30/09/2006
NEWS STORY
Team Brazil
A1 Team Brasil will begin tomorrow's sprint race at the Zandvoort circuit from the eighth row of the grid, after nominated race driver Tuka Rocha (right) had a challenging first shot at A1GP's innovative four-part qualifying session. It was a disappointing grid slot for the team after Tuka had a strong final free practice session this morning, finishing fifth in the standings.
The A1GP qualifying format comprises four 15-minute sessions, separated by five-minute breaks. Each driver is limited to one flying lap per session and has to record at least two times. The two fastest times for each driver are then combined to form an aggregate time, from which the grid is formed.
Starting the first segment on old tyres, Tuka set his first flying lap with a time of 1:31.998. He did a much better time on his second lap, which he set on new tyres, putting in a lap of 1:29.045, which turned out to be his best time. In the fourth segment he ran again on new tyres and set his second best time of 1:29.373. Unfortunately, on his first time driving in one of the A1GP qualifying sessions, Tuka wasn't able to put in the two perfect laps required to secure a high grid spot, and so he will begin tomorrow's sprint race from 16th position. The sprint race will get underway at 11am local time.
Tuka Rocha: "I don't really know what to say. This is definitely not the kind of result we were expecting or are capable of. The car felt a bit better than in practice and our lap times did improve but we still have some hard work to do before tomorrow on the set-up. The first set of new tyres was quite good, there was more grip than I expected and the car felt easy to drive. But on the second set, there wasn't as much grip and I had understeer. I was pushing so hard that I ended up making a couple of mistakes. Tomorrow I will just have to do a good start and try to do a good race."
Team Canada
A1 Team Canada racer, Toronto's James Hinchcliffe, kept the Canadian entry at the sharp end of the field in qualifying today securing eighth on the grid from the 23 nation field ahead of tomorrow's opening round of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Sunday 1st October, at Circuit Park Zandvoort, Holland, the open-wheel racing series entering its sophomore season pitching nation against nation across the globe in identical 550bhp V8-powered A1GP cars from October through to April.
Hinchcliffe (19), despite his rookie status, proved to be the man to beat in yesterday's official practice where he topped the timesheets for A1 Team Canada. Sampling A1GP's aggregate qualifying system this afternoon for the first time, where each driver has four timed runs with the fastest two laps combined to set the grid order for the Sprint race, James' challenge was to make the most of the three new sets of tires available to him.
Straight out on fresh runner he posted a 1m29.079s on his first run only to go better on his second outing on the same set, this time setting a 1m28.641s. Faster still over his next two runs, both utilizing a fresh set of Cooper's, his aggregate time of 2m56.307s places A1 Team Canada eighth on the grid for tomorrow's 20-minute Sprint race, where points are awarded for the top six nations, before the afternoon's 70-minute Feature race takes place with points awarded through to tenth. Pole today went to A1 Team South Africa with Formula Renault Euro Cup regular Adrian Zaugg behind the wheel.
James Hinchcliffe: "I think given it was my first shot at A1GP qualifying things didn't pan out too bad. I'm obviously new to the one-lap format and I struggled a little to get up to speed on my first run and how to get the most from the tire straight away. There's definitely still some more to come from the car and myself but for a first effort in this series a top-eight grid slot's pretty decent. I'm used to rolling starts as that's the norm in North America so I'll be prepared at the start of the Sprint race but the key is to steer clear of trouble so you're in good shape for the Feature race in the afternoon!"
Team France
A1 France will start on the second row for the first sprint race of the opening round of the season.
After making smooth progress yesterday in the preparations for the first round of the 2006/2007 A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport at Zandvoort, Nicolas Lapierre (right) continued to work on developing a suitable chassis balance for the qualifying session in the final Official Practice on Saturday morning.
In the afternoon, A1 France claimed 3rd position on the grid for Sunday's sprint race. The 22-year-old French driver achieved his best times respectively in the third (1.27.931) and fourth session (1.27.757) that brought his final aggregated time to 2.55.688.
Nicolas Lapierre commented: "We had a good qualifying session but we could have been better. The track was improving in each session and I managed to make good use of my sets of tyres. We have a good set-up for Sunday and we are pretty confident we will finish in good positions for both races."
Jean-Paul Driot, team principal, A1 France added: "Team A1 France did a good job to finish third in this qualifying session. The result is very tight. It is important not to make any mistake. Nicolas had a slight problem in the second sector of the third run. He lost only a fraction of seconds. But this was enough to cost him the pole position. The level of the competition is really strong this year. Everything is so unpredictable."
