04/05/2008
NEWS STORY
Australia
Sprint Race
John Martin started his Sprint Race from 12th place and pushed early closing in on Reid from Team NZ. As he backed off to avoid a possible shunt, the Team Czech car passed him by on a lucky break in the traffic.
Martin's decision to go wide at Paddock allowed Team Malaysia to slip by leaving Team Australia in 14th place. The cars are four tenths apart at the finish with Team Canada taking 15th place in a very close finish overall.
Before the race John Martin was positive on the car's setup with a good warm up lap before the grid formation on the rolling start. He had good pace throughout the race and is confident of a good finish in the Feature Race later today.
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "Overall I think it was a pretty uneventful race. We normally see a lot more overtaking but not this one today. After we lost two places early in the race it's where we finished. Now we look to the Feature Race where we are good in the pits to try and jump some cars on the right call for the driver to pit"
Rob Arnott Chief Engineer: "In the middle of the race John was running two tenths off the lead car, so when he settled down everything was looking good. We need to find two tenths out of the car for the Feature and hopefully have better luck. I thought the race was good, and Team GBR did a good job as well and Team SUI taking the Championship, made it a very special race to be in as well"
John Martin: "I didn't judge the jump from the start quite right, everybody accelerated off and maintained pace, then accelerated again and slowed into the first turn. I came up on Johnny Reid so quick it was an instant back off to save any possible shunt from happening and the Czech car went by me at that point. The move at Paddock allowed Team MAL to go by, you take a gamble and sometimes it pays off. We were two tenths off Robbie Kerr's time throughout the race. I have to do my best to get by a few early in the Feature"
Feature Race
Early in the race on lap two both Team Pakistan and Team Australia collided on the back straight with major damage on the Team Australia car. John Martin's race was over and Adam Khan left the circuit after a quick medical centre check up.
John Martin was not impressed with Khan's attitude to the shunt and was quick to let Khan know how he felt when they met together in the medical centre.
Team Australia end the 2007-2008 season in 17th place overall. Next race will be at Mugello on September 21 showcasing the new A1GP car "Powered by Ferrari"
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "It was not the race result we expected, the accident appeared to be another racing incident. We are now looking to the
new season that starts in September to launch our new car with Ferrari"
John Martin: "I was upset with Adam Khan as we were both on the back straight and had room for both of us. All he had to do was stay on his side of the race track and everything would have been fine. Instead he moved over towards me, so I had to move back and we touched. There was no way I could save the car once I hit the grass. We spoke at the Medical Centre and he left the circuit"
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil's Xandi Negrao finished today's sprint and feature races at Brands Hatch in 16th and 14th places respectively to round off a frustrating 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season finale.
In this morning's 15-lap sprint race, Xandi began from 19th and made a good start, passing Italy and Pakistan on the opening lap for 17th. He moved up to 16th on lap 12 after China fell back and crossed the line in that position.
Brasil began 14th in the feature race but fell back after a disappointing start from Xandi. The 22-year-old tried to pass Indonesia on the opening lap but ran onto the grass after Indonesia went wide. The Lebanese car then spun in front of Xandi and, with nowhere to go, he made contact, sustaining damage to his front wing which resulted in an unscheduled pitstop for a new nosecone. Xandi was able to make up the time to the back of the field after a safety car was deployed after an accident involving Lebanon and Pakistan. He made his first compulsory stop on lap 14 and emerged in 17th and then moved up to 16th four laps later as Ireland pitted for a new nosecone. He made his second stop on lap 33 and emerged in 14th position, which he retained until the chequered flag.
A1 Team Brasil finished the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 14th position in the championship with 44 points. Next year's championship will kick off on 21 September in Mugello, Italy.
