30/08/2006
NEWS STORY
A1 Team Great Britain returned to action today as the first of two official days of A1 GP pre-season testing kicked off at Silverstone. Running on the 2.249-mile International Circuit, Darren Manning, Robbie Kerr and Oliver Jarvis all sampled A1 Team GBR's A1GP challenger as 20 nations participated in the test under sunny skies at the Northamptonshire track.
Manning was first out in this morning's three hour test run followed this afternoon by Kerr and Jarvis. All three drivers acquitted themselves well, Kerr and Manning reacquainting themselves with the car they helped steer to third overall in the inaugural A1GP Championship, with Cambridgeshire's Oliver Jarvis getting his second taste of the car following an impressive test debut at Pembrey last month.
With today's test marking the first running of A1 Team Great Britain under a new personnel structure everyone declared themselves satisfied with the test with the team sitting sixth fastest at the end of the afternoon session.
A1 Team GBR Team Principal John Surtees: "Obviously a priority for today was to see how the team would work together with some personnel carried over from last season and some new additions. We had to get everyone to gel together and work as a unit which we did. We were challenged by having three drivers to test and limitations on the amount of tyres we could use but everything worked out well all things considered!"
Darren Manning: "We were up to speed pretty quickly which was good following such a long time out of the car. We had a program to run through although with three drivers to test we were limited with tyres and so on, I started the day on a new set to get going! All in all though it's been a good day!"
Robbie Kerr: "I started off on used tyres so we were figuring out the best set-ups and getting used to the car again. Obviously the car was totally different on the new set and I know there's more to come from both myself and the car so we're pretty happy with the first day back."
Oliver Jarvis "I didn't get in the car till later in the day and didn't have the advantage of trying out a new set of tyres but for the mileage on the ones I had we did a good job. I'm pleased with my time in the car, I was competitive and consistent and can't wait to get back in tomorrow and give it another go."