23/11/2008
NEWS STORY
Australia
Sprint Race
At the start of today's Sprint Race here in Sepang, A1 Team India had A1 Team USA climb over the top of the car with A1 Team Brazil unable to avoid the accident, taking three cars out of the race before lap one had been started.
With a single file formation re-start behind the safety car A1 Team Australia had it's only pit stop scheduled for lap four out of the twelve lap Sprint race. With a record breaking 8.6 second stop, 'The Pit Stop Kings' entertained the crowd giving John Martin a move up the order passing South Africa after their stop. The best previous pit stop for A1 Team Australia was 9.1 seconds in the second stop of the Feature in Chengdu two weeks ago to finish that race in 6th place.
A1 Team Switzerland enjoyed a good lead from Pole over the rest of the field to finish first ahead of A1 Team France and A1 Team New Zealand. John Martin for A1 Team Australia was catching A1 Team Italy for 7th place and in the end crossed the finish line in 8th place from his original 16th position on the grid.
With a slight change in the weather we expect some rain for the Feature in just over two hours time with a race start at 3 pm local Malaysian time.
John Martin: "That was a massive crash at the start that I managed to avoid running out to the left onto the grass. I thought I was going to get hit at one stage but didn't so that was good. There was a little bit of damage from the grass excursion but that didn't affect the car too much. My race pace was good and we have a few changes to do on the car before the Feature. Again the crew did a perfect pit stop in 8.6 seconds and we jumped South Africa. Good to score a point for the team as well"
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "I am very happy; John did a good job avoiding the accident at the start between A1 team India, Brazil and the USA. The car was running well and we had good pace as the race progressed, scored a point to retain 9th in the championship at this stage"
Rob Arnott Team Chief Engineer: "I thought John did a fantastic job to avoid the accident on the start, having to do some four wheel driving on the grass and he drove a very smart and sensible race. The boys did an absolute fantastic pit stop, after re-running the footage, timed it to be 8.6 seconds. John did a textbook drive, very happy"
Feature Race
The Sepang Feature Race was action packed with great racing from the entire grid in hot humid weather with a superb fourth place for John Martin and A1 Team Australia.
The winner was A1 Team Ireland with A1 Team Portugal and A1 Team USA in second and third respectively. Marco Andretti under pressure from John Martin for the second half of the race was using all of his 'push to pass' to keep Martin behind him to the chequered flag. Unfortunately with two laps remaining the 'push to pass' on A1 Team Australia malfunctioned to what may have been a last lap dash to chase a podium finish.
Adam Gotch the Team Manager for Australia was keen to make use of the planned pitstop strategy to help move John Martin up the order after starting the race from 13th position on the grid. 'The Pitstop Kings' did it all again, setting the pace for the other teams to follow. The following pitstop times are generated from the time the car enters pit lane until it leaves pit lane and not the actual stop in the pit box. The time it takes to enter and leave pit lane excluding the actual pit stop is on average 25.66 seconds.
Once the second pit stop was completed, A1 Team Australia moved into 4th place passing A1 Team South Africa. The crew have developed such a smooth well practiced strategy that other teams have begun filming them to see what makes them so accurate and fast changing tyres.
John Martin: "I lost radio contact so I didn't know how many 'push to pass' I had left, so I pushed it on the back straight, it worked, but onto the front straight it failed. I was having to short shift most of my last laps and that cost me the chance to challenge Marco [Andretti]. I am happy for them today but that podium would have been sweet. Really happy with 4th and a big thank you to the entire team for the support all weekend, especially the pit stops, they were awesome and the crowd were loving the racing today. Full grandstands are great to race to and we had that today in Sepang. Looking forward to next year here with a win"
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "John did exactly what we asked of him today. As I said to him, the more time in the car, the more laps he does on track, his confidence with the car and within himself improves, he will be faster and podiums will come on a regular basis. He is improving every race and I feel we can end up with a very good driver achieving good results. The crew were superb today, the crowd really got behind us all here in Sepang. Now we have a break before Taupo NZ and the news of the Gold Coast Race is a benchmark for future A1GP"
Brazil
A1 Team Brazil fought back valiantly to score four strong points in today's Feature race at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. A frightening crash at the start of the Sprint event saw the retirement of Felipe Guimarães and meant a race against time for the team to fix the car in time for the afternoon's main event.