Xandi Negrao: "The sprint race was good as I was able to overtake two cars. I was on the pace but in such a short race there wasn't time for me to do anything else. In the second race I made a bad start and then, when I tried to overtake Indonesia on turn four, he went wide and I went off the track and came back on at the back. Then Lebanon spun in front of me and I didn't have anywhere to go so I hit him and had to come in to change the nose. We were lucky with the safety car as I was able to make up the lap and rejoin the rest of the field but then I was stuck behind Mexico and couldn't pass, which was frustrating. I was able to pass Mexico after the second pitstop but unfortunately couldn't make up any more places."
Canada
A1 Team Canada celebrated its highest placing in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday, finishing the 2007-08 A1GP season ninth overall despite a tenth and final round to forget for Toronto's James Hinchcliffe at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in the United Kingdom.
The 21-year-old missed out on adding to Canada's points tally having been recalled to the team for the first time since Round 2 in October, James finishing 15th in the morning's 15-lap Sprint race and 17th at the end of the afternoon's incident-packed 48-lap Feature. Enjoying a comfortable cushion in the points, the Brands Hatch no-score ultimately failed to impact on Canada's ninth place standing – the team's highest finish in three seasons of A1GP competition.
Hinchcliffe's race debut on the 2.62-mile Kent track lacked any real drama, the short nature of the Sprint race preventing too much in the way of passing opportunities. Lining up 15th for the rolling start, the Canadian lost a spot on the opening lap and held 16th through to lap 9. With China dropping down the order James was promoted back up the order to 15th and stayed there through to the checkered six laps later.
Pole-sitter Robbie Kerr delivered a second-straight Brands Hatch Sprint victory for A1 Team Great Britain with the USA's Jonathan Summerton second and Ireland's Adam Carroll third. Neel Jani's fourth place finish was enough to secure the A1GP title for A1 Team Switzerland with New Zealand's challenge coming up short at the final round.
While an engaging battle for the lead between India's Narain Karthikeyan, who started from pole, and local favorite Kerr entertained the crowd in the later Feature race, Canada's push for points was quickly eradicated with a series of penalties. Climbing to sixth on-track as the front-runners pitted for their first mandatory stop, Hinchcliffe was served with a drive through penalty for an alleged false start. Dropping to 19th as a result, Canada's day went from bad to worse as a 10-second ‘stop and go' penalty was issued following a questionable line infringement from James' pit visit.
Down a lap on the leaders and with all hopes of cracking the top-ten long since gone, the team had one last attempt for points gunning for fastest lap of the race. Setting the fastest first sector time of the day, James posted a 1m16.204s lap three tours shy of the finish but was forced to settle for second best as the sister car of A1 Team Ireland, with Adam Carroll behind the wheel, took the extra point courtesy of a 1m15.997s. Karthikeyan scored his second win of the year for India with Kerr and Jani second and third respectively.
"Well it's been an eventful day for sure," said Hinchcliffe. "My car was rolling a bit at the start of the Feature but the grid's on a slope and I don't know how they expect people to control three pedals with two feet! Despite everything else that happened, and I'm really disappointed with the officiating today, the pace of the car was pretty good. I have to thank the Canadian team for their efforts this weekend, superb as always, and congratulate them on a great season!"
"James did a solid job considering he hasn't been in an A1GP car for six months," concluded Status Grand Prix's Mark Gallagher, who runs A1 Team Canada on behalf of Seat Holder Wade Cherwayko. "He was getting back into the groove with every session. Both races were frustrating though with the Feature hosting a catalogue of problems. Overall it's been a fantastic season for Canada with lots of podiums and a victory and it certainly puts down a solid foundation for next season. While today's results are disappointing, we've proved how competitive we can be!"
France
A1 Team France finished the 2007-2008 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 4th place overall.
Franck Montagny bagged an additional 7 points today at Brands Hatch (England) in the last 2 rounds of the season with 8th and 5th places. This was not enough to fend off Great Britain's late charge, and the British team scored 27 points on home turf snatching 3rd place overall in the championship. The 2007-2008 title goes to Switzerland (128 points), ahead of New Zealand (127 points) and Great Britain (126 points).
