13/04/2008
NEWS STORY
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil finished today's Sprint and Feature races in 14th and 13th positions respectively for round nine of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. It was a solid result for race driver Xandi Negrao as he embarked on his first full A1GP weekend.
Xandi made a good start in this morning's ten lap sprint race, doing well to avoid a startline collision between Teams New Zealand and USA which saw Jonny Reid's car spin off track. Brasil was initially up to 13th but was overtaken on lap 2 by the Czech Republic. After the ten laps Xandi finished his first race in 14th position, having had a good race experience to head into the afternoon with.
The Brazilian squad had another solid race in this afternoon's 38-lap feature event, with Xandi beginning from 17th after a tricky qualifying session yesterday. The Team was promoted to 16th as South Africa began from the pitlane and on lap three Xandi overtook Pakistan's Adam Khan to take 15th. He led the race briefly during the pitstop period but emerged from his own mandatory stop in 14th, having gained one position from slick work from the Team. He began in pursuit of Australia and overtook John Martin on lap 19 for 13th position. He made his second compulsory stop on lap 26, maintaining his 13th position, and was in this spot when he passed the chequered flag.
A1 Team Brasil maintains its 11th place in the championship after this weekend with 44 points. Its nearest rival is Team China who is two points ahead so Brasil will be aiming to take that top ten championship finish at the season finale in three weeks time at the Brands Hatch circuit in the United Kingdom.
Xandi Negrao: Sprint Race: "Overall the race was good for me. I think on true pace and performance we could have finished three or four positions higher, but I had to lift off on the start to avoid the New Zealand car when it spun off track, so I couldn't push at the crucial time. The rest of the race was not bad, the pace was good and I was able to hold a solid position. It was important for me to get a race distance under my belt and learn how the car behaved, so I achieved that and we used it to work on set-up for the feature race."
Feature Race: "Again, it was another good race and I was able to make a couple of good passes. It was a shame that we couldn't overtake anyone in the pitstops but I was in traffic for the majority of the race. I should have passed Italy in the second stop but I was held up by Lebanon on my inlap which cost me a couple of seconds. When I was along on the track I had a good pace, the car was consistent throughout and the last stint on new tyres was very good. It was great to learn by finishing both races and not making any mistakes. I wish I could have scored points but I'm sure if we had had a better qualifying then we definitely had the pace to finish in the top ten."
France
A1 Team France leaves Shanghai in China having added another 3 points to its tally thanks to Franck Montagny's 8th place in the Feature race.
As expected, starting from 18th on the grid he did not manage to score in the Short race. He got as high as 12th but lacked the time to move up further.
In the Feature race Franck was up to 9th place in the first corner and he got past his closest rival Great Britain during the first round of refuelling stops. Although he was much quicker than the cars in front of him passing them on the track proved impossible. The Team tried to put back his second stop slightly to help him overtake in the pits. To no avail as he rejoined in 8th place where he stayed till the finish.
A1 Team France has 111 points but the 2007/2008 title is now beyond its grasp. It can still aim for the runner-up slot though, as it is only 10 points behind New Zealand. This will be the squad's objective in the last round of the season in 3 weeks' time at Brands Hatch.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "Today's scenario was what we expected. We knew it would be difficult to score points in the first race and that we could move up a few places in the second. And that's what happened. We could probably have finished a little higher up, but we were unable to get past Malaysia and India, which held Franck up for two-thirds of the long race. Today, mathematically speaking, we're no longer in the running for the title, so our aim is to move up a place in the overall classification at Brands Hatch and finish the season in second position. Bravo to the whole Team for its work this weekend."
Franck Montagny: "Today's two races helped me to accumulate experience in the car and it's now much more to my liking. I did the maximum here but my aero set-up prevented me from overtaking some cars, which were slower than me over a lap. I spent the whole afternoon glued to a rival's gearbox, and this meant that I wasn't able to set competitive times: the car's at least 0.4s quicker than our fastest lap today. Now, we're going to concentrate on the next meeting. I don't know the Brands Hatch circuit, but maybe that's an advantage, as I won't arrive with my F1 points of reference. It'll be much easier to adapt my driving style right from the start to the very special characteristics of the A1GP car."
