12/11/2006
NEWS STORY
Brazil
Raphael Matos (right) got A1 Team Brasil's season off to a start in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today after putting in two strong performances at the Jingkai street circuit in Beijing, the third round of the 2006/07 championship. In a processional sprint race, he finished in sixth position, collecting the final point and, in a feature race that was largely decided on strategy due to several safety car periods, he crossed the line in seventh, securing a total of five points for the team over the course of the day.
Raphael began this morning's 20-minute sprint race in sixth position began the pace car. As usual, it began with a rolling start, but due to safety concerns, the cars proceeded in single file. Unfortunately, combined with a safety car period which lasted almost half the race distance, this limited opportunities for overtaking. The top six points scoring positions were unchanged from the start and therefore Team Brasil's sixth place finish netted the final point available.
This afternoon's 70-minute feature race proved rather more eventful, with countries dicing for position both on the difficult track, and in the pitstops. In a race that was guaranteed to have thrills and spills, Raphael began from sixth and on lap 13 took advantage of a problem with the Team Mexico car to move up to fifth. The pitstop window opened on lap 20, with Brasil's plan to come in for an early stop. However, the safety car was deployed for the second of the four outings it had in the race on lap 22, and Brasil lost out to the teams that had managed to squeeze in their stop before that time. It was frustrating for the squad, who had fielded a fast car, and for Raphael, who performed well throughout the whole race and who, with a little bit of luck, could have finished on the podium today.
After the pitstop window closed on lap 50, Team Brasil was sitting in the points in tenth place. It was all action towards the end of the race though, with several incidents seeing teams retire. Raphael was able to capitalise on this, moving up position after position, eventually crossing the finish line in seventh place.
Raphael Matos: "Today was so much about luck with the pitstops. We thought the time we picked to come in would be a good idea, but it didn't work out this time. We also lost a bit of time in the stop with a little problem on the left rear, but that's part of racing and we just have to get over it. I'm very pleased for the team and we've made a lot of progress through the weekend. I really want to thank Emerson for giving me this chance and now I definitely feel we can be at the top for the next races."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "On the first yellow flag inside the pitstop window we were going to come in for the stop but then they closed the pits and we lost the segment from the race, which really put us down around ten positions. Raphael did a fantastic job, overtook a few guys, and got the second fastest lap of the race. The team also did a great job. The results are improving and we have some points now, so there are a lot of positives to take from this weekend."
Canada
A1 Team Canada's James Hinchcliffe (left) endured a fast but frustrating third round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Beijing, China Sunday as the 19-year-old from Toronto added to the team's points tally with fourth and tenth place finishes in the Sprint and Feature races with the fastest race lap, and bonus point, also going to the Canadian charger.
With the grid for Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race based on Saturday's limited practice session, following vital track modifications to the Beijing street circuit, Hinchcliffe found himself taking the start in fourth. The tight nature of the Jingkai track in the Olympic city was never going to lend itself to spectacular overtaking and as expected the Sprint race proved to be a static affair as the 22 Nation field finally unleashed their identical 550bhp V8-powered A1GP racing machines. Hinchcliffe held fourth to score three more points for Canada, his third straight points-scoring performance, with pole-sitter Jeroen Bleekemolen winning for A1 Team Netherlands ahead of Mexico's Salvador Duran and Italy's Enrico Toccacelo.
The Feature race saw Hinchcliffe climb into podium contention early in proceedings, taking the third spot as the Mexican entry floundered. As soon as the pit window opened on lap 20 the front-runners pitted with the exception of Canada who opted to stay out and build up an advantage over the rest of the field. Unfortunately for Hinchcliffe, almost as soon as he assumed the lead two safety car periods in quick succession denied him the opportunity to streak too far away or similarly pit for a fresh set of tires. When the track finally returned to green James put pedal to the metal but the advantage lay with Holland in fourth having already stopped followed by a string of similarly placed cars. This failed to halt Hinchcliffe's stunning pace demonstration and he duly set the fastest lap of the race on lap 39.
Finally relinquishing the lead on lap 50, the end of the pit window, James pitted and rejoined 11th. He quickly climbed to eighth and with some final drama he was looking good to rebound and score a potential top-five finish following the retirements of Holland, Germany and Malaysia until he in turn found himself hitting the wall following a close last-lap dice with France's Nicolas Lapierre. Classified tenth at the checkered flag, with a point for position and another for fastest lap, there was some consolation for the young Canadian after another eventful A1GP race. Enrico Toccacelo scored the Feature win for Italy, in doing so becoming the fifth nation this season to triumph, with Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis in second and Australia's Karl Reindler wrapping the podium celebrations in third.