Ahead of the start of the race, Brazil lined up in 14th position after they gained one place on the grid due to a penalty handed to Australia. As the pack neared the end of their formation lap on the main straight and appeared to prepare to pick up pace, it then backed off, causing a concertina effect which saw Marco Andretti plough his USA car into the rear of the India car and Brazil's Guimarães going into the rear of Andretti, lifting the car up into the air above the USA and India cars and putting an immediate end to the race for all three cars.
A1 Team Brazil did a stellar job in the few hours between races to fix the damage sustained in the accident to line up 12th on the grid for the 34-lap feature race. Felipe made a very good start, gaining three places up to ninth by the end of the first lap. A safety car was deployed on lap two to remove the India car from the edge of the track, and racing resumed on lap three. Later on the lap he passed Great Britain for eighth but was back to ninth on lap five as South Africa overtook him. Brazil made its first compulsory pitstop on lap 12 and, after passing China on lap 14 and a drive-through for the Netherlands, took up seventh position. He was up to sixth on lap 16 after Malaysia pitted unexpectedly, but lost a place to New Zealand after his second pitstop on lap 23. He crossed the finish line in a strong seventh place, collecting his first four points for Brazil.
The 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will now take a nine week break, with the racing action resuming in earnest at Taupo in New Zealand, for the ever popular event, which will take place 23-25 January 2009.
Felipe Guimarães:
Sprint Race: "From where I was I could see that everyone was going and obviously USA could see the same. Unfortunately India seemed to brake and we had nowhere to go. It's absolutely terrible, there's nothing else to say. This weekend was obviously not for me as we have had problems since Friday."
Feature Race: "I'm really happy with the result after what happened this morning. My team did a great job to get the car ready and I made a good start, had a good race and I think I was there with the lap times throughout. It's a great result after the problems we've had all weekend and I have to say a big thank you to the team for all their work. Now we have to concentrate on getting ready for the next race where I hope we can continue to achieve a better form for the team."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "I'm very pleased that we finished the weekend on a positive note and I have to thank the team for the level of professionalism and hard work they have shown this weekend. They did a fantastic job to get the car ready for the feature race, Felipe did a very good job and we ran a strong race. I'm very happy."
France
Today, A1 Team France took part in the 2 races (Sprint and Feature) on the Sepang circuit in Malaysia that was hosting the third round of the 2008-09 A1 World Cup of Motorsport Championship. Loïc Duval, who was in second spot for the Sprint race, finished in the same position despite a minor scare when he lost a place due to his pit stop, which he managed to make up out on the track.
Unfortunately, the Feature race ended in disappointment. Loïc was ninth on the grid and after a lap he was up to eighth. A few laps later he was hit by the British car, which caused a puncture. He crawled back to his pit and then had to stop again putting paid to his chances of a rostrum finish. He drove his heart out after that and showed real speed. Fourteenth was a meagre reward for his efforts - so no points scored.
This evening A1 Team France is in third place in the championship and is all fired up to begin its climb back to the front in the next round on the Tau po circuit in New Zealand on 23rd-25th January 2009.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "The result of the first race was in keeping with our expectations, and it gave us the provisional lead in the championship. We tackled the next round in an optimistic frame of mind. Our hopes were dashed when Loïc tagged Great Britain, which was not his fault. It's very frustrating as we were in front of the United States at that moment and the American team finished on the rostrum. But we've got to look on the bright side despite everything. Once again, we were the quickest on the track and our competitiveness will pay off in the end."
Loïc Duval, driver: "The A1GP regulations are designed to provide on-track excitement, so sometimes it's rather frustrating for a driver to start from far back on the grid when your pace should enable you to go for pole. This being said, the situation is the same for everybody, and it's up to us to get round the problems this poses. Once again this weekend we showed that our performance is good enough to make us title contenders. In four races I've had three rostrum finishes so I'm not far from the top of the championship!"