Canada
Robert Wickens wracked up his fifth podium of the season for A1 Team Canada today in Round 9 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, the penultimate round of the nation versus nation series and the Canadian's final appearance for the Team. From third on the grid the 19-year-old from Toronto scored a second place Sprint finish before going on to set the fastest lap of the afternoon's Feature race – a problematic first pit stop ultimately thwarting any hopes of a points score in the later event.
Wickens, already with more points and podiums to his name than any other Canadian to have competed in A1GP, capped a stellar rookie season in China with another front-running performance in the 20-minute Sprint, his podium scoring efforts adding to Canada's points tally with the Team holding ninth overall in the A1GP Nations Standings, on 75 points, with only the Brands Hatch season finale remaining next month.
A superb qualifying effort from Wickens the previous day, with just one hour's practice time on the 4.6km track, put A1 Team Canada in prime position for a decent finish in this morning's 10-lap Sprint. Qualifying third behind Switzerland's Neel Jani on pole and Portugal's Felipe Albuquerque, Wickens made a great start to snatch second as the 22-strong field of nations gave chase. Holding second Wickens duly took the checkered for his fifth A1GP podium in seven rounds. Jani celebrated the win for title-leaders Switzerland ahead of Wickens and Albuquerque in third.
A disappointing qualifying session meant Wickens started 12th on the grid for the 70-minute Feature race. The Canadian wasted little time in trying to break into the top-ten and the points paying positions. An aggressive shot at tenth came up just short on the second tour with disaster striking a handful of laps later at the first of two mandatory pit-stops on lap 10. A mechanical issue with one of the wheel changes cost Wickens precious track time and position.
With a points finish realistically out of reach now, the Canadian Team aimed to underline their pace and grab the point on offer for fastest lap of the race. Robert failed to disappoint, setting a hot lap of 1m35.177s just five laps from the checkered – a marker that remained unbeaten. Wickens finished the 38-lap Feature 20th with A1 Team USA celebrating their maiden A1GP victory courtesy of Florida's Jonathan Summerton.
"Well the Sprint race went really well as I knew we were capable of securing a podium finish," stated Wickens. "I got the start I was hoping for and I just wanted to score as many points as I could. I wasn't so happy with my Feature start and I was being held up a bit through to the first stop. Unfortunately we had a hold up at the stop but that's racing! Luckily the Team gave me a good car and we managed to get the fastest lap towards the end of the race. Looking at the lap times I was matching the American entry so it's a bit disappointing. Overall I've had a great year in A1GP and I was able to accomplish everything I set out to. It's been a great experience but I leave definitely wanting more!"
Mark Gallagher, whose company, Status Grand Prix, operates A1 Team Canada, was full of praise for Wickens; "To take a fifth podium in seven weekends of racing for A1 Team Canada is once again testament to Robert's ability. The Sprint race produced another superb result. Robert then showed in the Feature, with the fastest lap, what the car was capable of. Overall it's been another strong weekend where we were competing at the right end of the grid. We head to Brands with hopes of a strong finish to the season. We'll have a driver change there but in the meantime we'd like to thank Robert for the stunning job he's done for the Team this season!"
Germany
At the ninth round of the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport in China Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany converted two mediocre grid positions into a brace of top ten finishes. Thanks to Michael Ammermuller's fight back the Team collected a total of six points for sixth in the sprint race and tenth in the feature race. The Team moves up to sixth in the overall rankings as a result.
Michael Ammermuller made an excellent start in the sprint race around the Shanghai GP circuit, while two direct competitors crashed. The 22-year old professional from Pocking jumped from ninth on the grid to sixth on the first lap with the powerful 550 hp A1GP race car. He put Narain Karthikeyan under pressure for the entire duration of the short ten lap sprint race, but was unable to overtake the Indian. A1 Team Germany clinched five points and moved from seventh to sixth in the championship standings.
