03/02/2007
NEWS STORY
Germany - Pole
Having clinched its first ever pole position in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport a fortnight ago in New Zealand, Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany continued its streak of success in the seventh round in Australia: Nominated driver Nico Hülkenberg conquered the top spot on the grid once again, starting from the first row for the third time this season after second spot in Brno in round two and first place in round six.
In the first of four qualifying segments, Nico Hülkenberg achieved the second fastest time of 1m18.584s on the Eastern Creek circuit on new tyres. For the second run, he used the same set of tyres, posting the eighth fastest time of 1m19.683s. In his third run, the up-and-coming German driver lapped the 3.93 kilometre long Australian circuit in 1m18.263s. He set the fastest time of this segment and thus took the virtual lead in the classification of the aggregated times, pipping A1 Team New Zealand by a mere 44 thousandths of a second. In the fourth and final attempt, Nico Hülkenberg stormed to a stunning best time of 1m17.962s, extending his advantage to 0.216s ahead of New Zealander Jonny Reid whose car is engineered by David Sears Motorsport as well. A1 Team Germany was the only team to break the 1m18s lap time barrier.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: "I'm happy to be on the pole position once again. In the first attempt, I didn't go quite to the limit. I spoiled my second attempt on used tyres when I was a bit too ambitious and run wide onto the grass. In the third attempt, we managed to set the best lap time on new tyres. For the final run, I knew where the limits were. The track was getting faster and faster thanks to the rubber on the tarmac, so I managed to improve my time once again. A big thanks to the David Sears motorsport team that improved my car between all the segments im terms of mechanically and aerodynamically induced grip. On Sunday, the four leading teams of the championship will start from the first two rows so the fans can expect a lot of tension."
New Zealand - 2nd
New Zealand has qualified in second position for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race in Round 7 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Sydney.
Kiwi driver Jonny Reid set his two fastest times in the 1st and 4th runs of the four qualifying segments at Eastern Creek, piloting Black Beauty on to the front row of the grid for the fourth time in five drives this season. Championship leaders Germany qualified on pole with Great Britain qualifying 3rd, defending A1GP champions, France, in 4th and Switzerland in 5th.
New Zealand is third in the championship, just three points behind second-placed France, and A1 Team.NZL's head of engineering David Sears said the team was thrilled to have qualified ahead of the French.
"It was an exciting qualifying session and the most important thing is that France is two places behind us," Sears said. "That's the first major hurdle cleared and now we work hard to collect enough points to overtake them in the championship."
Sears said the fresh engine the team debuted in the morning's second Official Practice session, where Reid set the 3rd fastest time behind Germany and Great Britain, performed reliably. "It certainly didn't hinder our performance, so overall it's been another good day at the office and there's lots of smiling, happy people in our camp.
"Jonny drove well once again and if we perform to our potential as a team tomorrow the smiles should remain."
Great Britain - 3rd
Robbie Kerr kept A1 Team Great Britain firmly in the thick of qualifying action Saturday at Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway with the Burbage racer securing third on the grid ahead of Sunday's Sprint race in Round 7 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
With the British entry dropping to fourth in the A1GP Nations Standings following a point-less weekend last time out in New Zealand, Kerr was determined to keep title rivals, Germany, France and New Zealand in-sight this weekend. Setting the second fastest lap time in Saturday's final practice session, the former British F3 Champion was enjoying his outing at the 2.4-mile Sydney track where he scored a second-place Feature podium in last season's inaugural A1GP championship.
Kerr's third and fourth qualifying laps, a 1m18.480s and a 1m18.116s respectively, posted an aggregate time of 2m36.596 placing Great Britain third on the grid for the 20-minute Sprint race behind the front-row pairing of pole-sitter Germany and New Zealand with France taking fourth. The results from the Sprint race will then determine the grid for the afternoon's 70-minute Feature race.
"We took a bit longer than usual to get up there this weekend but I never had any doubts in my head that we wouldn't run well," stated Kerr post-qualifying. "Everything worked well today, it was very close in the fourth and final run but in the end it wasn't close enough to snatch pole. The whole team did a great job today and I'm hoping we can translate that into a good run tomorrow. All being well it'll be a clean start to the Sprint race, it's tight here but hopefully we can avoid a repeat of the last rolling start. I like racing here, we did well last year and I'm keen to build on that this time round."