A1 Team France scored 118 points this season. It finished in the top 10 on 15 occasions out of 20 starts with 7 podium placings including a victory. The team used 3 experienced drivers: Loïc Duval, Jonathan Cochet and Franck Montagny. Nicolas Prost was the test driver throughout the year.
The team is now getting down to preparing for the next championship, which will have an entirely new car. Following an agreement signed between A1GP and Ferrari, the engine of the new machine will be designed and built in Maranello, while thechassiswillbe constructed on the recommendations of the prestigious Italian make. It's already tomorrow!
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "We finished the championship in fourth place. It's a good result in the circumstances, as the A1GP single-seater needs a lot of experience to get the best out of it. Both Jonathan Cochet and Franck Montagny, who came after Loïc Duval at the end of the season, needed more time to be 100% competitive. We had a tough second part of the championship. After scoring ninety-six points up to the Australian round, we were only able to increase our total by twenty-two in the next nine races, and we slipped back. Despite that we were in contention for the title up to the second-last event. Our team remained united and was competitive right up till the end and I'd like to congratulate them for that. Congratulations too to A1 Team Switzerland on their 2007-2008 title. We'll be back in September to take our revenge!"
Franck Montagny: "We knew we could score points twice this weekend – and we did! Unfortunately, we weren't able to topple New Zealand, and Great Britain's exceptional performance robbed us of a place in the top three. We can return home satisfied knowing that we did everything possible. I'd like to thank the team for its support and professionalism. Taking part in the A1 Team France challenge has been a unique experience that I'll never forget."
Germany
Lady Luck deserted the Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany in the finale of the 2007/2008 A1GP season at Brands Hatch (Great Britain). After having finished eleventh in the sprint race, 22-year old Michael Ammermuller missed a near certain podium position in the subsequent feature race because of a tyre failure. The A1 Team Germany occupies eighth place in the final classification of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and relinquished the World Championship title to Switzerland.
For the sprint race around the historical Brands Hatch track Ammermuller started the 15-lap race from a promising ninth place. In his attempt to make up ground he lost two positions when rival France forced the German A1GP car into the gravel bed. Eleventh place was the maximum possible. Ammermuller started the feature race from fifth and made up two positions thanks to two extremely quick mandatory pit stops by the team of David Spears Motorsport. Lying in third place with a podium position within easy reach an exploding tyre caused Ammermuller to end the 2007/2008 season in the gravel bed.
Michael Ammermuller: "I made an excellent start to the sprint race. I was hot on the heels of the people in front and we were fighting hard. However, a rival forced me into the gravel bed which cost us two places. Our speed was very good up to this point, which was also visible in the feature race. I was able to overtake two competitors during the round of pit stops and defended our third place easily. However, I then noticed that the left-rear tyre started to lose air. The tyre suddenly exploded on the very lap in which I wanted to pit to change the damaged tyre. I lost the car under braking and had to finish the season in the gravel bed. This somehow fits to the way the season has run, where we simply missed a little luck. Congratulations to team Switzerland which now takes the title from us."
Willi Weber: "Congratulations to Neel Jani and A1 Team Switzerland. They are our successors and are new and deserved A1GP World Cup of Motorsport champions. A potentially excellent weekend ended rather sadly for us just before the finish. Michael was third, had the podium position within grasp and could possibly have put the other cars under pressure when his tyre failed. This was an unhappy end to an unhappy season, which did not run as we expected it to. However, our 2007/2008 results boast two wins, but unfortunately we were unable to continue the excellent form produced last year by the entire team."
Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain scored a brilliant home race win at Brands Hatch today and finished third overall in the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
A1 Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr scored a fantastic home victory in the Sprint race at an electric Brands Hatch today, and followed that up with a second-place podium finish in this afternoon's Feature race. The brilliant double podium elevated GBR to overall third place in the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and the team will collect the trophy for bronze at tomorrow evening's glamorous awards ceremony in central London.