"I'm super disappointed," stated Hinchcliffe at the end of the Feature. "It was a good race and we're unfortunate to be in the position, like Brno last time out, where we led lots of laps but haven't finished on the podium. I really had the hammer down to try and build an advantage but we were caught out by the safety periods. I thought France had a problem at the end and was letting me go as I ran wide but he started to race me again and I found myself out on the marbles and into the wall. It's frustrating but overall we showed great pace today and that's encouraging for the future!"
France
Nicolas Lapierre finished the feature race a startling fourth after starting 17th on the grid which reflected the good progress of the team fighting its way up throughout a logistically difficult week-end.
Nicolas qualified the results of the Sunday morning additional warm-up as " an encouraging sign after yesterday's bad luck encountered as the official practice was red flagged" after finishing 7th best time , covering 8 laps with a best time of 59.766.
Nicolas started from a 21st position. He improved to finished 17th the short 20 laps long race neutralized during seven laps behind the safety car.
At 3pm, the rolling start of the feature race seemed easy to Nicolas. Immediately the car had a good pace. France's Nicolas Lapierre who had left in seventeenth place made his way up in a fantastic way to finish in a fourth place.
Nicolas Lapierre said: "It is an incredible achievement to start 17th and finish 4th. At one point, I simply thought I would never make it to the end. Three laps before the end, I was feeling that I had no more brakes. On the penultimate lap, I thought I was going to touch with James Hincliffe as the Canadian went into the wall. I really would like to thank the mechanics the engineers and all the team. They all worked very late last night to rebuilt completely the car and found the origin of the problem that was slowing us down since the Brno race. A real great team-work including Loic Duval's efforts to show the times panel at every lap during the event. We should have gone higher if the week-end had been complete. But nevermind, this fourth place is worth a win.
Eric Boullier, Team Manager: "A difficult week-end finishing on a high positive note: We solved the electronical engine problems on the car. We finished fourth the feature race after a difficult qualifying and gathered seven points over the week-end. The mechanics and engineers have done a fantastic work around Nicolas Lapierre all week-end. The start was difficult, but we really enjoyed the first street Beijing event and certainly hope to come back next year and show our real potential on the China track."
Germany
On the A1 Grand Prix series' unusual third race weekend in Beijing, the Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany dropped from first to second in the championship table due to a technical defect. After only a single practice session has been held owing to the fact that essential circuit modifications had to be made, nominated driver Nicolas Hülkenberg started and finished fifth in the sprint race. In the main race that followed, he took the lead nine laps from the finish, but retired on the same lap due to gearbox failure. The situation at the head of the leaderboard remains tight: Mexico leads with 24 points, followed by Germany with 22 and Great Britain with 20 points.
The sprint race ran without drama for Nico Hülkenberg. The results from Saturday's free practice were used to determine the starting grid after qualifying was cancelled to allow essential circuit modifications to be completed. A1 Team Germany started from fifth position. Because overtaking around the short, tight and twisty 2.2 kilometre Jingkai street circuit was almost impossible Nico Hülkenberg retained fifth place in the sprint race, which was interrupted by a long safety car period. There were no changes in position amongst the leading six teams.
Hülkenberg started the race in the powerful 520 hp A1 Grand Prix car in fifth place. On lap 13 he took fourth place. DS Motorsport proved its tactical and mechanical skills once again at the pit stop on lap 22: Following the extremely efficient mandatory tyre change the 19-year old "star of tomorrow" from Emmerich overtook the team from Italy, even though he was obstructed when leaving the pit lane by Team Great Britain, which had parked directly in front of him to make its stop. Afterwards, A1 Team Germany held second position behind leader Jeroen Bleekemolen from Team Holland. When the Dutchman made a driving error, A1 Team Germany briefly took the lead on lap 54. Only a few corners later the A1 Team Germany car, which is technically identical with every other car in the field, came to a halt with gearbox failure.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "We could have taken our second win today after having won the opening round in Zandvoort. Unfortunately, technology prevented such a result, since the gearshift paddle didn't work on the down change and the car was stuck in fifth gear. It goes without saying that I'm extremely disappointed about this. We could have increased our championship lead in China, but we are now only second. However, after only three from twelve races the title race is still wide open. We have to get over this setback. At the next race in Malaysia we can fight to get back to the top of the standings. And this is precisely our intention."