"Today's result was a great team effort," reflected A1 Team Great Britain's Chief Engineer James Robinson. "We stayed focused as a group and Robbie gave us some great feedback as we worked to improve the car's set-up. It would have been nice to have had pole position but we proved we did our homework overnight to get the car more in tune with the demands of this track. We have a very quick car on used tires, as demonstrated in this morning's practice session, and we've always put out a good car for the races, hopefully we'll get a decent result tomorrow."
France - 4th
Following a trouble-free final practice session on Saturday morning where A1 Team France finished fourth fastest with a time of 1:21.343 Loic Duval put his car second on the second row for this second A1GP qualifying session. Looking in strong shape in the second section of the qualifying with a fastest time of 1:19.032, Loic second best was the third outing in 1.18.511 under the bright sun at Eastern Creek.
Loic explains his day and the qualifying session: "The weather was much warmer than yesterday when we first took the car to the track. Of course, I would have liked a front line start. The times are very close between the competitors and the tires are quite fragile. In this session the top contenders we want to keep ahead of are New Zealand, Jonny Reid and Germany Nico Hülkenberg. I lost a bit of time at the start, as I only completed the first segment of the qualifying in fifth. After that, despite being fastest in the second segment with the same tires than in the first outing, I could not find the ideal pace and I could never complete an absolutely perfect lap. You need to be progressing at every lap while it is hard to catch up with the pace. With a strong strategy I hope to secure good results for the team tomorrow for the sprint race and score points for the championship. To leave in second line, is not too bad as it looks like the track is wider than in New Zealand to overtake, but it is also a bit tricky even if it is really exciting to drive here. The car is not as easy to drive as I thought and over-steering is easy. The level of experience of the drivers on this track make the driving level very high. Here it is not a matter of making no mistake, but of being absolutely perfect. It will produce a good race."
Eric Boullier Managing Director A1 France added: "Loic Duval experienced his second qualifying session today with A1GP. Other teams and drivers now have a strong experience on this track. It is important now to prepare a good race strategy and fine-tune the car’s balance for tomorrow’s races"
Switzerland - 5th
Sebastien Buemi qualified fifth on the grid for the seventh round of the A1GP season, with an aggregate time of 2.37.266 for tomorrow’s sprint race at Eastern Creek. For the first time of the weekend, the conditions were very hot.
"I used 24 laps this morning in practice to finalise the set-up for the afternoon qualifying. We also did a lot of work on the brakes and it was looking good,” Buemi said.
After qualifying Buemi commented, "As we started the first part of qualifying I was careful to get a good feel of the track but nevertheless, I pushed very hard and the car reacted well. We hat two good first segments. In the third segment I made a small mistake and entered the last corner a bit too fast and went a little wide. Finally, in the fourth segment I was a bit unlucky, because someone had gone off in a lot of dust just ahead of me and I had to avoid the dirt on the track.
"For my third qualifying of the season, my experience from being fifth in qualifying (Zandvoort and Taupo) is that the position should allow me to score good points for the team, "
Buemi added. "Tomorrow, I need points in both races. It should be a realistic goal. I am now focusing on our tyre strategy and how to make the best out of them. It is challenging for everyone and let’s see how I can come out of it."
Max Welti, team principal, A1 Team Switzerland commented, "Third row for the start of the sprint race is the reflection of good work. We also have good pace even if I would have preferred that Sebastien completed a perfect lap and we could have been a bit higher. The track is challenging because it looks wide, but it is difficult to overtake. Sebastien needs a good start tomorrow and to find our pace again to finish in a good position."
USA - 7th
The Eastern Creek circuit, near Sydney, Australia is notoriously hard on tires. Competitors can expect to make one good run on a set before wear sets in and the times fall away. Saturday afternoon, Team USA saved its best tires for last, and posted two laps in 1:18s bracket to secure the 7th starting spot for Sunday's sprint race.
In his first qualifying attempt, Phil Giebler, driving the "We The People" car was as fast as anyone in the first and second sectors. Then, at the turn 9 hairpin, the car skidded sideways, destroying any hope of a good time. After first qualifying, Team USA found itself in 22nd spot.
