up but there's always tomorrow and we got some really good information out that session to help us move forward. There's no sense of despair in the team, it's just are true potential is not reflected in the lap times yet. We have a little bit of work to do overnight to give Adam a car he can attack the corners with a bit more. It's a street circuit which is all about confidence and when Adam has that confidence the lap time will come. We want to maintain a momentum over the weekend and losing track time is the worst thing you can do, so it was pretty much the objective to keep the car out the wall and make sure we got to the end of the session in one piece, which we achieved."
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon, representing all the Arab nations, showcased the region in the first day of the seventh round of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Khalil Beschir is the nominated driver for this race weekend, racing for his country in this international championship. He began the weekend with a top ten quickest lap time in the morning; an on-track incident shortened his afternoon and he was unable to post a competitive time.
Beschir hit the South African street circuit in Durban for the first time this morning, in the opening session of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in the KwaZulu Natal province. The session reserved for rookies and developing nations was used by A1 Team Lebanon for initial preparations ahead of the race weekend. The initial priority was engine installation laps, with Beschir completing a number of short, slower, runs. A new gearbox also needed to be checked over before the team could begin to work on developing the overall performance of the car. By the end of the two segments of the session Beschir had completed a programme of circuit familiarisation finishing tenth fastest overall.
In the afternoon Beschir returned to the temporary street track and was ready to continue with the first official practice session in the afternoon, but after only three laps of running a clash with the Australian car caused damage and the popular Lebanese driver had to return to the pits for repairs. The damage was quickly repaired by the team but Beschir was unable to return to the practice session before it finished.
Beschir said, "I have mixed emotions about today, but overall I'm feeling positive for the sessions ahead. This morning was the first chance that I had to experience the track first-hand. Driving on a street circuit brings a completely new set of challenges and it takes time to develop an understanding of the best way to attack it. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to build on the strong start of the morning."
A1 Team Lebanon Team Manager, Trevor Bale added, "Khalil got us off to a good start this morning. He drove very sensibly so that we could collect data, he could build his confidence and we had a baseline to work from. It was unfortunate that we didn't have the afternoon and that has set us back a little in our preparations. We'll be looking to maximise the time available in the final practice session and get in as many laps as possible."
Malaysia
The opening day of practice at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Durban, South Africa, gave A1 Team Malaysia driver Fairuz Fauzy the first taste of the challenging street circuit and with two strong sessions and the team comfortably within the top ten throughout, the team is confident that they have the pace for a good qualifying position tomorrow.
A1 Team Malaysia was able to take advantage of Fauzy's eligibility for the morning practice session and wasted no time in using it to prepare for the weekend ahead. With no prior experience here, Fauzy's first job was to learn the circuit and understand the challenges it presented, particularly with the need to use the chicane to full advantage and avoid the numerous bumps on the street circuit. After a session which featured yellow and red flags for on-track incidents, A1 Team Malaysia worked through a setup programme in their preparations to finish fourth quickest.
The afternoon session was blighted with red flags, the final one bringing the session to a premature end. This limited the time the team had to improve the car and the number of laps that Fauzy was able to complete and learn from. Despite this, the young Malaysian driver finished 10th fastest.
Fauzy said after the sessions, "I am happy with this initial day of running and I think we have a good baseline to build on for qualifying. We have collected plenty of data which will be used to make improvements in our performance. I think a top ten qualifying spot is comfortably within our reach, and I believe that a top five position could be achievable. I'm enjoying running on this track; it's very challenging although very bumpy!"
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, commented, "We've had a very positive start to the weekend. Fairuz has shown his maturity with his sensible approach to this unforgiving circuit and that has helped us to our strong results today. It is extremely competitive here with 4 or 5 teams separated by only one tenth of a second. We now need to carry our momentum through tomorrow for qualifying and we are quietly hopeful for top ten starts for the two races on Sunday."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands has started the A1GP Durban well. In the free practice on Friday afternoon Jeroen Bleekemolen set the pace all through the session and immediately showed that racing on the narrow track between the walls suit him and the team very well. In the end Bleekemolen was three tenths of a second faster than A1 Team Germany, with a fastest lap of 1'18.738.