In the feature race Ammermuller defended his 13th start position. As the majority of the competition made their first mandatory pit stop after eleven laps, Michael Ammermuller won valuable time after recording a fast lap on a traffic free circuit. After his first stop he had improved three positions to tenth place. The second pit stop made by David Sears Motorsport also ran smoothly. A1 Team Germany crossed the finish line in tenth position at the end of the 38 race laps.
Michael Ammermuller: "Everybody hoped that overtaking from the slipstream would be possible on this circuit. However, in my opinion such opportunities failed to appear. So, I tried to make up ground at the start. I'm grateful for the strategy, devised by David Sears Motorsport, to delay the first pit stop. This got us into the points. The guys made two very good pit stops. I'm satisfied that we were able to convert a pair of mediocre grid positions into two point scoring finishes."
Willi Weber: "We've finally completed two races without problems. Michael made the best out of a very difficult situation. Overtaking was obviously extremely difficult on this track. My thanks go to him and the Team for the two points scoring results. Anyway, we were able to improve our position in the table by one position. It is clear that you have to be much stronger in qualifying to be able to bring home a good race result. This has to be our target for the finale at Brands Hatch."
Great Britain
Robbie Kerr collected four championship points for A1 Team Great Britain today at the penultimate round of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. His two ninth-place finishes in the Sprint and Feature race closed the gap to Team France in the championship to 12 points, and GBR is now aiming to pass them in the championship in three weeks time at the final round of the season at Brands Hatch.
Team GBR began this morning's 10-lap Sprint race from tenth on the grid and made unplanned set-up changes to the car on the grid due to an increase in the wind. Robbie moved initially up to seventh, cleverly avoiding a startline incident involving New Zealand and USA, but dropped to ninth following turn two after going in three abreast with Italy and South Africa, and slipping behind both nations. Despite Robbie heading after eighth-placed Italy and fending off tenth-placed China, the pack continued in the established order and GBR crossed the finish line in ninth place. It was a disappointing result for the British squad, although the saving grace came from fierce championship rivals France failing to score any points, with Robbie collecting two for the Team.
Robbie began from eighth in the afternoon's 38-lap Feature race. He remained in eighth following the standing start but dropped to ninth after his first compulsory pitstop, which GBR took on lap nine, losing position to rivals France in the pits. Rookie driver Duncan Tappy was on hand during today's stops as he filled in and took on front jack duties, and the Team did a solid job in both stops. Robbie faced pressure towards the mid-point of the race from Team Germany, but he continued to push France hard, trying for the pass on lap 17. Unfortunately he was unable to overtake the French car with new driver Franck Montagny at the wheel and, following his second stop on lap 26, he remained in ninth and maintained his position until the chequered flag.
Robbie Kerr:
Sprint Race: "We had a good start initially and I thought I was going to get Germany, but then the incident happened in front and I had to back off allowing Germany to come back at us. Going into turn 1, I got bogged down by Germany which allowed Italy and South Africa to come either side boxing me in. I did the sensible thing and backed off rather than risk an accident, and from then on chased Italy, but unfortunately wasn't able to get close enough to mount a decent challenge. We struggled with the car handling throughout the race – it wasn't quite as we'd like but we'll work on getting this sorted for the feature race."
Feature Race: "It was a tough race today as we were in the mix throughout. We had a reasonable start but couldn't quite make the most of it. Our first pit stop was really good but unfortunately India in the pit box in front didn't, blocking us on the way out and costing us a position to France. From that point on, we had the pace to attack France in front, but of course with Germany right behind I had to defend hard too. We had another good stop but got caught on the exit as South Africa came in. Its been a challenging weekend, but we've come away with some points and still have a fighting chance of getting third (or possibly second if New Zealand have an unlikely bad weekend) in the championship with a strong performance at Brands Hatch."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "This has obviously been a disappointing weekend for us because although we scored some points, we are used to scoring much higher, and had a very good chance to gain good ground on France for third place in the championship. It has been one of those weekends you can have in racing where it just didn't come together for us. We are now firmly focused on our home race at Brands Hatch in three weeks and we have not changed our objective of a top three championship finish."
Ireland
Adam Carroll followed up his maiden A1GP victory with third in the Feature race for Belmayne A1 Team Ireland at the Shanghai International Circuit in China today.