A solid second outing and a 1:19.83s lap put the car and the team back on the map. With two sets of tires and two qualifying runs to go, Giebler responded with a 1:18.74s effort and a particularly fast time in the 3rd sector of the track. Still, A1 Team USA was only up to 12th place, and another good time was required. A final tweak to the setup--and team and driver did not disappoint. A 1:18.64s lap took the car into 7th spot.
"It was an edge-of-your seat qualifying session and the pressure was really on," said Giebler following the session. "It came down to the last two segment runs and I had to put together some quick laps to assure a good starting position for tomorrow's race. My laps were very similar and we only missed a 5th place by 0.1 sec with the 2 laps combined. It's incredibly close out there! My goal for the sprint race is to get the USA car in a position to fight for the podium spots in the Feature race...that means getting a good start and picking up a few spots."
"True grit prevailed today for Phil at Eastern Creek," said A1 Team USA owner Rick Weidinger. "After an average final practice and a spin in the first qualifying segment, Phil went to business to record a respectable seventh position on the Sprint grid. I especially respect that we were down under going into the final two segments of qualifying but cool heads prevailed and our driver was determined to represent his country well. This is the type of test that really shows the team's mettle and character. Now it is time to seize that momentum and move up a few positions to secure a podium in the Sprint Race in the Land of Oz. Tomorrow we plan to emerge on top in the land down under."
Netherlands - 8th
A1 Team Netherlands will start the A1GP Sprintrace at Eastern Creek from an eighth grid position. In the four qualifying runs this afternoon Jeroen Bleekemolen set an aggregate time of 2'37.455 (1'18.922 + 1'18.533). The A1 Team Netherlands driver drove his two fastest laps in the final two qualifying runs.
The team started the day with an eighth place in the final free practice session. Contrary to the rain of yesterday morning it was very warm and sunny today at the circuit just outside Sydney and the temperature rose further when qualifying started at 14.15 hours local time.
In the first qualifying run Jeroen Bleekemolen set a seventh fastest time. A1 Team Netherlands dropped some places after segment two, but a number of changes sorted the wanted effect and after three runs the team was back in eighth again. In the fourth and final qualifying run the temperate dropped slightly due to some clouds and immediately Bleekemolen managed to improve further on his fastest lap. In the end the gap with Germany, which took pole, was 1.230 seconds on aggregate.
A1 Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen; "In the final run we had the best set up for the car so far and we were reasonably there as far as times go. In the beginning we just had not enough grip, suffering a lot from oversteer. It kept getting better and in the end it did not go too bad at all. We are still behind, but at least we are closer then yesterday and this morning I think. The track also became quicker. Everyone who had a lear flying lap went faster. Overtaking will be difficult here, I think that during the Sprintrace not much will happen, you really have to try to do something at the start. In the Feature race certainly a lot can happen, also because there were a number of people going off in qualifying. I hope that we can make up some there".
A1 Team Netherlands team manager Dave Stubbs; "Off course we had hoped to end up higher, but in the end eighth place isn't too bad. We have managed to improve the car every session. At the end of the third segment the car was pretty good and we decided to leave it like that for the final run. In the end we also found some time in sector one, where we had been losing time earlier".
A1 Team Netherlands team principal Jan Lammers; "We did not do it in qualifying, we will now have to do it in the Sprint and Feature race. There are a few places you might be able to overtake, but you will have to be creative there. We have not found the leak yet. There is more potential in the car and we must get that out. It's now halfway through the weekend and we must now focus on the second half".
Ireland - 9th
Richard Lyons produced a strong performance during his final qualifying runs at Eastern Creek, Sydney, to line up 9th on the grid for tomorrow's Australian round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. This is the 27 year old Hillsborough driver's third race weekend for Team Ireland, and the second in succession that he has qualified in the top 10.
After the Irish team finished 9th in a Friday practice which started in atrocious conditions, Lyons suffered a difficult final practice on Saturday morning, a lack of grip dropping him back to 15th position. Changes made before qualifying improved the car's overall speed, Lyons making good progress and setting his best lap times on the two final runs to head the 5th row of the grid.
Richard Lyons: "After the problems we had in practice this morning I think we did well to get back up into the top 10 as it gives us a reasonable chance of a decent result tomorrow. My third qualifying run was good but on the last run I lost the rear of the car slightly at Turn 2 and that cost me a bit. We have missed a small amount of time here and there which would make a big difference in terms of our overall position, so we just have to keep working to get everything right."