Willi Weber: "Even under the toughest of conditions with very little testing time and, as a result, extremely unfavourable circumstances the team and Nico Hülkenberg demonstrated just what they are capable of. They were a mere ten laps away from A1 Team Germany's second victory of the season, when technology intervened. It is very disappointing, particularly as it was the first defect of a previously very reliable car. Nevertheless, we won't let this distract us. A1 Team Germany numbers among the top teams in the A1 Grand Prix series this year. We have the opportunity again in a fortnight to turn the tide for our benefit."
Great Britain
Rookie racer Oliver Jarvis (right) steered A1 Team Great Britain to its first podium of the season today as he celebrated a second place finish in the Feature race in Round 3 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, hosted on the streets of Beijing, China. The 22-year-old from Cambridgeshire, making his first ever A1GP race starts, drove superbly on the problematic Chinese track to cap his debut for Great Britain with a champagne soaking on the podium while lifting the team to third overall in the Nations Standings behind leaders Mexico and Germany.
The tight confines of the modified Jingkai track made passing virtually impossible, a fact quickly discovered by the 22 competing Nations as the Sprint race started, the grid based on results from Saturday's aborted practice session with Jarvis lining up eighth. The running order remained static with the exception of South Africa's Adrian Zaugg who clipped the wall allowing Jarvis to gain a place to move into seventh – just one spot shy of a points score at the chequered. A1 Team Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen capitalized on his unexpected pole to win the Sprint with Mexico's Salvador Duran and Italy's Enrico Toccacelo completing the top-three at the finish.
The Feature race proved to be far more dramatic with Oliver, the 2005 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year, making a solid start from seventh. With the pit window opening on lap 20 the British team wasted little time in calling their rookie in from sixth and it proved to be a fortuitous decision. Two safety car periods in quick succession negated the advantage held by the leaders and handed control of proceedings to the early stoppers Holland, Germany, Italy and Great Britain.
As the front-runners pitted when their window of opportunity expired on lap 50 Jarvis ascended to fourth on track hooking up to the gearbox of Toccacelo in the third placed Italian entry. A mature approach to proceedings was later rewarded in the dying minutes of the race as Bleekemolen went off in the Dutch car and just a handful of turns later Germany's Nico Hulkenberg pitted with mechanical issues handing the lead to Italy with Great Britain right behind. Jarvis hung on to take second place behind Toccacelo at the chequered with Australia's Karl Reindler placing third.
"I'm really happy, more for the team than for myself," Jarvis remarked following his podium celebrations. "I always have high expectations; I want to win races so I came here to give it my all. Obviously with the lack of running I didn't have the track time I'd have liked but we set out our game plan today and came away with a good result. There was no pressure from the team other than to do my best and it's a fantastic feeling to get the team's best result of the season and our first podium."
"I thought Oliver drove a very sensible race in the Feature and basically justified the confidence we had as a team in running him," commented British Team Principal John Surtees. "He had extremely limited running here due to the issues with the circuit in the first two days, he lost a full hour of rookie practice on Friday but drove well in today's races. It was an extremely mature performance and as a result we're up to third in the Nations Standings and looking strong heading to Malaysia."
India
A1 Team India recorded their best ever Feature race finish in Beijing, China today. Armaan Ebrahim (left), representing his country in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, managed to complete the full 70 minute race to finish 11th, while many more experienced drivers crashed out. The team finished 18th in the earlier Sprint race.
After some difficulties with the temporary street circuit, grid positions for the Sprint race were taken from Saturday's practice session, leaving A1 Team India 19th on the grid. Ebrahim, the youngest driver in the A1GP field, had little chance to improve on his starting position after a prolonged safety car period limited the Indian team's opportunities to overtake. The team finished the race in 18th, which would also form the starting position for the longer Feature race
The tight and twisting street circuit left little margin for error and is seen as the most difficult track that A1GP have visited so far. The Feature race saw numerous safety car periods and nine other nations failed to cross the line. However, Ebrahim drove a faultless race to reach the chequered flag in 11th place.
Ebrahim said "This was a challenging race, and required complete concentration. We had a few difficulties though, the safety car periods affected our pit strategy in the Feature race and I think another car made contact with me which started an oil leak. But I'm fairly happy to finish where I did and want to thank the team for another great effort".