Team Germany
In qualifying for the season opener of the A1 Grand Prix Series at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, A1 Team Germany showed its best ever qualifying performance since entering the series. 12 months ago, fifth place on the grid at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz was the best result so far. The team was fighting for pole position at Zandvoort until the third of four qualifying segments when a slight gearshift gremlin in the last attempt forced the team back to fourth place in the overall combined times. The result on the Dutch track was achieved by Nico Hülkenberg who contests his first race for Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany, run by David Sears' Supernova outfit.
19-year-old Nicolas Hülkenberg drove the 520 hp A1 Grand Prix car for the first time in anger since testing in August. In the first segment, he lapped the 4.627 kilometres in the dunes in 1m28.793s on new tyres and was second-fastest behind Mexico. In the second segment, he was 14th (1m29.439s) on used tyres owing to a mistake on his flying lap. In the third segment, he set the best time at 1m27.661s on new tyres, thus being the only driver to break the 190 kph lap speed barrier. In the fourth outing, the gearbox wouldn't switch back to third gear so that A1 Team Germany finished sixth (1m28.144s). In the overall aggregate times, the team achieved fourth position (2m55.805s), just 0.274s behind South Africa, with Mexico and France on second and third place.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "That's a good beginning in the series, isn't it? I'm just slightly disappointed that we were robbed of the chance to fight for pole position in my last outing when the gearbox wouldn't switch to third gear before the last corner. The qualifying system in the A1 Grand Prix series is unique, but it is not difficult to get used to it. We've got a good feeling with the car now. After fourth place in Friday's final practice session, the team and myself managed to improve the car again in the third free practice session on Saturday morning. We will start from second row on the grid. It will certainly not be easy in the sprint race but I'm looking forward to the races."
Team Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain continued to run amongst the pace-setters today with Darren Manning piloting the British entry to a sixth place qualifying effort ahead of the opening round of the new season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, including a Sprint and Feature race tomorrow, Sunday 1st October, at Circuit Park Zandvoort, Holland.
Second fastest in yesterday's official practice, Manning (31), a former BAR-Honda Formula One test driver, headed into this afternoon's qualifying session armed with three new sets of Cooper tyres for the four timed laps used to set the grid for tomorrow's 20-minute Sprint race, the fastest two laps from each driver counting for the aggregate time. A flying third lap, a 1m27.770s, looked good to land Manning the pole if it was backed up in the fourth run but a 1m28.310s lap time followed after a slight error to place A1 Team Great Britain sixth for the first Sprint race of the new A1GP season.
Pole went to A1 Team South Africa with Formula Renault Euro Cup regular Adrian Zaugg behind the wheel.
A1 Team Great Britain Team Principal, John Surtees: "Well sixth place isn't quite what we expected following yesterday's encouraging performance. Darren's first run on old tyres was impressive and he was ahead of the game in his third run but a little sideways action on his final run cost what could well have been pole position but all it's really done is just give him a little more work to do tomorrow in the race!"
Darren Manning: "The track was getting quicker and quicker and I banged in a good third run. I just clipped the kerb at the chicane on my final run, got sideways, and that messed up the end of what would have been an even better lap. It's a bit disappointing but the main thing is that we're still up there with the front-runners and should be good when we get to go racing tomorrow."
Team Ireland
A frustrated Michael Devaney qualified 15th for tomorrow's opening round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Zandvoort, Holland, after the Irishman missed the entire final practice session due to a fuel pressure problem later traced to a defective filter on his A1GP car. Unable to participate in the all-important final session before qualifying, Devaney used the four qualifying runs to steadily improve his laps times, the team paying a heavy price for having significantly less track time than its 22 rival countries.
Michael Devaney, Qualifying: 2m58.165, 15th position "There was not a lot I could do other than push as hard as possible and try and make a big step on each qualifying run. We managed to make some reasonable progress but it's clear that we'd have started with a much quicker car if we'd had the benefit of final practice. It's not the first time we have had a technical problem rob us of a practice session and I know the team works really hard to stop these things happening."
Andy Miller, Technical Director "It is frustrating we lost the whole of the morning session and it is also clear that we were getting quicker and quicker during qualifying. There was more to come. This is a circuit that requires a lot of driver confidence to push to the utmost and nothing can substitute for doing as many laps as possible. I am still confident that we will have a good race car under Michael tomorrow and we just have to focus on having a good Sprint race in the morning and give ourselves a chance to score a decent result in the Feature event."