Beginning from pole position in this morning's 15-lap Sprint race, Robbie maintained his lead after the rolling start and had a good lead into turn 1, with USA behind in second and Ireland in third. Robbie maintained a lead of between seven tenths and 1.3s over USA's Jonathan Summerton throughout the race and passed the chequered flag victorious on home ground. With Franck Montagny finishing in tenth position and collecting just one point, GBR's 15 point haul for the win moved the British squad two points clear of France to move up to third place. The win was GBR's second of the season and fifth victory in three years of A1GP.
The focus then switched to the afternoon's 48-lap Feature race and with Robbie beginning in second place and New Zealand's Jonny Reid beginning from 17th, there was a possibility to make up the ten point deficit and take silver in the championship. Robbie maintained his second place behind India's Narain Karthikeyan after the standing start and put a huge amount of pressure on the Indian car on the opening lap. As India and third-placed Ireland made their first mandatory stop on lap eight, GBR opted to stay out to put in a strong lap and Robbie pitted on lap nine. After some fantastic pitstop work from the British crew, Robbie emerged in the lead ahead of India and Ireland and he was able to maintain his lead until the second stop, which he made on lap 32. Unfortunately he emerged just behind India out of the pitstop and was unable to pass Karthikeyan over the remaining laps and passed the finish line in second place.
Robbie Kerr
Sprint Race: "It was great to win at home once again – it was a fantastic feeling and the fans here today are brilliant. I felt comfortable throughout the race but I didn't push too much as I wanted to bring it home so I just kept it sensible. The important thing is that we passed France in the championship for third."
Feature Race: "Narain and I were extremely close throughout the whole race and we kept gaining on each other and then dropping off a little throughout. For the first pitstop we chose to stay out and it worked brilliantly. The guys did an awesome pitstop and we came out in the lead. The tyres were good to start with but dropped away a little bit towards the end of the second stint and then it didn't quite go our way in the second stop. The team have put in 110% this weekend and, although it was great to finish second, it is a shame we couldn't get the win. We were just one point away from second place in the championship, just like last year, but it is fantastic to finish third again and show the consistency in the team."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "We are absolutely delighted with another home win. We were so close to winning the feature race as well so we are a little disappointed with second, but it has been an outstanding team performance all weekend and we finish this season third in the championship. Heading into the weekend we had our sights firmly set on passing France for third in the championship and we were not even thinking second was possible, so to finish for the second year running just one point behind New Zealand is really good. We have shown our consistency over three fantastic years of A1GP and now, while we will take a little time to enjoy today's results, we are very excited at the prospect of season four, the new challenges that will bring, and the campaign to bring the winner's trophy home to Great Britain."
Ireland
Adam Carroll finished third in this morning's Sprint race for Belmayne A1 Team Ireland at Brands Hatch, UK, securing a top six championship placing.
As the cars came round the final corner for the rolling start, Adam Carroll placed himself right alongside Switzerland in third and made a fantastic move around the outside through Paddock Hill to take the position. He then began chasing the leading duo of GBR and USA but couldn't get close enough to make a move in the 15-lap race.
In the Feature race Adam made another terrific start to jump Switzerland into P3 and began putting pressure on GB up ahead until the safety car came out on lap four. On the restart he continued to pile on the pressure until the first round of pit stops reshuffled the front runners. Team GB led from India with Ireland all over the back of him in third.
After the first pit stop, Adam was right on the tail of India's Narain Karthikeyan and eventually got alongside going into Westfield resulting in contact as India closed the door damaging Ireland's front wing. The wing flew off a couple of laps later puncturing the right front tyre and sending Adam flying through the gravel at Clearways. He did a fantastic job to recover to the pits and after some swift work from the crew was back on track putting in fastest lap after fastest lap. As the quickest man on track for the majority of the race, gaining a point for fastest lap with a 1m 15.997s was a small consolation. The podium earlier in the day also secured sixth in the championship with Belmayne A1 Team Ireland taking 94-points in its best A1 season to date.