Gary Anderson, Technical Director "There is really not too much in it for us to have made it into the top 6, something like 0.15s on each qualifying lap, so we're close to where our expectations are. After practice this morning we'd have been very happy to think we'd qualify in the top 10 so I think 9th is pretty good considering where we started from. For tomorrow we have to aim to finish both races in the points and we'll work at making sure Richard has a good race car to work with. We need reliability and, of course, a good pit stop, but the team has continued to work hard on that front."
Malaysia - 10th
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Australia completed final practice and qualifying at Eastern Creek Raceway today, with A1 Team Malaysia lining up 10th on the grid for the Sprint race start tomorrow.
A1 Team Malaysia's morning practice session gave the team its biggest challenge so far this season. Running nearly two seconds off the leader Yoong struggled to achieve a competitive pace and languished at the back of the field. Electronic problems were deemed to be the cause of the problem and the team worked furiously through the break between sessions to resolve the issues which were setting back the team in their pursuit of a strong qualifying performance.
The afternoon qualifying session began with Malaysia using old tyres and a lap which was 19th fastest. Putting on new rubber for the second segment of qualifying Yoong was able to improve his position to 14th quickest. In the third of the four flying laps, with new tyres Yoong showed his driving skill and pushed hard to improve substantially and lie 10th. In the final quarter, another sterling lap was needed and Yoong delivered this, to confirm the fifth row grid position for the Sprint race tomorrow.
Yoong said of the weekend, "We've had a challenging weekend so far, not only with missing the first practice session as we don't have Fairuz this weekend, but also with an engine change and bedding brakes taking time away from development work, mechanical issues curtailing our practice time and then we had some set up issues. It was only this afternoon that we got ourselves back on track. With all of this, I guess we must be satisfied with tenth, but we all know we have a better car and performance potential than we're showing."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, added, "After a difficult start to the weekend and a few technical problems, the team's strength and cohesion were able to help us recover and with Alex's driving expertise, we're able to start tenth tomorrow, a position which was a long way off earlier in the race weekend.
"Now we need to look closely at our race strategy. We will be looking for points in both the Sprint and the Feature race tomorrow towards our tally in the World Cup of Motorsport."
Canada - 11th
James Hinchcliffe bounced back from a frustrating Friday with A1 Team Canada to enjoy a more competitive qualifying run Saturday prior to Round 7 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Eastern Creek International Raceway, Australia.
Making his debut at the 3.93km Sydney circuit this weekend, Hinchcliffe stuck 22 more laps under his belt in Saturday morning's final practice session, posting the 12th fastest lap time, before heading into the afternoon's four-lap qualifying shoot-out. Eighth quickest on his first run on fresh rubber, the 20-year-old from Toronto encouragingly backed that up with the sixth fastest time of the second session on used tires.
James' fastest lap, a 1m18.651s came on his third run, where he was again sixth fastest from the 22 competing nations, before setting his second best time on his final attempt, a 1m19.088s, both hot laps being produced on new tires. Posting an aggregate time of 2m37.739s, Hinchcliffe narrowly missed out on the top-ten for the first time in his rookie season, the Canadian placing 11th on the grid for Sunday morning's 20-minute Sprint race, the results of which then determining the grid order for the afternoon's 70-minute Feature event. Pole position went to current A1GP points leaders, A1 Team Germany, with Niko Hülkenberg joined on the front-row by New Zealand's Jonny Reid.
"It's frustrating to miss out on a top-ten start but I know the car's quick so hopefully I can pick them off one at a time when we go racing tomorrow," commented Hinchcliffe. "We could well have been fifth on the grid if it hadn't been for the fact I was slowed by the Brazilian car in the second sector of my fourth and final qualifying run. I was a tenth up in the first and third sectors but the middle bit cost us as I caught Brazil on their in-lap. I guess you have to have a bit of luck sometimes when you're out there with this qualifying format. If I can keep my nose clean Sunday then hopefully we'll finish strong and come away with a haul of points to boost our top-ten A1GP standing."