Mark Kershaw, Team Owner "It's very disappointing that a technical problem robbed us of critical track time and the knock on effect has been to make qualifying an uphill struggle. Michael made good improvements throughout the session, but he was having to start from such a low base line that it was a question of playing catch up throughout. In reality his performance in qualifying 15th is a good damage-limitation exercise."
Team Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon completed the second day of running in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Zandvoort, with final practice and qualifying taking place at the Dutch circuit in front of an enthusiastic crowd of spectators. Basil Shaaban, driving for the team this weekend will start from 19th place on the grid for the race tomorrow, after completing his four 'flying laps' this afternoon to determine his position.
A1 Team Lebanon continued its race preparations in morning practice. With the loss of yesterday's practice session due to a gearbox failure, Shaaban had only minimal experience of the Zandvoort track and this one hour practice was his only opportunity to continue the learning process and develop the car set up for race conditions. The team worked through a programme of car set up development in preparation for qualifying and the races tomorrow.
In afternoon qualifying Shaaban started with a solid lap time in the first of the four segments, the unique format of A1GP which aggregates the two best 'flying laps' to determine each nation's grid position for the race tomorrow. With new tyres he was able to improve his time by just under three seconds. Staying on these tyres Shaaban backed up his time with another good lap, and with his final set of tyres he was able to shave a further three tenths off his best time.
Shaaban said at the end of the qualifying, "Losing the practice session yesterday gave me a bigger challenge today and in the morning run I was concentrating on mastering the intricacies of the track and understanding the handling of the car relevant to the conditions. This afternoon I focused on consolidating my work this morning and recording four solid segment times."
Tony Snook, Team Principal, A1 Team Lebanon, adds, "Because of yesterday's gearbox failure Basil has suffered from a lack of track time this weekend and he has done well today to make up for this, focusing on completing the qualifying session with four consistent flying laps. As always, the team has been working well together and I know that this teamwork will be important tomorrow for the two challenging races ahead.
Team Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia will start in tenth place for the Sprint Race at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Zandvoort tomorrow.
In bright sunshine the A1GP cars took to the track in the morning for final practice before the afternoon qualifying session. The one hour session was the final opportunity for teams to refine their car set up and prepare for the race.
Yoong was quickly on to the track to take advantage of the practice time and to work with his engineers to improve the car's performance. He ran comfortably in the top ten as the team worked through a planned programme, looking for the extra tenths that can make the difference between a top grid position and a middle of the pack start. The team opted to stay on older tyres for much of the session while other nations used new ones to set quick laps, finishing the hour with 13th fastest lap time.
In afternoon qualifying Yoong had a late run in the first of the four segments, the unique format employed by A1GP to determine the grid, in which the team's best two times are aggregated and this sets the position for the Sprint race.
The majority of teams have two sets of new tyres and the pattern of using them varies, with some opting to use them in the final two segments, other teams running early with these. A1 Team Malaysia elected to run with new tyres in the final two segments. Yoong was lying ninth of the 23 car field after the first segment. Backing this up with another solid lap, Yoong was 10th at the midway point, and in his final two segments, and he maintained this pace to finish 10th quickest overall.
Yoong said after qualifying, "We had a bit of understeer this morning, but managed to scrape into the top ten. We had a bit of traffic on our last run and had to overtake two cars which cost us time. There's a few places where we were losing time and we'll look at this before the race. I think we have a good race car for tomorrow."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, added, "The team has done a great job to get into the top ten for this first race. We haven't had the luxury of a rookie to do the system checks and preparation that other teams have done, as we do not yet have any young Malaysians eligible to take on these duties. We also had a new engine which required an installation programme and we had to devote most of our first practice session to this.
Bearing in mind these factors, Alex and the team have done a great job and have made up this lost time. If we'd been able to do much of this work in the rookie session, we could have made further progress with the car development, but in the circumstances, I congratulate Team Malaysia for their efforts. Tomorrow is the important day, when we need to turn this hard work into results and I know everyone will be focused on this goal."
Team Netherlands
During the official qualification for the A1GP Zandvoort Jeroen Bleekemolen (right) qualified A1 Team Netherlands on a ninth grid position. A result with which the team hopes to move up the order during the Sprint race tomorrow and secure a good position for the Feature race. In the four sessions Bleekemolen drove an aggregate time of 2'56.618 (1'28.411 + 1'28.207). A1 Team Netherlands was in third place after three of the four runs, but in the last session a number of countries managed to improve further on their time. South Africa took an impressive pole, followed by Mexico and France.