A1 Team Seat holder, Yohann J Setna was impressed with his young driver's performance adding, "I think Armaan did a great job today. He is the youngest driver out there and is racing with drivers with much more experience. But he managed to keep out of trouble, keep the car away from the walls and finish the race. To finish eleventh in only his second street race is a great achievement."
Ireland
Ireland's A1GP team suffered a double blow in today's A1GP World Cup of Motorsport race in Beijing, China, when Michael Devaney suffered accidents in both the Sprint and Feature events. The Rathfarnham driver could not avoid a collision with the South African car after it spun in the Sprint Race, forcing the Irish car to pit for a new nose section, while in the Feature Race Devaney struck the wall a glancing blow after 3 laps puncturing the left rear tyre and damaging the suspension.
Having qualified 11th for today's event Devaney was hopeful of a top ten finish in the Sprint Race, but the collision with the South African car damaged his car's front wing. Having pitted and rejoined in 21st position he overtook the Team Pakistan entry to finish 20th. His Feature Race was to last only a short time before, braking hard behind a train of cars at the tight hairpin his car glanced against the wall, forcing him into retirement.
Michael Devaney: "There was nothing I could really do about it. The cars in front were under heavy braking for the hairpin and as I tried to slow down and avoid hitting Lebanon in front of me I moved into the middle of the track. The car jumped out of line and the left rear hit the wall, enough to puncture the tyre and cause some damage. It's been a difficult weekend here, we just don't seem to have anything going our way at the moment."
Andy Miller, Race Engineer: "It's been a tough weekend what with the track time so limited by the problems with the track during practice and qualifying, and then the incident in the Sprint Race was one of those things that can easily happen on a tight street circuit where you can never know what's just around the next corner. What happened in the Feature Race was also typical in that your speed is dictated by the cars in front and if you have to suddenly brake or go off line it can lead to trouble."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Three races into the new A1GP season without any championship points scored is disappointing for the entire team, our sponsors and supporters back home. Having found some problems with the chassis after the last race and rectified them we just never seemed to get into this weekend at all. I think it's fair to say everyone in the team is really frustrated with the position we are in at present."
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon lined up alongside 21 other nations for the first major international motor racing event to take place in the capital city of China today. Teething problems with the newly-built temporary circuit had resulted in limited track time for the A1GP teams, and the racing was eagerly awaited by the Chinese crowds. With Basil Shaaban driving this weekend, the team had two tough races.
The Sprint race grid line-up was taken from yesterday's limited practice session. With installation laps required for a new engine, A1 Team Lebanon were only able to complete 14 laps of running, to start 20th on the grid for the first of the two races. A rolling start behind the safety car sent the field off around the Beijing streets. The combination of a short race and narrow track offered minimal opportunity for passing rival nations, but on lap four the South African car spun and the Irish entry slid into it, promoting the Lebanese team to 18th place by the end of the 15 lap race.
The Feature race also started with the safety car, with the cars up to full speed after the first lap. In a race littered with safety car periods, Shaaban kept on pace and on pace with the field, improving to 12th place before the mandatory pitstop. The A1 Team Lebanon crew made quick work of changing the tyres and he was soon back into the thick of the action. Lying 15th the team progressed, making two places as Shaaban drove consistently. A push into the wall from a rival nation in the final stages of the race resulted in wheel damage to the Lebanese car, so the team gave him a quick pitstop to change it and he was able to rejoin the race, maintaining his 13th place to the chequered flag.
Basil Shaaban reflected on the day saying, "For the Sprint race we were fairly cautious, particularly as we had so little practice time at this track before the races today and, like much of the field were unable to make any real improvement on our starting place. In the Feature race, it took a while to settle down with a spate of early safety car period disrupting us. We were behind India for a while but got past them with an awesome pitstop from the ace A1 Team Lebanon crew. Unfortunately we were punted by another car in the closing stages, putting me into the wall. We had to pit with wheel damage and a puncture, but were able to get back out and finish the race. It was one of the most challenging street tracks I've driven on, but I really enjoyed it."
Tony Snook, Team Principal, added, "In a day when over a third of the grid were victims of this gruelling circuit, Basil drove well to survive and finish the race. It was probably one of the most difficult tracks we've raced on so far in this Series, so we can take many positives from this experience and continue to fight hard in this highly competitive A1GP environment."