Great Britain
It was a disappointing day for A1 Team Great Britain and Danny Watts at the Sepang International Circuit for round three of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, with the squad leaving Malaysia having scored no points after suffering technical problems in both the Sprint and Feature races.
There was a disrupted start to the 12-lap Sprint race as the red flag came out following a big incident on the start line involving India, USA and Brazil, which caused the retirement of all three cars. The race was restarted under the safety car half an hour later and reduced by a lap, but GBR's race was short-lived as Danny limped into the pits after being stuck in first gear for the first lap. Investigations showed the ECU needed to be replaced and, by working hard, the team was able to get Danny back out for the final three laps to run some installation laps ahead of the Feature race.
Danny made a slow start off the line for the 34-lap Feature race and fell to fifth behind teams Ireland, Portugal, Lebanon and Malaysia. On lap three, after a safety car period, he ran wide after attempting to overtake Lebanon and was then forced to pit after touching France while sandwiched between Loic Duval and Brazil's Felipe Guimaraes, damaging his nosecone. He came back out on track a lap down, yet showing very good pace, fighting with France for the fastest lap honours. On lap 23 he was forced into another unscheduled trip into the pits after a problem with the brakes, which the team fixed and he was able to go back out six laps later. He fought hard to set the fastest lap, aiming for the bonus point, but set the second quickest, just missing out to race winners Ireland.
After three of ten rounds, there is now a nine week break in the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, with the championship getting back underway at Taupo in New Zealand from 23-25 January 2009. A1 Team Great Britain is currently in ninth position in the championship with 16 points.
Danny Watts:
Sprint Race: "Everything appeared to be okay before the race was red flagged, but when we got going again for the restart, it wouldn't change up from first gear. So we had to pit and found that it was a problem with the ECU. We managed to get out again at the end for some installation laps just to check everything was okay ahead of the Feature Race. It's disappointing, but these things happen in racing."
Feature Race: "I didn't get the clutch control quite right at the start and just got swallowed up early on. After that I got involved in a dog fight with Lebanon and we both lost out running wide, then to compound matters I got sandwiched in going into turn 9 and touched the back of France losing my front nose. The only consolation was that we were quick and just missed out on fastest lap. But overall, it's been a bad day in the office"
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "Obviously a very disappointing day and not what we had hoped for after all the points we scored on China two weeks ago, but these weekends sometimes happen in racing. We now have a long break and we will use the time to regroup in preparation for getting our championship campaign back on track in New Zealand in January."
Ireland
A1 Team Ireland's Adam Carroll took victory and with it the championship lead in the Feature race at round three of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Sepang today.
Ireland became the first repeat winner in the current season and, combined with a strong fifth place finish in the earlier Sprint race and fastest lap in the Feature race, amassed a 20 point haul to move to the top of the series standings to lead Portugal by eight points.
It was a textbook performance throughout the weekend from the entire Ireland squad who produced impeccable pit stops in both races to complement the searing pace they had unlocked from the Powered by Ferrari machine.
Carroll led away from pole position in the 34 lap Feature race and, after a brief safety car period, soon set about making a break at the head of the field. As his rivals wilted in the intense humidity, Carroll found a rhythm that produced a clear lead by the time the pit road opened for the first of two compulsory stops. He emerged with his lead intact and was more than six seconds clear by the time of the second round of stops.
A sub ten second stop by the Irish crew combined with stunning in and out laps by Carroll meant that Ireland was more than ten seconds clear of Portugal within two laps and, with a fresh set of tyres on board, Carroll set about making it a perfect afternoon by securing the point for fastest lap.
Apart from the pit stop periods, Carroll was never headed as he built up a lead of just under 16 seconds by the chequered flag to record Ireland's second Feature race win in A1GP racing and their second race win of the season to go with the Sprint race success in China last time out.
Earlier in the day, Carroll had gained two spots from his grid position in the Sepang Sprint race aided by some trademark slick pit work which helped him vault Team Italy for a finishing position of fifth and four vital championship points.
Along with the 16 points for the Feature, Ireland now has an eight-point lead over Portugal in the title race as the teams head into the winter break. It was another weekend of consistent high performance and Team Principal Mark Gallagher was quick to pay tribute to his crew afterwards.