A disappointing start to the day saw Adam finish eleventh in the Sprint race after an incident between the USA and New Zealand lost him places off the start as he took evasive action.
Despite losing two places from the Feature race standing start, Adam clawed his way back past Malaysia by the end of lap one. Portugal eventually passed India for third with Adam swiftly following suit moving into P4 at the start of lap eight. With the USA leading Switzerland up ahead, the top four kept in formation after clean first pit stops as Ireland continued to chase Portugal for the final podium spot. On lap 14 Neel Jani lost second gear in the Swiss car and began to fall back into the jaws of the chasing duo.
By the time the second round of pit stops came about there was a four-way battle for second as Jonny Reid had caught on to the back of the trio. Another fantastic pit stop from Team Ireland jumped Adam ahead of Switzerland and put him back out on track in P3 behind Portugal who also leapfrogged the Swiss. Adam continued lapping in the low 1m 36s throughout his final stint bringing the ‘Celtic Tiger' home on the podium for the third time this season.
After dropping down the table this morning to ninth, the afternoon's points promote Ireland to seventh in the championship, on equal points with Germany in sixth, just 16-points off fourth position. The Team now aims for a top six championship finish with 32-points still on offer at the Brands Hatch season finale on 4 May.
Adam Carroll: "I couldn't see what caused the incident in the Sprint. I saw them (New Zealand and USA) touch but I knew I couldn't go hard right because there's a lot of cars on your inside as well so I had to make sure I had enough room to get around and in doing so we lost quite a lot of places.
"It's a shame we couldn't score points this morning but race one really set us up for race two as we made some changes to the set up. The car was getting better as the race went on and we although we didn't have the pace to win we were lapping consistently. To follow up our win with a Feature race podium is brilliant."
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "We thought starting from eighth in the Sprint we could make up some places and get some solid points but when New Zealand and USA came together at the start, Adam did really well to avoid hitting them but unfortunately that dropped us to P10 through turn one.
"It was very disappointing this morning because it didn't truly reflect what we knew we could achieve with the car. The pace was good this afternoon though and Adam has come away with another podium while the Team executed a great set of great pit stops. From a championship point of view, our four rivals didn't score so we now go to Brands Hatch hoping to secure a top six championship finish."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Coming off the back of the win in Mexico, it's very satisfying to get another podium in the Feature race. Once again it was not only about Adam's ability behind the wheel, but also the terrific work of the pit crew. From a Team Ireland point of view, heading into what is our closest race to home at Brands Hatch, this couldn't be a better run of success. We go to the Brand Hatch GP circuit, a track that Adam knows well, with the expectation of being able to run at the sharp end all weekend and hopefully achieve our goal of finishing in the top six of the championship."
Lebanon
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Shanghai, China gave an enthusiastic crowd of fans two thrilling races. A1 Team Lebanon, with Jimmy Auby driving, showcased the nation to the busy grandstands and millions of viewers around the world. The young South African-Lebanese, representing the Arab world for the second time, finished 18th in the Sprint race and 22nd in the Feature race.
A1 Team Lebanon began the Sprint race from 20th place, with the rolling start producing early drama ahead of Auby. As the green flag flew and the pace hotted, Team USA and Team New Zealand, one of the championship contenders, clashed as they raced down the main straight, with the New Zealand car spearing off the track and the American car limping back to the pits. Auby kept his cool and avoided not only the two damaged cars, but also the flying debris from the incident.
By the end of the first lap Lebanon were lying in 18th place, but with only 10 laps of racing it was always going to be a tough challenge for Auby to gain further positions. The Pakistan car was ahead for the first part of the race, but when their driver, Adam Khan, passed Netherlands for position, it was the Dutch car that Lebanon was chasing. Although unable to make a pass on the car ahead, Auby pursued hard and kept the gap close for the duration of the Sprint distance, finishing less than a second behind Netherlands, a previous race winner in the Series.
The Feature race grid lined up in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Shanghai and after the parade lap, the field of A1GP cars fired off the starting line and down to the first corner. The pack ran tightly through the sequence of corners and emerged without incident at the end of the first lap. Auby passed the Mexican car, but was in turn passed by South Africa, to lie 21st at the first round of pitstops.