Malaysia
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport completed the third round of the Series in Beijing, China this weekend with A1 Team Malaysia running strong throughout the day, although unable to reflect this in the final race positions.
The Sprint race started with grid positions taken from yesterday's practice session after track safety improvement work forced the qualifying session to be cancelled. A1 Team Malaysia suffered a number of mechanical issues in the 25 minutes of running yesterday, which left the team lining up 15th for the green flag. With driver safety at the forefront, organisers elected to start the Sprint race behind the safety car. The narrow temporary street circuit offered few overtaking opportunities for Yoong and he was only able to improve by one place by the end of the fifteen lap race. Finishing 14th, the team lined up on the seventh row for the start of the Feature race.
In the main Feature race, Yoong had a very strong race, driving through the field from his 14th place start to fifth place by the final lap. In a race which featured numerous lengthy safety car periods for various track incidents, which was inevitable with this narrow street circuit, the Malaysian driver was able to run at a strong pace. With pressure from the Canadian car late in the race, Yoong was pushing harder and harder to fight off the challenge and on the final lap was caught out through the turn, sliding into the wall, and out of the race.
Yoong said after the race, "We kept it steady today and while many other cars around us dropped out of the race, we kept going. But although we were told before the race we would be penalised for short-cutting the chicane, I felt that many drivers were abusing this and it was hurting us. We just weren't as quick through this section by heeding this ruling. In the last few laps, with the car behind cutting through and being much quicker, I just pushed too hard, got on the dirty part of the track and clipped the wall. My day was over, and I'm gutted. After the lottery of yesterday which hurt our qualifying position, we managed to get through the field, only to fall off at the end, so I'm disappointed.
However, I think we've shown that we have the pace, evidenced by going from the back to the front of the field, we have a really strong team, great pitwork and the ability to win again."
A1 Team Malaysia Chief Executive, Jack Cunningham said "I am very proud of the team's performance today. We were dealt a poor hand yesterday with what happened in practice but our strategy worked just fine till Alex just misjudged the chicane in one of the very last laps. He and the team members are a little deflated but really there is nothing to feel bad about. To drive a car that had near no set up, for lap after lap, with such patience, waiting as car after car fell off is to his credit. Excellent performance from our ‘Mr Professional' and a car that was prepared superbly by our technical team. By tomorrow morning I am sure the team members will have their heads up, coming back to KL to compete in the next A1GP event. We have every reason to feel confident, being 5th in the series. It's a long way round the world to April 27 next year so we must remain patient, doing our very best to score points whenever we can. This weekend it wasn't possible but I think you saw the depth of the spirit of our team this weekend."
Mexico
This Sunday was an historic day in motorsports, when Mexico became for the first time leader in the A1GP Series standings. This occurred after Mexican driver Salvador Duran achieved his third podium of the season, this time at the 2.2-Km. street circuit around the Jingkai exhibition centre.
Duran's second place came in the Sprint race when he finished behind Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen, but the points collected in this race were enough to leave China leading the point standings, despite not having the luck on Mexico's side during the Feature race.
Duran set the fastest lap for the Sprint race, thus he had the car and the speed to repeat a podium. Even on the first laps of the Feature race he was close to the first place and was able to pull away a bit from Italian Enrico Toccacelo, who put some pressure on Duran during the first race. Unfortunately, the gearbox of Mexico's A1 car had a problem and eventually this forced Duran to retire.
"On the first race I ran well. I was conservative because I knew that it was going to be very hard to pass. It was a matter of being intelligent to finish the race while holding my position, to achieve a podium. For the Feature race I knew that I had to do the same, but it was also necessary to put more pressure in the front to aspire to win. I did it until the second gear was broken. In spite of this, I was able to continue a few laps in second place, but there was a time when the gearbox was not working well and I've scratched a little bit the wall. Two laps later, I had no gears down; maybe some pieces of the broken gear damaged the other gears. The team did a fantastic job, simply we had a failure and this is something that it was out of our control," Salvador Duran said.
"Racing on this street circuit was a hard experience. It is different than racing on road courses. Here there was a lot of pressure; you had to go at the limit. The circuit was very bumpy and that damages very much the car. Overall, each track is particular in certain senses, but in a road course there is more top speed and the grip is better," he added.