"To lead the championship at this stage going into the Christmas and New Year break is ideal," said Team Principal Mark Gallagher afterwards. "Clearly in the last two events we've established ourselves as the team to beat.
"Adam and the whole team are doing a magnificent job and it's taken some time to build this squad into a world beating team. The result is there for all to see - that we've shown everyone a clean pair of heels today and now our focus is on keeping up the consistency. There are seven rounds remaining and we can't win every race but we clearly have a very strong team and if we can keep a consistent approach and continue to get podiums and points finishes we have a good chance to win the World Cup of Motorsport."
Adam Carroll hailed his win in Sepang as the greatest of his career and reaffirmed his determination to help Ireland challenge for title honours: It was really good. That was exactly what I wanted to do this weekend. I was very happy to be on pole and I just concentrated on getting a good start and getting into the first corner with the lead.
"I've been lucky enough to win some great races but personally for me it's probably the best. I feel good now and I really want to go on and win the championship and show that not only can I win races but that I can be a champion. The balance was really good and I just pushed as hard as I could and ended up with a nice big gap. The guys did a fantastic job in the pits and that's what it takes. It's just really all coming together.
"I'm going to keep training hard on the winter break. It's a long hard season and I'm looking forward to racing in New Zealand in January. It's a going to be a long hard fight. The other guys are going to come back at us and hopefully we've got an answer for them."
Team Technical Director Gerry Hughes: "The overall target was to come away from Sepang leading the championship going into the break so that was good.
"It would have been nice to have been in the top three in the Sprint race but I suppose you can't ask for too much because some of our close rivals hit problems and being top of the championship table is a good start."
"We haven't changed the set up of the car much since Saturday morning and it's just been a case of giving the driver as much confidence as possible. This is my tenth time here after nine seasons of Formula One and I know how much the circuit changes and rubbers in over the course of the weekend. If we can keep our noses clean and keep scoring points that would be ideal. It's important to keep playing the long game, not to focus on short term gain but to focus on the long term.
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon, tugging at the heartstrings of its nation, started the main race today in third place and after only one lap were lying second, but in the high pressured environment at the sharp end of A1GP, nothing can be taken for granted. Daniel Morad put in two spirited drives, but ultimately wasn't able to turn his excellent qualifying performance into a points finish. However, the feisty Lebanese driver proved this weekend that he has the determination to bring Lebanon into the spotlight. An 11th place finish in the Sprint race and 12th position in the Feature race were scant reward for the team's efforts, but hint at the potential for the future.
Morad started hearts racing at the green flag for the Feature race, diving into second place as the A1GP cars thundered down to the first corner. A move by the Portugese car dropped the Lebanon car back to third and with a safety car brought out to retrieve the cars of Switzerland and India, Morad was forced to hold station until racing resumed.
The safety car pulled off the track after two laps and Ireland led the cars away for a second time. Most of the front running cars used their PowerBoost for the restart with Malaysia pushing Lebanon for position into the first corner, finally snatching third place. Leaving Great Britain bearing down on Morad as they raced through the next sequence of high speed corners, the Lebanon driver defended hard, with the British car pushing Lebanon wide forcing him off the track, which dropped Morad to sixth place.
A1 Team Lebanon held station as the race settled down, but after the first round of pitstops, where the team made a front wing adjustment as well as changing tyres, a further two places were lost. There was little change in the race order in the mid section of the race, although Morad was forced to defend hard from Netherlands and was pushed down the order further places when he ran wide. Running in 11th place Morad diced with the yellow car of the home nation, until Malaysia used the PowerBoost advantage to outrun the Lebanon car, leaving Morad in 12th with nine laps of the race remaining. He held 12th place in the closing stages, crossing the finish line in this position.
The Sprint race drama began before the green flag, when three cars tripped over each other in preparation for the rolling start. The American car was launched airborne after hitting the rear of A1 Team India, with the Brazil car having nowhere to go and ending up hitting the wreckage as well. With three cars and plenty of flying debris ahead of him Morad skilfully avoided collision and potential damage, at which point the race was stopped.