After a clean pitstop, Auby returned to the track, however Auby had exceeded the maximum pit lane speed and was forced to return for a drive through penalty. Auby's inexperience led to a further contravention of the A1GP rules and he was penalised with a ‘stop and go' penalty, with the Lebanon car returning to the Team's pit box for 10 seconds before returning to the track. This put the Team one lap down on the rest of the field and a tough challenge for the young South African-Lebanese driver to make up any positions. After a further pitstop Auby crossed the finish line in 22nd position.
Auby said after the two races, "It was an uneventful Sprint race and although we didn't make up any ground, I was able to stay on the pace of the cars around me and we completed the race distance. The Feature race was very disappointing, with my rookie errors costing us any chance of improvement, but I have gained so much experience today, only my second weekend with the Team."
Luke Craft, Team Principal, added, "After a steady start today, with Jimmy running at a consistent pace throughout the Sprint race, our fortunes turned in the Feature race. Jimmy's lack of race experience led to small errors, but I know he'll learn from these mistakes. The Team gave him two good pitstops and we have a good reliability record, so operationally we're pleased with today and these are positives we take away from China."
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia produced their best result of the season in today's Sprint race at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Shanghai, China. A strong fourth place finish preceded a sixth place in the main Feature race for Malaysia with Alex Yoong driving the nation's car.
The customary first lap drama of A1GP began immediately the green flag dropped for the rolling start, with the USA and New Zealand cars clashing on the main straight while Yoong was challenging for position and battling with arch-rival Narain Karthikeyan in the Team India car. A superb move on Karthikeyan put the Malaysian car up to fourth place before the first lap had been completed. From that point onwards Yoong held position, determined to defend from the bulk of the field behind him.
With a strong race pace he comfortably held off the Indian car behind. Portugal, the team ahead of Yoong, had been one of the quickest cars all weekend and was one of the few that Yoong could not match on pace. Although closing on Portugal as the race progressed he was unable to get past him, finishing fourth at the chequered flag.
It was a clean start for the grid off the starting line for the Feature race, with Yoong racing hard to the first corner from his sixth place start. Jostling with the cars around him Yoong maintained his grid slot after the opening lap. With championship contender New Zealand breathing down his neck, Yoong needed all his wits to keep defending his position while also trying to challenge India ahead. With both cars making their first pitstop on the same lap it was a close match in times for the crews to change the tyres, but New Zealand just pipped the Malaysian car to take away sixth place. However Malaysia then took India to reclaim the spot.
As the race headed to mid distance the pace settled with the field strung out and Yoong running a few seconds behind New Zealand. The second stop saw the leading teams pit early in the ‘window' for the tyre changes. Yoong was amongst these and the crew gave him a quick change of rubber to put him back on the track without losing position. The remainder of the race passed without incident, with the Malaysia car crossing the line in sixth place.
Yoong said of the races, "It's great to have two good finishes. The sprint race was a good start to the day and I'm pleased we were able to make a pass on India to snatch fourth as we were reasonably competitive. The feature race gave us another good result although I was struggling with understeer whereas this morning it had been oversteer, but that just shows the fine balance that is needed to get the best out of the car. After the second pitstop we dropped the tyre pressures and the car was very strong with some very strong lap times, so I was hoping for a safety car to bunch every one up – I think I would have had a good shot at taking another place or two. Overall it has been a good weekend for us."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive of the team, added, "We've seen the results today that have eluded us for much of this season and it's given us a very big boost as we head to the final round of this season. We had two strong finishes with strong teamwork in the pitstops and great reliability as well. When all the ingredients come together, the results come to us as they have done this weekend. I hope we carry this momentum through to the final round in the UK."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands has had to finish a difficult weekend in Shanghai without points. Problems with the engine, which was replaced, and damage to the monocoque, made it impossible for the Team to get into a position to fight for the podium places or points.
