Brazil

A1 Team Brasil today concluded a miserable weekend at the Sentul circuit in Indonesia for round five of the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. After struggling with set-up for the duration of the three on-track days, and only able to qualify in 19th position yesterday, Tuka Rocha finished the sprint race in 15th position and retired from the feature race two laps from the end after sliding onto the gravel trap.

After the hot and humid sprint race, from which Tuka made a great start moving from 19th on the grid up to 14th and finally crossing the line in 15th place, the feature race turned into quite a different affair, beginning in almost identical circumstances to the main race held in Malaysia a fortnight ago. The race began under the safety car after torrential rain but after just one lap was red-flagged as the conditions were deemed unsafe. The track was considered safe enough almost an hour later to begin again, this time under a normal standing start.

Tuka moved from his 15th place starting position up to 13th, but could not hold onto position from the faster cars behind him, and by lap eight had fallen back to 14th. After the round of pitstops he was sitting in 18th place, and after some latter-stage retirements was in 16th. However, two laps before the end, his race finished prematurely when he slid onto the gravel while trying to overtake Team Switzerland on slick tyres on an intermediate track, and was unable to get the car back on the circuit.

Tuka Rocha: "I made a good start in both races today but we were not able to keep us with the pace so it doesn't help us to just gain positions at the start. In the feature race I was just managing to hold onto my position, but I was struggling with a lot of understeer. When we came in for the first pitstop I was hoping that the new set of tyres would make things better, but it made it even worse, and then later when we changed to slicks, things deteriorated even more. So there was just nothing I could do, it was all about set-up. The big gap in the lap-times is impossible to work with. If we were fighting for a few tenths then it's okay, but something is seriously wrong when we have been fighting for at least two seconds the whole weekend."

Canada

A1 Team Canada left Indonesia empty-handed following Sunday's fifth round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Sentul International Circuit. An eighth place finish in the morning's Sprint race was followed by retirement for Sean McIntosh in the afternoon's Feature event, the defending race champion forced out thanks to a wayward left rear tire.

With the team failing to score points for the first time since the opening round of the sophomore A1GP season in October, Canada drops two spots down to eighth in the Nations Standings, on 22 points, while Germany extended its lead to 12 points over Great Britain in second, 48-36.

Having qualified the Canadian car ninth on the grid for the 15-lap Sprint race, Sean took the rolling start alongside the Dutch entry of Jeroen Bleekemolen. A decent get away enabled the Vancouver-native a shot at eighth as he latched on to the rear of South Africa's Alan van der Merwe. The two racers pushed each other hard with McIntosh ultimately getting the better of his rival to take the position. Sean was soon in the slipstream of France's Nicolas Lapierre in seventh but an oversteer issue limited his attacking ability, the Canadian holding eighth through to the checkered. Pole-sitter Jonny Reid celebrated New Zealand's first A1GP victory followed onto the podium by Mexico's Salvador Duran and Great Britain's Robbie Kerr.

Torrential rain greeted the 21-car field for the afternoon's Feature race, the start subsequently delayed to allow the monsoon to pass. While the rain eventually stopped track conditions remained treacherous with the spray from the cars ahead severely restricting Sean's view. Showcasing his wet-weather prowess, he steered clear of trouble while reveling in the improved handling of his car and a clear track ahead following his mandatory pit-stop.

A second stop soon followed as Sean pitted for a set of slick tires to make the most of the drying track. Exiting the pits McIntosh hit a puddle and was pitched into a spin but he recovered to resume his on-track charge. Looking good for a potential top-five finish, Sean's race ended prematurely on lap 38 when his left rear tire flew off, the cause of which has yet to be determined. Sean retired on the spot while New Zealand's Jonny Reid celebrated his second win of the day nine laps later.

"The team did a great job today but we're leaving Indonesia scoreless this time round," stated McIntosh. "The changes following the Sprint worked well on the car and the team made two great pit stops but unfortunately events transpired against us with the tire coming off. It's pretty disappointing as I was making up ground with the potential for a top-five finish and a decent points haul."

China

Sprint Race

A1 Team China's new driver Ho-Pin Tung did not finish the race in the 20-minute Sprint Race 4 laps before the checked flag. He was too fast in turn 10 and rushed into grass, then you lost grip and stopped on the side of the track. Before the spin, he was 15th on the track, and A1 Team China will start in the last row in the Feature race.

Ho-Pin explained what happened in the race: "It is not what I expected in my first race in A1GP. It was my first time to experience rolling start, and I lost 3 positions, very disappointing. Before the Sprint Race, we modified the car with less down force to let me drive faster in the straight, but it made the car very hard to control, especially in the corners."