In the morning Arie Luyendyk jr went out first for A1 Team Netherlands during the Rookie session. In the two times 25 minute session Luyendyk jr. finished in 11th place. Arie suffered from traffic quite a bit during the second segment and was not able to get a clear lap in for the most part of the session. The Rookie session had to be stopped twice with a red flag. First there was a minor brush with the wall by the Czech Republic, then Mexico almost wrote off their car completely. Just as Arie had a clear lap and was pushing hard to improve his time, it went wrong for the A1 Team Netherlands Rookie. A small bump on the circuit caused him to miss the turn, touching the tyre barrier with the nose of the car. This remained without serious consequences however. With some assistance from the marshals Luyendyk jr was able to drive back to the pits himself. The only damage being a broken front wing.
Arie Luyendyk enjoyed going out on track; "It was really great to take to the streets of Durban today, rookie session 1 the track was incredibly dirty and it took a lot of time to get up to speed on the tricky circuit. In the end we made a lot of progression with the stability of the car under the brakes. In the first part of the session in was really hard to control the rear locking, then we made some adjustments and it improved tremendously. Rookie session 2 was pretty hectic and traffic held me up the first half of the practice. Once I had a clear lap I was a bit too aggressive and made light contact with the barrier. Luckily though the team changed the nose in time for a single flying lap that placed me 11th for the session. It's a shame because the track time I missed was vital, every lap on the street circuit I was getting faster. I am very pleased though with the progression of the car through the changes we made and I think this will be a great weekend for Team Netherlands!"
After that Jeroen Bleekemolen started his free practice very well straight off, in his very first lap out he almost set the fastest time of the session. From the start A1 Team Netherlands was in the lead, with Germany only briefly being able to take the lead. Bleekemolen responded, with spectacular driving, immediately and put A1 Team Netherlands back in first place again. This was not conceded for the remainder of the session. In doing this Bleekemolen went flying past inches from the unforgiving Armco. Others did have an encounter with the walls, amongst others Brazil and Indonesia who crashed hard. At the end of the session Bleekemolen did set a number of fastest sector times but did not improve on his fastest lap time. Bleekemolen had very much fun today; "From the first run onwards we were setting the pace. Only Germany managed to move in front briefly, but they had also driven this morning and passed us on track time. But we simply passed them again simply on pace. I think that every time we were out we were the fastest team on track, right until the end. I am very pleased and the car goes very, very well. We made some small adjustments, we already knew from last year and the year before that that we have got a good set up here and we know how to do things on street circuits. That is very different from regular circuits. Now you see that we are there straight away. I feel good racing between the walls here, let's hope that we can continue like this. It is a joy driving here, already the very first lap was fun. Unfortunately I encountered some traffic, otherwise that one would have been quicker than the times we set at the end. Normally that is not possible on a street circuit. You have to build it up. Now I was able to go flat out immediately, had tremendous confidence in the car and everything else. It felt good straight away."
New Zealand
New Zealand driver Jonny Reid has maximised his learning time ahead of this weekend's 7th Round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Durban.
Driving on a street circuit for the first time in his career, Reid joined the Czech Republic in driving the most laps in the first official practice session.
The 24-year-old recorded the 11th fastest time, more than a second off the pace set by the Netherlands, as he focused on learning the circuit ahead of tomorrow morning's qualifying.
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan and Adam Khan made a flying start to the A1GP Durban, South Africa today, setting competitive times from the outset. Following special dispensation from A1GP organisers, Pakistan were able to compete in the one-hour long rookie session for the first time this season and were quickly among the frontrunners.
With the beautiful backdrop of the Durban coastline, Adam Khan made a perfect start to his weekend, setting the fastest time in the early stages of the first session. The 22 year-old racer continued the trend to finish the session in the top five.
Having made a number of set-up changes to the car, Khan took to the track for the second practice session of the day. While improving his times, the Pakistan driver was caught out by the early braking Irish car ahead of him, and hit the wall trying to avoid a collision. However, with little damage done to the car, Khan was able to make his way back to the pits during a red flag period where the team repaired the damage. Returning to the track for the final minutes of the session, Khan was able to set the 13th fastest time of the afternoon.