After the bad qualifying result A1 Team Netherlands faced the huge task to come from the back of the grid and still book a decent result in the two races on the 4.6 km long circuit. After qualifying on Saturday it was already discovered that an engine problem had cost about seven tenths per lap. When the engine was replaced, another problem with the car came to light. With the Durban Feature race crash, the monocoque also had been damaged, causing the car to lose stiffness. Unfortunately this damage could not be repaired in time.
With a far from optimal car Jeroen Bleekemolen started the 10 lap Sprint race from seventeenth place. There was not much he could do during the race. He was not able to pressure Pakistan in front and in the back there was no threat from Lebanon and Mexico. Bleekemolen did thus finish on the same place as where he started, seventeenth. Switzerland took a convincing win from pole and increased its lead on New Zealand, which crashed out at the start together with USA.
At the Feature race start Jeroen Bleekemolen got stuck and lost a couple of places from eighteenth. The A1 Team Netherlands did manage to make up for this, but he could do little more. Almost straight after the first pitstop window was open, Bleekemolen said on the radio that he wanted to come in for new tyres. The pitstop and the new tyres did not result in gaining positions, A1 Team Netherlands remained in eighteenth, still behind Pakistan. This order remained the same for the rest of the race. There was not a moment where A1 Team Netherlands was in a position to move further forward with a car that was far from ideal to handle, no matter what Jeroen tried. A1 Team Switzerland seemed to be on its way towards clinching the Championship, until a gearbox problem (no 2nd gear left) and a bad second pitstop spoiled things. Now the title fight will be decided during the final two races at the Brands Hatch circuit. A1 Team USA took revenge for the Sprint race and managed to clinch their maiden victory in A1GP.
Jeroen Bleekemolen; "A dramatic weekend, that much is clear. In our worst weekends of the last two seasons we were always in the back of the top 10 during races. The fact that we were this far in the back of the field proves how major the problem with the car is. It is not something you can solve with another set-up, we were much to slow for that. So, it clearly is a big problem with the monocoque. We have three weeks to solve it and maybe build another car for Brands Hatch. We are all going to do our very best to finish the season on a high. With a good weekend we should be able to climb a bit in the Championship during the final races."
Jan Lammers; "This raceweekend clearly was a nightmare. After the crash in Durban our car has never been the same. Of course we have replaced every component you can think of since then, except for the chassis and Team wear. We will change the chassis for the race at Brands Hatch in three weeks time and test our current chassis on torsion stiffness. If the performance is this bad you cannot find the words to describe it. It clearly is a fundamental problem and not a question of tweaking details. Because it is an unusual situation we cannot use common sense as guidelines, we cannot even overlook the very obvious. So, an unforgettable bad weekend."
New Zealand
New Zealand's campaign for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has hit a major speed bump at this weekend's 9th Round in Shanghai.
After crashing out of the Sprint Race, Jonny Reid drove Black Beauty to 4th place in the Feature Race. But Switzerland all but ensured championship honours with one round remaining by winning the Sprint Race and cruising home 5th in the Feature Race.
Switzerland now leads second placed New Zealand by 29 points. With only 32 points on offer in the final round at Brands Hatch in the first weekend of May a repeat of last season's runner-up placing is realistically the best New Zealand can hope for.
Team Manager John Sears says the positive to emerge from the weekend was consolidating second place. The Swiss now head the table with 150 points and New Zealand is on 121 points, doubling its lead over 3rd placed France to 10 points.
The day began badly for Reid. Starting 5th on the grid in the 20-minute Sprint Race, Black Beauty crashed out on the opening straight, colliding with the United States as the Swiss streaked away to victory number four this season.
Despite major damage, the Kiwi pit crew patched up the car to start from 7th on the Feature Race grid. Two superb pit stops, which collectively reeled in three places, allowed Reid to finish in 4th spot and maintain the mathematical chance of overhauling the Swiss.
Pakistan
Racing action kicked off at the A1GP Shanghai, China today, with A1 Team Pakistan taking part in the penultimate round of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Adam Khan was on track representing his nation, as Teams from all over the world came together for the second Chinese event of the season. Despite some exciting overtaking manoeuvres by Khan, the Team struggled for pace throughout the weekend, and finished 16th in the Sprint race and 17th in the Feature race.