Morad benefited from the demise of the three nations, but it was still set to be a mountain to climb for a points finish. A1GP opted to use the safety car for the restart and the race soon hotted up. By the end of the opening lap Morad had gained positions, racing hard and clean and climbing through the field to 11th place. His spirited drive didn't bring the team any points, but once again showed the determination of Morad and the team.
He commented after the race, "I was a bit worried about the Feature race start as this was my first proper A1GP standing start, but in the end I just focused and it all came together. I couldn't keep Portugal behind me, so he passed me, I was fighting hard but got pushed wide and dropped places again. We made a wing change in the first stop so we lost out on another position, but then I settled in, although now back out of the points. I think our stops were actually good, but I was just caught out with the pressure. Many of the other drivers have lots more experience, coming from F1 or F1 test drive roles, while I've made the jump from Formula BMW, a much lower formula and really don't have much race experience. I've learned a lot from these races and this can only help for the future."
Billy Karam, A1 Team Lebanon Ambassador, concluded of the weekend, "We've seen this weekend that Daniel has the courage and spirit to fight it out on track. Although he has far less experience than all but one or two of the drivers, he's up there battling it out and I'm sure it won't be long before we see him turning his superb qualifying ability into strong results. I think we should be heartened by the team's performance this weekend; it's all heading in the right direction and I'm sure we'll see that in the next rounds."
Tameem Auchi adds, "When you look at the results today it's easy to be a little disappointed, but every race weekend we're mixing it with far more experienced teams and showing signs of having another breakthrough as we did in Zandvoort. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we're back in the points."
Malaysia
At today's A1GP race at Sepang in Malaysia, Fauzy had a storming start to the Feature race keeping his fourth place start and pushing hard for position but a clash between India and Switzerland brought out the safety car and the Malaysia car had to hold position. When racing resumed Fauzy was straight on to the PowerBoost and out braked the third placed car of Lebanon to claim third place.
Malaysia held position until the first round of pit stops, with the team pitting as soon as the pit window opened and with quick work from the crew, Fauzy was back out and settling in to the race. Disaster struck for the team when radio interference from another team, who were calling in their driver, resulted in Fauzy unnecessarily pitting. The team could do nothing but wave him out onto the track, but the damage was done. Fauzy had dropped to the back of the grid and had to climb back through the field. He reached 11th place with seven laps remaining, but with the Malaysia car lying over five seconds behind 10th place Italy, a championship point looked unlikely. Fauzy had other thoughts. Over the next seven laps he pushed as hard as he could and reeled in the Italian ahead, finally claiming a coveted point on the last lap.
Fauzy expressed his disappointment saying, "Throughout the race my car was very strong, but I just suffered a few handling problems, nothing major though. The team called me in for the first pit stop, it was fine, and we went out in the same position again, with the same gap to second placed Portugal. After ten laps I was struggling with over steer on the car, I'm not sure why - maybe the rear tyres pressures were too high, or the rears had just gone. I tried to radio the team, got nothing, and then Box this lap, Box this lap, and then Copy that, then I boxed. When I came in I saw the team was not ready so I knew something was not right. I just had to carry on, but obviously I was very disappointed.
"Considering we had the extra pit stop it was a really good recovery, the car was very strong. I think if we hadn't had the pit issue, we would have had a podium. After the last pit stop, I was running about a second quicker, it's tough for us all."
Fauzy said of his home race, "At the end of the day, we win, we lose, we are the one team and the most important thing is the support. At the end of the day the crowd showed me such support, I was able to use this and was able to catch and finish in the top 10. The most important thing is we scored one point; every point is like gold and will make a lot of difference towards the end of the season."
This morning's Sprint race drama began before the green flag had a chance to wave following a spectacular three car incident involving the India, USA and Brazil cars which saw the American and Brazilian cars becoming airborne over the top of the Indian car just as the cars neared the start/finish line. The race had to be stopped for the cars and the debris to be removed from the track, but the restart was soon underway, although this time the field were paced by the safety car.