The team is now looking forward to the challenges the new car will bring in Season Four and the race-winning team will be raring to go at the 2008/09 season opener in Italy at the end of September.
Adam Carroll: "Going into the top hairpin India locked up and went wide so I just stayed on the racing line. I couldn't overtake him so he should have just stayed where he was because you can't just keep turning in. I was as tight as I could've been and he just turned too hard right and hit me. I tried to hang on but a few laps later the wing exploded and ripped the wheel out of my hand so I was lucky we didn't have a bigger shunt! I think it was an exciting race as there was a lot of battling out there! To get fastest lap is great but we had such a good chance to win today. We're confident for next season though and hopefully we'll get the new car and come back next season and win!"
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "We got off to a great start this morning with the podium and it was clear the pace was in the car to win the race it's just unfortunate that's its difficult to overtake around this track. We had a lot of confidence this afternoon but India closed the door a little unceremoniously as Adam was challenging for second and damaged our front wing. We then tried to go for fastest lap and its satisfying to tick that box but the whole teams knows what the result could have been. We've shown everyone this season our true pace , what a great team we have and that Adam is a fantastic racer so we're looking forward coming back next season and trying to deliver the same, if not better results."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "It's been a fantastic day for the team with another podium at the third race in succession. In the Feature we proved we would have been the class of the field had it not been for the incident with Team India; fastest lap drilled that message home. The team has done a super job all weekend and whilst there's slight disappointment that we didn't get the win in the Feature race that was there for us to take, it's been a very strong day for Team Ireland and over the course of this year we've made a huge step forwards."
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon completed the third season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Brands Hatch, Kent, UK today. Nadhmi and Tameem Auchi, the seatholders for the team, hosted a number of guests at the event including His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent. The team drove hard in both races, finishing 20th in the Sprint race and 18th in the final Feature race.
The traditional rolling start produced a colourful scene as the 22 nations raced down to the first corner, with Lebanon representing the Arab nations in this unique championship. The home nation kept the lead from pole, while Lebanon was further down the order. Beschir, driving in only his fifth race this season coped well with the pressures, keeping pace with the cars ahead. With only 15 laps of racing there was little changing of position, with Lebanon finishing 22nd by the chequered flag.
The final race of the season was held in front of packed Brands Hatch grandstands, with the banks filled with fans waving flags of many of the nations. The last Feature event, with the final appearance of the original A1GP car, began from a standing start. The green flag flew to mark the beginning of the 48 laps of highly competitive A1GP racing and the cars were quickly off and heading up to Paddock Hill Bend.
The first lap produced excitement at the front, but on the second lap Beschir tangled with the Brazilian car and his engine died. Beschir was able to be given a push start, but had lost a lap to the rest of the field. He persevered through a tough race, finally finishing in 18th place.
Beschir said after the two races, "My first goal was to go the distance in both races and I achieved that. Of course every race we are trying to get our first points and as this was the last weekend of the season, there was a lot of pressure on me to achieve this. It was always going to be difficult to achieve, and probably only if many cars dropped out, as I just have so little experience compared to the other nations drivers. I was very proud to represent Lebanon in this final event, I hope I'll be given more opportunities in the future."
Luke Craft, Team Principal, concluded, "Khalil has coped well with the considerable pressure placed on him this weekend, and I think we all appreciated that he had one of the toughest jobs. Not only racing at the season finale, but also having many important guests joining our seatholders, Nadhmi and Tameem Auchi today, really heightened an already tense weekend."
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia finished the final race weekend of the 2007/08 season today with mixed fortunes. A retirement in the Feature race followed an 11th place finish in the Sprint, closing out the most competitive season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport so far. With the introduction of new Ferrari-powered cars for next season, Brands Hatch was the venue to bid farewell to the original A1GP car that has introduced this popular Series to a worldwide audience.