Having qualified 19th, Khan lined up on the grid for the 20 minute Sprint race. As the 22 A1GP cars headed towards the start/finish line for the traditional rolling start, tension mounted. With the green lights signalling the start of the race, Khan found himself in a high speed chase with A1 Team Lebanon to the first corner. Taking the inside line, Khan made into the first corner ahead, and soon had previous race winner - A1 Team Netherlands - in his sights. Charging hard to make up positions, Khan made a brilliant move on the Dutch driver at the end of the second lap to take 16th place. With positions unchanged for the remainder of the race, Khan crossed the line in 16th place.
As the 22 nations lined up for the standing start in the afternoon's Feature race, Khan took up his 16th placed grid slot. The 22 year-old made a lightening start to beat A1 Team Brazil down to the first corner. As Khan pushed hard in 15th place, he had the Australian car in his sights as the A1GP cars completed the first lap. As the Team's round him picked up the pace, Brazil retook 15th place at the end of lap two.
With the A1GP Teams having to make their first mandatory pit stop between laps 8 and 16, Pakistan was one of the last Teams to make a stop, and left the pits in 17th place. The order remained unchanged until the Team's second pit stop on lap 28. Having completed the second pit stop, the Team rejoined the race in 18th place, before making up one more final place to finish in 17th.
A disappointed Khan said after the races, "It hasn't really been a great weekend; we've struggled from the first session and haven't really been able to recover throughout the weekend. I did enjoy the racing with the Netherlands in the early stages of the Sprint race, but it was pretty uneventful after that. I made a great start in the Feature race, I thought I was going to able to get past Germany, but he didn't leave me much room and it wasn't worth risking damage to the car. It wasn't the most enjoyable race ever, for the second half I was pretty much lapping on my own. This isn't the kind of result I expect us to be getting, so we need to make some improvements and aim higher at Brands Hatch."
A1 Team Pakistan Team manager John Allen commented, "The Feature race was difficult. In the first half of the race I don't really think we were on the pace, Adam was losing time and I think he was having some problems with the brakes. We didn't make the best of the pit stops today, and together with not quite being on the pace, we couldn't quite get to grips with the race. I think the entire Team is a little disappointed not to have scored some points this weekend."
A1 Team Pakistan driver coach Bruce Jouanny added, "Adam made a great start, he passed Brazil and tried to make a move on Germany but I think he was pushed to the outside and couldn't make the move stick. His pace throughout the race got better and better. Hopefully we can learn something from Adam's feedback for the next round at Brands Hatch."
South Africa
It was not the best weekend South Africa has had in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, but Adrian Zaugg and Vulindlela were still able to retain their fifth place overall in the championship at the end of a challenging and disappointing penultimate round at Shanghai in China today.
Zaugg, 21, driving A1 Team South Africa's distinctively-coloured Vulindlela, overcame a lowly 11th place in the rolling start for the first of today's two races to overhaul four of his rivals and finish a solid seventh in the 20-minute Sprint. In the process he scored four valuable championship points to close the gap to fourth-placed Great Britain by two points and to third-placed France by four points.
South Africa was due to start from ninth on the grid in the standing start Feature race, alongside France's Franck Montagny and one place behind Great Britain's Robbie Kerr. But the bad luck that seems to have dogged the Team struck again, with the technicians encountering a problem with the new gear set they fitted between races.
By the time the problem was identified, the pit lane had closed and the rest of the 22-car field was lined up on the starting grid. South Africa was forced to start from the pit lane exit after the field had passed. Zaugg did well to move up six places by half distance of the 70-minute race and was challenging China's Franky Cheng for 15th place. At the finish, after 38 laps of the 4,6-km state-of-the-art circuit, he was 16th. Rivals France (eighth) and Great Britain (ninth) picked up three and two points respectively on South Africa.