The start was clean for Malaysia with Fauzy holding 12th at the restart. The pack thundered past the start finish to start the next lap and the Malaysian was on the power and looking to move up the grid. When South Africa and Italy fought for position ahead of him, Fauzy made a daring move down the inside, taking advantage of their fighting to claim two places in a superb passing move. However the team's elation soon turned to disappointment when the South African driver made an over ambitious move down the inside of Fauzy at the second turn not giving the Malaysian car any room and spearing into the side of the car, puncturing a tyre. Fauzy was forced to make a pit stop for new tyres, but still had to stop again as the stop was outside of the mandatory pit stop window.
Running at the back of the pack one lap down, Fauzy was powerless to make up any ground and the team had to accept defeat for this race determined to turn around their fortunes for the Feature race.
Of the earlier Sprint race Fauzy said, "I was disappointed with the Sprint race as I had just passed two cars and put myself in contention for a points finish when I was just taken out by South Africa. It's not a passing place on this track and I think they should have been penalised for it at least. After that incident, all we could do was push on and use the race to prepare for the Feature event."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, concluded, "Things certainly didn't go our way today. We were caught out in two ‘freak' incidents today. South Africa giving us a puncture was unnecessary, but it's just a case of ‘that's racing'. The Feature race radio problem is nearly inexplicable, and has to be put down as outright bad luck. Despite all our problems this weekend we come away with a point and fifth place in the Series standings. \Above all, we have the support of our nation as we were clearly shown today at Sepang. We would like to thank everyone who came to cheer us on and share in our highs and lows. Our fans give us the inspiration and motivation to keep improving, aiming high and successfully representing Malaysia."
Monaco
At round three of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Powered by Ferrari, Team Monaco finished in 12th place in the Sprint race and was forced in to an early retirement from an incident filled Feature race at the Sepang International Circuit. Today's results mean that Team Monaco now lies in 12th place in the championship with nine points and three Top Ten finishes.
The morning's Sprint event saw the cars drive in formation towards the rolling start when an incident involving USA, Brazil and India brought out the red flag. A1 Team Monaco seat holder and driver Clivio Piccione, starting from 16th on the grid, drove a solid 11-laps race. He kept his head together as the single file re-start got underway and overtook Indonesia and Mexico midway through the race to take the chequered flag in 12th position with a best lap time of 1:50.531. 2007 race winners and reigning Champions Team Switzerland took the victory, with France and New Zealand in second and third places respectively.
Team Monaco endured a frustrating and ultimately disappointing afternoon. Clivio began the 34-laps Feature race from 11th position on the grid, but he immediately had a technical issue. The Monegasque crew was in 17th place when the safety car was deployed due to a stop out on track by Teams Switzerland and India, and Clivio came back to the pits to allow his team to work on identifying and the problem. He got out of the cockpit to stand in the garage only to watch the safety car come in on lap three.
Out on track, the battle for the top points continued between Teams Ireland, Portugal and Malaysia, but a pit stop miscommunication by Malaysia, with 17 laps to go, meant that they lost several places and the chance for another podium finish. This gave USA the opportunity to run in third position, with Australia and South Africa knocking closely on the door for the rest of the race.
Clivio rejoined the Feature event with 11 laps remaining, but it was for one lap only as the issue with the car had not been resolved and he was forced to finally retire from the race. At the end of the session it was Team Ireland who secured its second win of the 2008/9 season, taking them to the top of the championship leader board, with Portugal and USA stepping up on to the other two places on this afternoon's podium.
Clivio Piccione, Driver and Seat Holder: "The start of the Sprint race was chaos, but our car was okay and I was having a good battle with Australia. He gave me knock in to turn two and I lost a lot of ground from that. I was driving at quite a good pace when we went for our first pitstop, which was pretty good, but the car became a little unsettled on the new tyres, so we just tried to catch up. It was difficult travelling in dirty air and the car was not feeling comfortable, but our pace was not bad and we just brought the car home. This afternoon was disappointing. Preparing for the Feature race we came through the pits for the warm-up, but the second time we came through the pits the car misfired and on my way to the grid it felt like I had no more power. I was barely able to pull away for the start of the race and the team worked on the car with Ferrari to try to resolve the problem. We tried to get out again later on in the race, but the problem was still the same, so that was end of our day."