Mexico - 14th
A1 Team Mexico hopes to return to the top places this Sunday after a hard qualifying session, in which ranked in 14th place with Salvador Duran behind the wheel at the 3.93-Km. Eastern Creek International Raceway.
Questioned about his performance Duran said: "We manage to run up to 1'18s and the truth is that we did not find the balance of the car. This is all I can give now, I gave the best of me out there and simply there are two races in a row that we qualified 13 and now 14. Obviously nobody in the team is happy, we all want to find solutions and we keep working to see what we can achieve."
"I feel in good shape. Last season I was not running that bad here and now the things simply did not worked well. We are trying to find the best in the car. We keep looking in the telemetry to see what we can find to improve our performance. The strategy for Sunday is to finish the races. This is a hard track for overtaking, but I will try to gain the most positions possible. At the moment, we keep working very hard to find the problem," former British Formula Three National Class champion said.
In the practise prior qualifying, Salvador Duran managed to set the fifth fastest time, with good expectations to obtain a good starting position. In the first qualifying segment, Duran went out with new tyres and was ninth with a lap of 1'19.492, in the second one climbed to fifth (1'19.555) with used tyres, in the third segment dropped to 11th place (1'18.833) with new tyres and finished his performance with a 14th spot and a lap time of 1'19.226 with new tyres. Finally, his aggregated time was 2'38.059 good for the 14th starting position for the A1 sprint race.
Lebanon - 19th
Qualifying for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Australia took place this afternoon at Eastern Creek Raceway with Alex Khateeb driving for A1 Team Lebanon. In high heat and bright sunshine the team completed a final practice session this morning and by the end of a tough qualifying session, Khateeb had posted 19th fastest time to line up on the 10th row of the grid for tomorrow's Sprint race.
In morning practice Khateeb ran 21 laps, posting a best time of 1 min 22.206 seconds to put him 17th fastest of the 22 nations competing in the A1GP Series this weekend. The hour long session was used by the team to refine the car set up for the track conditions today and for Khateeb to continue gaining experience of the Eastern Creek track.
Afternoon qualifying took place in the highest temperatures of the weekend so far. With the drivers required to complete four flying laps, and the best two aggregated to determine grid position, the team prepared the car for a series of low fuel sprints. Khateeb used his first set of new tyres to set his best time of the weekend so far and with his second fastest lap, he completed qualifying 19th fastest.
Khateeb said after qualifying, "I'm still learning in so many areas with A1 Team Lebanon and particularly working with the engineers, but I'm enjoying the challenge. The car feels very different on new tyres than the old ones, so I'm having to learn how to quickly adapt my driving to get the best from them with only a warm up 'out' lap before my flying one. I was pleased to be under 1 minute 20 seconds with my new tyres, to be close to Australia and ahead of Brazil, but my focus now moves to the two races tomorrow and we'll be hoping to perform well tomorrow in front of the Lebanese here in Australia and all the Arabs around the world."
Martin Stone, Racing Manager, A1 Team Lebanon, commented, "Alex is working with, and learning from the engineers each track session. He is continuing to show improvement and today it was only his second A1GP qualifying, so we're satisfied with our performance so far this weekend. We're very close to the Australian team's times, so we should be able to challenge the home nation in the Sprint race, and to be ahead of the Brazilian team is good."
A1 Team Lebanon, without its own home race, and as the only Arab team, represents the Arab world in the A1GP Series. The large Lebanese population in the Sydney area of Australia is expected to show its support for the team tomorrow, flying plenty of Lebanese flags trackside.
Brazil - 20th
It was a disappointing day for A1 Team Brasil and Tuka Rocha at the Eastern Creek circuit in Australia as the team took part in qualifying for round seven of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The team was only able to qualify on the tenth row of the grid for the sprint race, in 20th position.
This morning's final one-hour free practice was held in very different conditions to yesterday. The day dawned hot and sunny, and Tuka took to the track hopeful of a positive practice session. He did improve his position from yesterday afternoon's final session, and closed the gap between Team Brasil to the frontrunners, and finally finished the session in 14th position, having completed 18 laps.
Unfortunately, qualifying did not go well for the team. Although Tuka consistently improved his lap times throughout the four segments, setting his fastest laps of 1:19.969 and 1:20.449 in the final two segments of the session, the lap times were not good enough to put the car further up the grid.