Jonathan Summerton, 19, gave the United States its first A1GP win in the Feature race (becoming the 10th different winner this season) after Switzerland's Neel Jani dominated the Sprint race. Summerton qualified second behind Jani, but took the lead before the first corner and was not headed throughout the race. Jani finished fifth, slowed by the loss of second gear, but did enough to give Switzerland a virtually unassailable 29-point lead in the championship heading into the final round at Brands Hatch in Great Britain in three weeks time.
"We struggled to get the optimum set-up this weekend and, as a result, did not achieve the grid positions we needed for good results here in China," said A1 Team South Africa general manager Mike Carroll. "Adrian did a good job under the circumstances in the Sprint race and scored valuable championship points. We changed gear ratios for the feature race, but all we could hear was a ‘clunking' noise inside the gearbox. By the time we had identified the problem, the pit lane was closed and we were forced to start from the pit lane.
"We were fortunate to come away with our fifth place in the championship intact, although we are now under threat from Germany and Ireland, who are nine points behind going into the final two races. We believe our targeted fifth place for the season is still achievable and we will be doing our best to even catch Great Britain, who are fourth overall and seven points ahead of us, but this will be a tall order on their ‘home' circuit" said Carroll.
Zaugg was understandably disappointed with the weekend's results, but remains positive about the Team's chances of attaining its overall goal for this season.
"Although we battled with the car this weekend, the Team worked hard and we improved as the weekend progressed," said Zaugg. "We did well to score points in the Sprint race and once we missed the formation lap for the Feature race, there was not much more we could take from what has been a disappointing first visit to Shanghai for me.
"The pressure is on us for the last two races of the season in three weeks time. Ireland and Germany are our biggest threats, but I'm sure we will be stronger at Brands Hatch and we will be working hard to achieve our goal of a top five championship result."
USA
A1 Team USA won its first race in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport as Jonathan Summerton dominated the Feature race Sunday at Shanghai International Circuit.
"I'm really happy to win for A1 Team USA," Summerton said. "It's been a long time coming. We've steadily made the ‘We the People' car more competitive this season and to finally stand on the top of the podium with our national anthem playing was the greatest feeling of my career."
Summerton lined up second for the standing start and accelerated past pole winner Neel Jani of Team Switzerland to take the lead into the first corner. The 19-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., was never passed on the track, giving up the lead only during two pit stops in the 38-lap race on the 2.9-mile circuit. He finished 9.7 seconds in front of runner-up Filipe Albuquerque of Team Portugal.
"We had a great car and two flawless pit stops," Summerton said. Summerton led the opening nine laps in the Feature before stopping at the start of the mandatory pit window. "We had a good stop and came out fifth behind four cars which hadn't pitted."
When the round was completed, Summerton was back on top on lap 15 and he began to steadily pull away from the second-running Jani. A1 Team USA had a nine second lead with 15 laps remaining.
Summerton's second stop on lap 25 was also smooth and fast and he came out second to Team France. When France made its mandatory stop two laps later, A1 Team USA led by 7.5 seconds and Summerton drove unchallenged to the checkered flag.
A1 Team USA was knocked out early in the Sprint race.
Summerton was on the third row alongside New Zealand's Jonny Reid for the rolling start for the Sprint. At the green flag, Reid veered left and made contact with the A1 Team USA car's right side. Damage to the sidepod and front wing forced Summerton out of the race after he limped around the track for one lap and the Team finished 21st. Summerton also bruised his right hand in the incident.
"I was driving in a straight line and I guess Jonny (Reid) decided to come over," Summerton said. "The Team did a tremendous job repairing the car for the Feature."
It was quite a comeback for A1 Team USA in the Feature.
"We're very proud that A1 Team USA has taken its first win in A1GP World Cup of Motorsport," A1 Team USA Holdings owner Rick Weidinger said. "It's an awesome achievement for our Team and we're thrilled to have done it representing the USA in an international racing series. This win is the first of many to come.
"It's unfortunate that we were taken out at the start of the Sprint race. It cost us valuable points. We showed our resilience in putting the ‘We the People' car back into winning shape. The hard work of our Team, led by Team manager Marc Lawrence and race engineer Leon Gutfreund, was rewarded and Jonathan drove very well. We have been patient and taken our time to develop Jonathan and it seemed to pay of for us today."