Graham Taylor, Team Principal: "Clivio missed the big accident at the rolling start of the Sprint race, but in avoiding it he had to cross the grass and damaged the car a little, affecting its performance. From the word go we were battling with Australia, but dropped three places and then tried to climb back up the time sheet. We decided to make our first mandatory pit stop at end of the window to see if we could maximise the opportunity, however we were unable to make up ground and battled with Lebanon for the rest of the race, still struggling to improve on our position due to the damage sustained earlier. In the build up to the Feature event in the afternoon, we came through pits for the warm up but when we came through again for a second practice start Clivio advised us on the radio that he had no power. We looked at the data and unfortunately both the initial and second diagnoses for the misfire were incorrect, and despite the team working throughout the race to try to fix the issue, we are still investigating it now."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands was underway to take valuable points home, but then the stewards delt a merciless blow. Jeroen was accused of causing an avoidable accident, at least that is the way the stewards saw it. In the end Bleekemolen drove a strong race, climbing back to eighth.
A1 Team Netherlands was underway to take valuable points home, but then the stewards delt a merciless blow. Jeroen was accused of causing an avoidable accident, at least that is the way the stewards saw it. In the end Bleekemolen drove a strong race, climbing back to eighth.
Jan Lammers; "A complete ridiculous decision.This clearly was a normal race incident. Jeroen was very close behind Team Great Britain, which braked. Because of this Jeroen had to brake as well and just slid out a bit, touching the car of former F1-driver Narain Karthikeyan. If there is one thing you want to avoid in Formula racing it is a collision with the front wheels, to even think that you would do this on purpose is farcical. The decision of the stewards is not even worth the argument. It is the start and first corner of the race, at a start of a marathon it is also squeezing through. This decision is in sharp contrast with the contact South Africa had in the Sprintrace, where they T-boned Malaysia and they got away with it."
With our pace we could have easily finished in third and probably even in second place. After our drive through penalty we had to make a call, either go for the fastest lap in the race or go for the best possible finish."comments Jan.
"We opted for the latter option, which gained us three valuable points, otherwise it would only have been one. When you use your powerboost three times in one lap with new tyres, then you can set the fastest lap, but when you have to overtake someone you have nothing left anymore. That is why we could go for the overtaking maneuvers and Jeroen was able to pass China on the final lap."
"We finished the Sprint race in sixth and had the second fastest lap of the race, even faster than our partner-team Ireland which later today took a dominant victory in the Feature race. Our pitstops also went a lot better and we will continue to improve there. I do see us taking victories in a number of races this season, but we do not have to let these stupid situations like today get to us. It is harsh, but sometimes completely legitimate goals are also sometimes disallowed. Referees are a hurdle you have to take regardless of the sport you are entering. Our team has worked hard on improving and we have succeeded in getting the car competitive. Success is just a matter of time, I do promise you all," concludes Lammers.
From ninth on the grid A1 Team Netherlands finished the A1GP Sprintrace in sixth. At the start of the race there is a huge startline shunt, with the A1 Team USA crashing into the rear of the A1 Team India car, with A1 Team Brazil also getting caught in the middle. This causes a restart and there A1 Team Great Britain has some technical difficulties, they drop back far and retire after four laps.
This means a gained position for Bleekemolen and in the first lap of the race he also overtakes Mexico on the outside of turn nine.
For the first time this season there is a mandatory pitstop during the Sprintrace. Many countries come in straight at the opening of the pitstop window on the end of lap four. A1 Team Netherlands waits one lap and manages to overtake Italy with a good pitstop. With a sixth place A1 Team Netherlands takes three points. Switzerland take their first win of the season, followed by France and New Zealand.
At the start of the Feature race everyone squeezed through the first corner. Bleekemolen comes from sixth on the grid, gets caught on the inside and collides with Karthikeyan of India, who spins and retires. Switzerland also retires in the very first corner.
A1 Team Netherlands does keep sixth place after this, right behind Great Britain, USA and Lebanon. Lebanon and Great Britain both go off after an overtaking maneuver and moments later France slices its tyre on Great Britain's nose cone. Because of this A1 Team Netherlands are running fourth behind Malaysia.