Netherlands
Today A1 Team Netherlands was close to taking a double win in the third race of A1GP at the Beijing street circuit. After the win from pole position in the Sprint race Jeroen Bleekemolen (left) was also leading the Feature race until 10 minutes before the finish. In turn 4 of the 2.4 kilometer long track it regrettably went wrong. Jeroen spun and slid into the tyrewall backwards.
From the start of the event A1 Team Netherlands had already showed that they were very fast on the narrow street circuit. This was also shown in both races of today, which were both started behind the safety car. On the Friday Renger van der Zande, A1 Team Netherlands Rookie and reserve driver had already laid some of the foundation for the pace in a short session.
In the 20 minute Sprint race Bleekemolen had a perfect start and was immediately able to create a gap with the rest. After quite a long safety car situation the A1 Team Netherlands driver again had a very good restart and did not let go of his lead anymore. It was A1 Team Netherlands first win this season and it also meant the pole position for the Feature race, held over 68 laps or 70 minutes.
Just like in the first race Jeroen Bleekemolen again had a good start and quickly created a big lead. After the team made a very good pitstop A1 Team Netherlands held on to the lead until 10 minutes before the end.. In the end A1 Team Netherlands was classified in 14th in a race which especially at the end, saw a number of crashes.
A1 Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen understandably was disappointed about ending the weekend like this; "We should have won this race. When I braked into turn four my foot slipped off the brake pedal. The car spun across a bump into the tyrewall. I was not able to correct the car anymore. This is just very disappointing. I wanted to push for a few more laps and then just finish it. Winning this race would have meant leading the Series. Winning the Sprint race was really great of course, but at the moment that's only a small consolation for me", said Jeroen. "It went super of course! We were able to pull away straight away at the start. That was our objective and after that I was able to control things, really perfect. The safety car was a help on one hand, but on the other it was not. I had just made a gap and now I had to create that all over again. In the first lap after the safety car I just pushed real hard, and then I was able to pull away again. That worked perfectly".
A1 Team Netherlands team principal Jan Lammers; "We were on our way to a perfect weekend. Everyone in the team was completely and very motivated. We did on of the fastest pitstops, if not the fastest and then you end up with this. This is going to hurt for a long time. There is only one solution and that's doing this all over again, but finishing it off. The Sprint race was great of course. We have won a race and got the sweet taste of being on the podium. But of course we were here for the Feature race. So, the bad news is clear, the good news is that we won a race and could already have won three in total. We will just have to hold on to that and take that into our minds to the next race where we will have to capitalize on it as well".
New Zealand
The New Zealand team is philosophical about its meagre points haul in the incident-plagued third round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport held on the streets of Beijing.
Black Beauty finished 10th in the opening Sprint Race, where points are awarded to the first six place-getters, and 9th in the Feature Race to end the weekend with just two points.
The team moves from 13th equal to outright 14th on the championship points ladder with Mexico taking over from Germany on the top rung. Mexico has 24 points, Germany 22 and Great Britain, with 20 points, and Italy, a point behind, soared to third and fourth respectively after impressive weekends.
A1 Team.NZL director of corporate affairs Bob McMurray says track problems made race day a lottery and the team was always battling after qualifying was cancelled and grid positions were retrospectively determined by early performances in the one and only practice session.
"The system rewarded teams on their second runs and penalised those still in the garage when the practice session was cut short. But that's racing and there's not much you can do about it except give it a shot. We could've lucked in as much as we lucked out," McMurray said.
Two major dangers caused limited practice time in the lead-up to Sunday's two points-scoring races.
A notoriously tight hairpin bend at the end of the straight that was practically impossible to navigate forced the cancellation of all practice sessions on Friday and forced organisers to shorten the track by just over a kilometre.
A secondary hazard emerged yesterday when manholes, despite being welded shut, starting losing their covers due to the downforce of the cars having a suction effect as they roared overhead. The solitary 90-minute practice session was dramatically cut short after just 25 minutes.
The manhole covers were re-welded and bolted for today's races and remained in place as much as the grid in the Sprint Race. The top six finished in the grid order they started in as passing opportunities proved rare.
New Zealand picked up two places to 10th only because of misfortune to South Africa and Ireland. Those two nations were the exceptions to the rule as positions one through to 16 finished in the order they began.
The Feature Race was less of a parade because of the added dynamic of the compulsory pit stop and the higher number of yellow flags and safety cars as even minor mistakes caused accidents and hold-ups on the narrow circuit.