A1 Team Malaysia started the Sprint from the 14th place grid position with the team sporting the logo of a new commercial partner, MAS Kargo, the cargo division of Malaysia Airlines, on the front wing end plates of the car.
The sprint race rolling start saw the field race down to Paddock Hill Bend, one of the most dramatic corners of this British track, and Fauzy was one of the few drivers to make any improvement on his start position, gaining a position on the opening lap to lie 13th. With only 15 laps of racing and only four ‘PowerBoost' opportunities, the field was very evenly matched and uncharacteristically produced an uneventful Sprint race. After 20 minutes of racing, Fauzy brought the Malaysia car home in 13th place.
Malaysia once again made a good start for the Feature race, making up a position by the end of the first lap. Three laps later a clash between Australia and Pakistan brought out the safety car and Malaysia held position in 11th until racing resumed. The first pit stop window opened one lap later and Malaysia, along with many others made their stop. They returned to the track and after all the nations had pitted, Fauzy remained in 11th.
Fauzy moved up to 10th place and into the points shortly after all the pit stops had been completed and as the race entered the mid-phase he was on the pace but unable to challenge the cars ahead. As the laps counted down the drama continued with the German car off into the gravel with a slow puncture, which would have elevated Malaysia to ninth place, but in a turn of bad luck, electronic problems ended the team's race, with Fauzy having to return to the pits and retire.
Fauzy said after a highly competitive day of racing, "The sprint race just didn't give us a chance to make up many positions. I don't think there were many overtaking manoeuvres, but we were able to take one at the beginning however we didn't make it into the points. In the second race I think we were on for a strong top ten finish but the car was misfiring and there was no alternative but to retire, which was a disappointing way to finish the season."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive of the team, added, "We didn't finish the Feature race or the season in the way that we wanted. I would prefer that we had reached the chequered flag in the feature race, but that's the way it goes sometimes. We have ended up 15th in the championship having had a season of mixed fortunes, and quite a few weekends bringing us no points at all. In four races we were taken off by other cars and in three races we have suffered rare technical failures that have resulted in our failing to finish the races. Through all this the team has worked incredibly hard in a very tough season in a series that is now highly competitive. I would like to pay tribute to each and every team member for the work they have put in, sometimes under quite difficult circumstances. My thanks go to them all for their efforts. I'd also like to offer my best wishes to team member Rodney Magness who leaves us today and we wish him all the best for the future.
In closing, I would like to pay tribute to all at A1 Team Switzerland who are worthy winners this season and to Lola and Zytek for the enduring and unparalleled reliability of the car/engine combination that we have run in the first three seasons of the World Cup of Motorsport."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands has ended the third A1GP season in seventh. In the final races of the season the team finished ninth in the Sprint race and sixth in the Feature race. With that result the points total of the team this season comes to 87 points.
In the Sprintrace A1 Team Netherlands started from 11th on the grid. Jeroen Bleekemolen had a good start and immediately managed to climb to ninth. Moving further up the field did not prove to be possible and A1 Team Netherlands finished in that position. It got the team two points.
In the final A1GP race of the season A1 Team Netherlands has finished in sixth. From a tenth grid position Jeroen Bleekemolen had a good start, just like in the Sprint race and immediately managed to move up one place at the expense of USA. A little later the safety car came out after a collision between Australia and Pakistan, with both retiring. At the restart Bleekemolen made a great move at South Africa, heading into Druids he was already next to him on the outside and moments later he was past. After the first pitstop sequence South Africa made a short comeback, but they dropped back soon after. A1 Team Netherlands was running eighth for a while and climbed to seventh when Ireland damaged its front wing on India's car and dropped far back. When Germany retired as well Bleekemolen was running sixth comfortably.