At the first pitstop sequence A1 Team Netherlands does gain some ground on Malaysia and Bleekemolen closes the gap with Fauzy. Then the team gets a drive through penalty because the stewards decide that Bleekemolen could have avoided the collision with India. The Netherlands drop back significantly and come back out on track in fourteenth. Malaysia also drop back after an unplanned and unnecessary pit visit.
Jeroen then shows that A1 Team Netherlands has good race pace and manages to gain positions in the remaining laps. Soon Bleekemolen is running inside the points and is able to overtake China on the final lap. Brazil is almost overtaken on the finish line as well, but they just manage to stay in front.
Jeroen Bleekemolen; "Again we had bad luck today. It is a shame to get a penalty over nothing. At the start I was right behind Great Britain who braked. I also had to brake, slid outwards a bit touching India. I had the choice of either crashing into the rear of Great Britain or going outwards. If I could have avoided this I would have agreed with the stewards immediately, but there was no way I could have done this. As far as the races are concerned, I had two good ones, fun as well. We had the pace and I was able to close gaps and overtake people. After our drive through we rejoined at the back and in the end you are able to get back to eighth. That is good, but I am angry about another ridiculous penalty we were given".
With eighth place A1 Team Netherlands do get three points, which makes the total 26 points. Ireland dominated the race and led from start to finish, followed by Portugal and A1 Team USA.
South Africa
South Africa, with Adrian Zaugg at the wheel of Vulindlela, bounced back from a disappointing qualifying yesterday to finish a fighting fifth after starting Sunday's feature race in the third round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 16th place.
Ireland became the first two-time winner this season when Adam Carroll took a commanding victory in the 70-minute 34-lap race ahead of Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), USA (Marco Andretti), Australia (John Martin) and South Africa.
Earlier this morning Switzerland (Neel Jani) became the fifth different winner in five races to win the sprint race. It was reigning champions Switzerland's third successive sprint race win in Malaysia. France (Loic Duval) was second ahead of New Zealand (Earl Bamber). South Africa finished ninth and one position out of the points after improving from 11th on the grid.
Adrian Zaugg survived an incident with Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy on lap two, which saw the two cars make contact as Zaugg attempted to repass Fauzy following a successful overtaking manoeuvre by the Malaysian at the end of the pit straight on lap one. The South African made the move stick and Fauzy was forced into the pits with a flat tyre.
South Africa was up to eighth and in the points when the cars came in for the mandatory pit stop, but a quicker pit stop by Australia saw South Africa's traditional rugby and cricket rivals demote Zaugg to ninth.
At the end of the first lap of the standing start feature race South Africa was up to 11th behind China and ahead of Australia. Zaugg was in determined mood and by lap five had made the biggest gains of any driver in the field, up to eighth and from his 16th place on the starting grid. South Africa was one of the last to pit for the first of the two mandatory tyre changes, a tactic that saw Zaugg move back ahead of Australia.
By lap 15 South Africa was up to fifth behind USA and ahead of Australia. When Malaysia dropped out of third place after a misunderstanding about a pit stop, Zaugg was moved up to fourth behind Ireland, Portugal and USA as the race approached the halfway point.
Australia had a better second pit stop than South Africa and relegated Zaugg to fifth. At this stage the three great southern hemisphere rugby playing nations of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand were running in a three-car train in fourth, fifth and sixth places. They went on to finish in this order, with Zaugg making a last minute effort to overtake Australia and closing the gap to four tenths of a second at the chequered flag.
"Adrian had a great feature race and gained the most places of any of the drivers in the field," said Mike Carroll, general manager of A1 Team South Africa. "It was a good result for the team when it really counted. You could see Adrian was trying really hard by the clouds of dust from the carbon fibre disc brakes every time he braked."
Zaugg was please to have scored some points. "It was great to get a good result in the feature race after our problems in qualifying," said the South African. "I enjoyed the fight very much and making up so many places during the race. I was putting in a big effort and the front brakes were starting to fade towards the end. Fortunately I had enough PowerBoosts to protect my position from New Zealand, but I just couldn't manage to catch Australia at the finish."