Reflecting on the first day of track action, Khan said, "It was definitely a big help being able to take part in the rookie session today. We've been missing out on that all season, and as an independent team with no technical partners, we have no-one to share data with. It helped a lot this morning to get in those extra laps, complete a mechanical shake-down and get some extra knowledge of the circuit.
"We were making progress in the second session, and then at one point I was catching the A1 Team Ireland car down the back straight. He seemed to brake early and I was caught out by that, and had to take avoiding action. The rear end of the car spun out and I hit the wall which broke the nose. I couldn't get the car back to the pits and had to park the car up. Luckily there was then a red flag and I was able to get a push start and get the car back to the pits.
"I think we can make a few improvements before qualifying, the car feels pretty stable over the bumpy surface here, but I think there's a few corners where we can make up some time. I'm pretty optimistic for tomorrow."
Team driver coach Danny Watts said, "I'm really impressed with how Adam did today. This is a very difficult circuit, with no margin for error. He was immediately on the pace from the first practice session and continued to improve throughout the day. A small spin in the second session put us out of action for a while, but with little damage to the car we were able to recover from that. Hopefully we will be able to maintain this momentum when it really matter tomorrow in qualifying."
Team Manager John Allen added, "I think he did really well, we managed to get a dispensation to do the rookie session, so that gave us an extra hour on track. Hopefully, as a developing motorsport nation, we will be able to take part in the rookie session for the remainder of the season. I think we had a very strong start to the weekend today, and we'll push to improve our times further tomorrow."
South Africa
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport returned to the streets of Durban with a roar as the 22 competing nations completed the first two official practice sessions on a typically sultry day at the Oceanside circuit.
The Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen set the fastest time of the day at 1 min 18,73 sec around the 3-km 14-turn layout. He was 0,31 sec quicker than Germany's Michael Ammermuller and 0,46 sec ahead of third-placed Oliver Jarvis of A1 Team Great Britain.
South Africa's Adrian Zaugg was sixth fastest and 0,82 sec off Bleekemolen's best time after spending the hour-long session this afternoon reacquainting himself with A1GP's only street circuit and concentrating on trying a number of different set-ups for tomorrow afternoon's all-important qualifying session.
Earlier today, Wesleigh Orr represented A1 Team South Africa in the rookie practice session and was a creditable fifth quickest behind pace-setter Ammermuller of Germany. It was Orr's first appearance in Vulindlela in Durban and he was pleased to have achieved his target 'top five' on his 20th birthday.
"We're not really aiming for quick times in the rookie session," said Orr. "My job is to help set up the car for Adrian in the afternoon practice, and this is a team effort. I really enjoyed my first experience of a street circuit in a formula car, although I have raced karts in the streets."
Zaugg told the post-practice media conference that the team had struggled to get the right balance with the tyres. "It's only Friday, so we're not worried," he said with a smile. "Although we weren't 100% happy with the setup, we put in one quick lap towards the end of the session to see what we could achieve."
He told a questioner that he was not feeling unduly pressured being on his 'home' circuit and after winning the last feature race in Australia three weeks ago.
"Yes, there's a little more pressure than usual to achieve a good result, but this is not a negative thing. It doesn't bother me. I'm confident we will qualify well tomorrow. A1 is getting more and more competitive, as you can see from today's practice times (the top 11 cars were covered by a second). I think the times will be very close all weekend."
USA
A1 Team USA's Jonathan Summerton had the fifth fastest lap in practice Friday for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Durban, South Africa.
"It's one of our best starts to the weekend this year," Summerton said. "The 'We the People' car was good from the get-go. We've got something to contend for the pole in qualifying."
Summerton, of Kissimmee, Fla., completed 21 laps, topped by a 1:19.525, in the one-hour session on the 2.04-mile street circuit. The Durban round last season was Summerton's first race weekend in A1GP. "The experience from last year really helped me concentrate on driving the car rather than learning the track," Summerton said. "We were able to build our speed to a very competitive level."
A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger likes the team's momentum. "It's a clear signal that we're ready to make some real noise," Weidinger said. "We're gaining on our rivals at the front of the field. We've been a solid top-10 performer in qualifying and the races in the past three rounds, we've scored points in four straight rounds and we're getting better."
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