Jeroen Bleekemolen; "In the first race I had a good start, from 11 to 9. There wasn't much more I could do. The car was a bit hard to drive and everyone was going at about the same pace. It was a bit of a procession, that was clear. After the start we were ninth, so we finished ninth. In the second race I had another good start. I had a nice fight with Zaug, who I managed to overtake. The pitstops were average, after the first one we gained a position, with the second one we did not gain or loose anything. During the rest of the race there was little more I could do. We were just as fast as the people surrounding us. When you look at Neel Jani for instance, we were not far behind him as far as times were concerned. That remained the same during the race. There were two or three countries clearly faster, apart from that we were reasonably competitive. Just not good enough to finish on the podium. Of course we would have wanted to finish the season with a better final result. Seventh is not what we set out for at the start. A number of teams were already strong at the start of the season and some teams started cooperating and became much stronger during the year. This made us drop further back slowly. That is one of the most important things for us, finding the right partner, with a good driver. A good country or start running another country as well. When you have two or three cars and start to cooperate closely you can really make steps and then you are competitive. We are not far off and the field is close together. When you can find some things through a partnership you can go for the podiums."
Jan Lammers; "After qualifying I was in a pretty foul mood. But when you look at the Sprint race and you see that we are right behind New Zealand who are high up in the Championship. You also are in front of France and Germany. Then I realized that this Championship is terribly close. You also see how close the racing is up front, for instance between Great Britain and India. I think that the Championship has improved very much as far as drivers are concerned. There are at least 20 absolute world class drivers competing here. That is very good for the Series. Jeroen just did a good job during the race. The times he set at the end were about the same as the front runners. We are still losing it in qualifying and the free practice sessions. So be it. This was the season. We were not able to do better than this. We will have to learn from this and take the necessary measures for next year to be a team that can win races regularly."
New Zealand
New Zealand has finished runner-up to Switzerland in a dramatic finish to season three of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Two eighth placings in the 10th and final round at Brands Hatch was just enough to fend off the challenge of fast-finishing Great Britain, which leaped over France to finish 3rd overall, just one point behind the Kiwi team for the second successive season.
After finishing 4th in year one, it was also the second time in as many years that Black Beauty has finished runner-up in the 22-nation championship. New Zealand driver Jonny Reid reeled in two places in the opening 20-minute Sprint Race after starting 10th on the grid and leap-frogged nine places in the 70-minute Feature Race on the back of two excellent pit stops.
It was a superb second pit stop by Feature Race winner India which proved most crucial for the Kiwi cause, denying Great Britain their second win of the day and, most crucially, three extra points. Switzerland cemented the championship crown with a 4th placing in the Sprint Race and capped off the title win with a 3rd place in the Feature Race.
Reid said the aim in the Feature Race was to protect second place overall and the team was strong and rose to the occasion after starting a lowly 17th on the grid.
"I'm knackered," Reid said. "That was such an intense drive. We put everything into it and thankfully got everything out of it. We struggled with rear grip throughout the race, but it didn't matter in the end. I was pleased with my drive, the pitstops were great and the result was fantastic.
"I look back and see a lot of areas where things got away on us and think we could've won this championship," he added. "But, at the end of the day, second overall is a great achievement, especially with our tough finish to the campaign. Life wasn't easy.
"Over the three seasons we've been the most consistent nation in this championship and that's something to be proud of."
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan endured a disappointing end to the third season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport this weekend, as a racing incident with A1 Team Australia put Adam Khan out of action in the Feature race at the A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain. In the earlier Sprint race, Khan finished 18th.
Starting from 18th on the grid for the 20 minute Sprint race, Khan was passed by the Brazilian car on the first lap, putting the team in 19th place. In a fairly uneventful race, positions remained unchanged until China fell down the field, promoting Pakistan to 18th – the position maintained to the chequered flag.