Tuka Rocha: "I don't know what's happening but in qualifying I was very far away, three seconds off the pace. In practice this morning we did one quick lap on old tyres, and maybe our pace on old tyres isn't so bad, but I should never be three seconds off the pace. The car has got worse since practice, and we have a lot of work to do to try to figure out what the problem is."
India - 21st
A1 Team India was back on track today, for qualifying at the Eastern Creek circuit, ahead of tomorrow's A1GP Sydney, Australia. Parthiva Sureshwaren makes his racing debut with the team in Australia, having previously completed the rookie session at the Indonesia round in December. The 26 year-old racer put the Indian car on the 10th row of the grid, for the seventh round in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Competing in his first full weekend with the team, Sureshwaren has the least experience in an A1GP car of any driver competing at Eastern Creek this weekend. The 520 bhp car is among the most powerful in single seater racing, and also features a PowerBoost button which provides bursts of power up to 550 bhp.
Commenting on his day at Eastern Creek, Sureshwaren said, "There's a lot of pressure with the one lap qualifying, that's something I'm not used to. I'm more familiar with an hour long qualifying session, so I'm still learning to get the best out of that situation. I wasn't able to get the best out of the new tyres either. It was surprisingly hard to find the limit on the new rubber, compared to the old tyres.
"There's still so much more to come from my driving and from the car. I think I should improve through the races tomorrow and put the car further towards the front. It went ok, but I made a couple of mistakes and on two of my quickest laps I got on the dirt in the corners, which I'm a bit frustrated about. But I'm confident we can make up some more time tomorrow."
A1 Team Seatholder, Yohann Setna said, "I'm pleased with how it went, lap on lap Parthiva getting better. I think it's just a question of him needing more seat time. In the third segment, he was on a really good lap, but made a mistake and lost quite a lot of time. So I think he can go faster than he showed today.
"The team is happy with Parthiva's progress; he's been improving session by session and is doing the job we asked him to do. I think by the end of the Sprint race he will be a lot more settled in the car and feeling more confident, which will help. The A1GP car requires a completely different driving style to the World Series car that he last drove, so it's a steep learning curve, but he's doing a good job."
Pakistan - 22nd
Preparations for the A1GP Sydney, Australia continued today, as A1 Team Pakistan joined a host of other nations on track at Eastern Creek for final practice and qualifying, ahead of tomorrow's two races. Representing his nation, Nur Ali continued to improve his lap times, but was hit by mechanical failure this afternoon which hampered the team's progress in qualifying. After missing one qualifying segment, the team will start the Sprint race from the 11th row of the grid.
In the morning's final practice session, Ali improved his lap time, to move within seven tenths of former F1 driver Alex Yoong. While pushing hard to improve further, Ali spun to end his practice session prematurely. The team were also showing signs of improvement this afternoon when the mechanical problem hit.
In a qualifying system unique to A1GP, teams complete four 15 minute qualifying segments, with the best two times aggregated to decide the team's place on the Sprint race grid. With only three segments completed, the team lost valuable track time as the Pakistan car limped back to the pits.
Nur Ali commented, "Today's qualifying session was a bit frustrating, the third segment I was on when the car broke was looking like my fastest time of the day. I was feeling really good in the car, and then it just went, the driveshaft broke. I was fortunate enough to be able to bring the car back into the garage where the team did a fantastic job to get the car fixed and back out on track. The connection between myself and the team has been great this weekend, we're really communicating well on the behaviour of the car, and I have to thank them for the job they did this afternoon."
Speaking about the team's chances on race day, Ali added, "I think we could have a good Sprint race tomorrow, and if we get a good start we could make up a couple of places that will help us in the Feature race. I'm really having fun at this track. It's great to drive and definitely my favourite A1GP circuit so far."
A1 Team Pakistan Team Manager Bobby Issazadhe was pleased with his driver's progress, "I think Nur has put in his best ever performance in qualifying. After free practice we had a target to beat India, because that was within reach, and up until the problem we had with the driveshaft, I think that was a realistic achievement.
"The boys did a great job in fixing the car and turning it round in fifteen minutes. The car came in and they identified the problem straight away, disassembled all the parts and got it fixed. We were back out on the dot, ready for the green light at the start of the fourth session."
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