During the first three sessions Bleekemolen, driving with new tyres, managed to improve his times again and again. The support of the massive crowd was clearly noticeable at Circuit Park Zandvoort. Every time the orange A1 Team Netherlands car crossed start / finish a standing ovation and waving flags were seen on the grandstands.
Jeroen Bleekemolen: "It certainly was not too bad. I still miss a bit of experience driving with the new tyres, that I did notice. I went faster and faster, ideally I should have had one more set of new tyres, then we could have been in a better position. I think that we can be reasonably satisfied, we were quite competitive the whole time and were in the top of the time sheets for a long time. I am certain that within a few races we should have the experience to be really in front. The final session I was running used tyres, you cannot do much then", said Jeroen who tomorrow will experience the rolling A1GP start for the first time. "That is all new to me, I will just do my best and see how far we can come. In A1 you can start from last place and still win the race. The spectators here still are fantastic. Every time you exit the pit lane and along the track, you just see the dunes move. You see everyone stand up and wave flags. During your inlap you see that and it is great!"
Jan Lammers: "Of course we were very curious how things would fall into place. Jeroen did not drive Formula cars for a while, but GT's and that's a whole other story. We are lucky that this is our home track and Jeroen can get into the mood here. You need information from your tyres, he hasn't good to much now. This is the position we are at. When you start racing you never aim for ninth of course, you want to know what you need to do. We are ninth, but with the thought that there is much more room for improvement. If we could finish the weekend inside the top six that would be great".
Team New Zealand
New Zealand will be on the 5th row of the grid for the Sprint Race at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport's season opener in the Netherlands tomorrow.
Kiwi driver Matt Halliday was ranked 10th of the 23 competing nations after today's qualifying, posting his quickest times in the 3rd and 4th segments of the qualifying session in front of a huge crowd at Zandvoort.
South Africa was the surprise pace-setter, followed by Mexico, France, Germany and Switzerland. Great Britain was 6th, ahead of the USA and Canada, while the host nation will be alongside Black Beauty on the grid after qualifying 9th.
New Zealand's Engineering Team Director David Sears says the qualifying was a tad disappointing, but the team is looking forward to Super Sunday's two big races.
"It was the first day back at school and the qualifying didn't quite go to plan," Sears said. "Still, we made the top ten and I'm sure we'll improve several places tomorrow."
The qualifying was held in good weather, but the forecast for tomorrow isn't so promising with a 70% chance of rain.
"If it does rain team strategies, particularly around pit stops, will become more vital for the feature race and we've been the quickest of all the countries in pit stop practice.
"We certainly won't be short on commitment tomorrow. Matt says he's comfortable with the team, we're working hard to determine the optimum set-up for this particular track and we're desperately keen to start the season in style."
Earlier in the day Halliday had posted the 10th fastest time in the second of the Official Practice sessions, following on from being ranked 9th after Friday's first practice session.
Team Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan with driver, Nur Ali, continued preparations for the first race of the new season today at Zandvoort, near Amsterdam, Netherlands. He completed a one hour practice session, followed by qualifying for tomorrow's Sprint Race. Ali will line up 23rd on the grid for this race in a highly competitive session.
Ali took to the track for the morning practice session and used the time to continue learning the circuit, become more familiar with the A1GP car and build his relationship with his new engineers and crew. The one hour session saw the Pakistani driver improve his lap times as he put valuable practice laps under his belt. He was caught out towards the end of the session with a spin beaching him on the kerbs leading to an early finish for the team. At the conclusion of practice Ali was 23nd fastest.
In cooler weather for the qualifying session, Ali was out on track early for the first of his four 'flying lap' runs. He drove solidly to put a time on the score sheets, saving new tyres for his second run, in which he improved by just under three seconds. Continuing with his learning curve, Ali was four tenths of a second quickder on his third run. A spin during his final, fourth run, lost him his final 'flying lap' segment, but Ali had shown that he is progressing forwards each time he is on track.
Ali said at the end of the session, "It was an all-new experience for me today. I walked the track last night to improve my understanding of its unique characteristics and this morning I felt fairly comfortable in the car. In qualifying after the first segment I knew there was a lot of room for improvement and on each run we were able to do this. On the last run I knew I was pushing it, went in a bit too hot and the rear stepped out on me and spun me round. I'm learning fast, and tomorrow my aim will be to keep it clean and finish the races, around top fifteen, possibly top ten, although of course, my ultimate goal is to be winning A1GP races."