"The weekend as a whole didn't provide an effective competition, but the Feature Race defied the odds and turned into a reasonable race," McMurray said.
"A1GP, the teams and the drivers did a remarkable job in turning on a good spectacle given the circumstances and, in the end, we're somewhat thankful for the two points we got."
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan today completed the third round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Beijing, China. Painted in national colours, the A1 Team Pakistan car raced alongside 21 other nations for A1GP's first event in the 2008 Olympic city.
Due to difficulties with the brand new street circuit, grid positions for today's Sprint race were taken from Saturday's practice session, with A1 Team Pakistan lining up 22nd on the grid.
Starting the race behind the pace car, racing commenced on lap two for a short time, before an accident involving A1 Team South Africa resulted in a safety car period, which would last until lap 11.
With overtaking prohibited under safety car conditions, A1 Team Pakistan had little chance to improve on their grid position, with the team finishing the 14 lap Sprint race 21st , the position Ali would take for the Feature race.
In what turned out to be a race of attrition on one of the most challenging tracks of the A1GP calendar, nine cars failed to cross the line in the Feature race. Countries with established motorsport heritage such as Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands hit problems which terminated their afternoons. A1 Team Pakistan also failed to finish the race after the car hit a bump and spun off the racing line. Managing to stop the car before it hit the wall, Ali kept the engine running and hoped to rejoin the race, but was pushed off the track by circuit officials.
Nur Ali said "This was a frustrating race, I'm still at a bit of a disadvantage as one of the lesser experienced drivers in the A1GP car and it would have been good to have completed more laps and flown the Pakistani flag for a bit longer. I think had the marshals allowed me to continue, we could have had a good race and got in the points. Obviously, I'm disappointed, but my thoughts now are on the next round in Malaysia."
Arif Husain, A1 Team Pakistan Chairman said, "This was a really challenging race for all the drivers and Nur has had much less time in the A1GP car than most. Although it was disappointing not to finish the Feature race, Nur and the team are continuing to build a solid relationship and understanding which will help us in the races to come. The whole team is now looking forward to representing Pakistan in Malaysia later this month".
Switzerland
The weekend feature race was no walk in the park for Neel Jani. It was the culmination of a very long day with the extra warm-up session in the morning, the sprint race, and then the feature race. After 46 laps at the wheel, Jani's brakes finally gave up and he was forced to retire at turn 6. It was a disappointing end to the weekend in which A1 Team Switzerland has not benefited at all from the circuit's various organisational problems.
The extra warm-up session on Sunday morning went very smoothly for Jani who finished fastest with a best time of 59.096. Then Jani started the sprint race from a 10th position behind the safety car and finished in ninth place the short twenty lap race after a seven-lap long safety car period.
Neel Jani explains: "I clocked the first quickest time in the warm-up which shows that if practice and qualifying on Saturday had not been cancelled, our whole weekend would have been much better. The warm-up this morning was the first real test of the weekend. I was fastest despite the fact this street circuit is very tricky and demanding on the brakes. It is very difficult to overtake here and it is dirty and slippery as soon as you step off-line. There is no room for any mistake."
The feature race was not easy for Neel. With 46 laps to go Neel Jani, stopped at turn 6."I could not finish the race, I just went straight with no more brakes into turn 6, but nevertheless. Despite all the problems this weekend I'm happy with my first weekend back in the A1 car. If the weekend had run under normal conditions we could have shown how competitive we really were. It's a positive to take away to the next race."
He added, "I suddenly found that I had no brakes when I went into turn six but I did have some warning before then as I was having to brake a lot earlier for each corner than in the morning session. I realised it was going but hoped we might be able to make it, but it was too late. The brake disks got worn out during the race and are still blue. There was no time to cool on this small track and they just over-heated. I am really looking forward to the next Malaysia race and hope we can repeat the good race from last year and win this time."
Max Welti, Team Principal added: "After a very strong performance during a morning warm-up that all teams regarded as a virtual qualifying session and was added to make up for the previous problems encountered during the week-end, Neel could not capitalize on the strengths of the team. Before leaving the country, I would like to congratulate A1 GP and A1 China Team for organizing the first motor racing event on the streets of Beijing and congratulate them on their approach to solving all the unexpected problems in a timely, smooth and responsible manner."
Following the third race in China, A1 Team Switzerland is lying 16th in the Championship with 4 points. Neel Jani is again at the wheel of the A1 Team Switzerland car in Malaysia.
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