Arif Husain, Chairman, A1 Team Pakistan, was pleased with the progress the team made today saying, "We've brought this team together in a short space of time and they've shown their commitment and dedication with strong teamwork today. Nur has shown that he has the passion for racing and A1 Team Pakistan, and he has quickly gelled with the team, putting every effort towards improving his pace. It's early days for us, and I'm confident that we'll show further progress tomorrow.
The team is proudly representing Pakistan on this global motorsport stage and with the message of good wishes from Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain I know that the people of our country will also be supporting A1 Team Pakistan, watching us fly the flag of our country at the twelve events of the A1GP calendar."
Pole position for the Sprint race tomorrow was taken by A1 Team South Africa with the Mexican team in second place and Team France lining up third. With less than a second separating the top 12 teams, A1GP is set for two highly competitive races tomorrow.
Team South Africa
It was another nail-biting A1GP qualifying session, something that has become a trademark of this increasingly popular new motor racing formula, and this time it was debutant Adrian Zaugg (right) who stunned the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport establishment by taking pole position for tomorrow's sprint race in A1 Team South Africa's newly liveried Vulindlela.
The car that carries the hopes of all South Africans in the opening round of the second season of A1GP, and which also carries the number 46664 in honour of former State President Nelson Mandela and his Foundation as well as 2010 to mark South Africa's hosting of the next football World Cup, was the class of a 23-nation field.
After four gripping 15-minute qualifying sessions, in which only one timed flying lap in each session counts and the two best laps are added together to arrive at the final qualifying time, the 19-year-old A1GP rookie scored his first pole position in his first A1GP appearance.
His aggregate time of his two best laps was 2 min 55,531 sec, just 0,105 sec ahead of the experienced Mexican Salvador Duran, twice a winner in the first season of A1GP, and 0,157 sec ahead of 2005/2006 A1GP champions France (Nicolas Lapierre). Germany (Nico Hulkenberg) was fourth, Switzerland (Sebastien Buemi) fifth and Great Britain (Darren Manning) sixth. Just three tenths of a second covered the top three in one of the closest qualifying sessions seen in A1GP.
"I'm happy for the team and all the people back home in South Africa," said a smiling Zaugg. "I didn't expect to get pole position at my first attempt in A1GP. It is an emotional moment for me."
Questioned on his views of the unique A1GP qualifying format, he said: "It's a new experience for me, an interesting and spectacular qualifying format. You only have one chance each session to put in a good lap. It's the same for everyone. You just have to concentrate extra hard.
Asked how he expected to handle the rolling start for Sunday's 20-minute sprint race, the unassuming young South African said he didn't expect it to be too different from re-starting a race behind the safety car, something he was quite used to. "I've also done many rolling starts during my karting days," he added.
Are you confident for the race, he was asked? "I'm confident in the car and the team. That's what's important," he said with a maturity that belies his age.
Team Switzerland
A1 Switzerland will start from the third row of the grid for the first sprint race of the opening round of the season.
During the final Official Practice session, driver Sebastien Buemi continued fine-tuning his car for the afternoon's qualifying session.
A1 Team Switzerland qualified in 5th place on the grid for tomorrow's sprint race with an aggregate result of Buemi's two fastest laps of 2.56.075. The 17-year-old Swiss driver improved from one session to the next to set his personal best time in session four of 1.27.777.
Sebastien Buemi said: "I am really pleased about my result for my first time out with this car. My aim is to get better. This is why I am not satisfied to have lost a couple of seconds in my third outing. I realize now that I could have pushed more. I made a slight mistake that cost me a few places. But for a start, it is not too bad.
I need practice and more experience in this series. To start the sprint race from the third row is not bad. My aim is to finish the race. I will make sure to have a good start and get to where I need to be."
Max Welti, team principal, A1 Switzerland commented: "Sebastien Buemi did such a good job for his first ever qualifying in A1GP World Cup of Motorsport despite a small mistake in the first outing that cost him possibly the second row. But our goal remains reachable: To finish on the podium for the races even if it won't be easy. But Sebastien has a good chance to finish on the podium. It is a great success to have brought the team to such a high level of performance and smooth running point. Overall, I am very surprised with the competitiveness of the other teams for the second year of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport."
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