While the team made last minute changes and checks ahead of the main event, Khan took part in the traditional drivers' parade, which saw the 22 A1GP drivers aboard an open-top London bus for a tour of the Brands Hatch circuit. Following a colourful opening ceremony, the tension rose in the crowd as the start of the Feature race drew closer.
As the lights went out to start the 70 minute Feature race, Khan found himself squeezed by a number of other cars in the short run down to the first corner. With no where to go, the 22 year-old driver managed to maintain his position and vigorously defended from A1 Team Australia behind him. On lap two, the Australian driver tried to find a way past Khan which resulted in a clash between the two cars, with the Pakistan car slamming into the barriers. Khan climbed from the car unhurt, but the team's race was over.
An understandably disappointed Khan said, "This really isn't the way I wanted to end the season. We've all put a lot of work into this season and it's such a shame to have crashed out of the Feature race before we were able to show what we were capable of. I knew that John [Martin] was behind me and then he came along side. I defended my position and we banged wheels, which sent me into the crash barriers. Its not at all satisfying to end the season like this and I'm sorry that we weren't able to deliver a better result for all the fans in Pakistan."
Team Manager John Allen added, "It's a disappointing way to end the season. The entire team has put a lot of effort into this weekend, and to see our race end so early was very depressing. Adam was defending his position from Australia, and unfortunately the two clashed which resulted in Adam crashing into the barriers. Unfortunately this is often the case in a high pressure race environment and I think we can just put this down to a racing incident."
South Africa
Switzerland (Neel Jani) wrapped up the third season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport with fourth place in this morning's Sprint race in the series' 10th and final round at Brands Hatch in Great Britain. South Africa achieved its goal of finishing the competition fifth out of the 22 competing nations in what was the most competitive and closely contested A1 season so far. There were 10 different winning nations in the 20 races, with South Africa taking two victories.
Great Britain (Robbie Kerr) won the Sprint race from pole position – a feat the team also achieved in the final round of last season – closely followed by USA (Jonathan Summerton) and Ireland (Adam Carroll). South Africa (Adrian Zaugg) was seventh after starting seventh.
India (Narain Karthikeyan) won the 70-minute Feature race this afternoon from pole position with Great Britain second and new champions Switzerland third. Kerr came close to giving his nation the unique distinction of being the first to win both home races on the same day, when he led India after the first round of compulsory pit stops. However, Karthikeyan, an acknowledged Brands Hatch expert like Kerr, regained the lead with a great team performance in the second compulsory pit stop and went on to give India its second win of the season.
Zaugg, at the wheel of South Africa's Vulindlela, again started seventh (a down-on-power engine hampered the team's efforts in Saturday's qualifying) and was up to third on the road when he made his first pit stop. A slick and quick pit stop was marred when a jack was left under the car and was dragged down the pit lane as Zaugg accelerated away. As a result, the team was given a ‘drive-through penalty', which effectively dropped it out of contention.
Zaugg didn't give up and pushed hard throughout the remainder of the race, moving up from 17th place after the ‘drive through' to finish 11th, hard on the heels of Indonesia (Satrio Hermanto) and just out of the points.
"We're delighted to have finished fifth overall in the championship," said Mike Carroll, general manager of A1 Team South Africa. "This was our objective from the start of the season in September last year and the team has worked well together to achieve this good result. While this is a team effort, we have to acknowledge the performance of our driver.
"This season, for the first time, we had the same driver throughout and this clearly was an advantage. Adrian has developed into once of the top drivers in A1. Only Neel Jani of new champions Switzerland scored more pole positions (six to Adrian's four) and only Switzerland and championship runners-up New Zealand (Jonny Reid) scored more wins (four each to South Africa's two). We were one of only six countries to win more than one race.
"It is by far our best result in the three seasons of A1 so far – we were 17th in 2006 and 14th in 2007 – and what makes it particularly satisfying is that it comes in what was undoubtedly the most competitive and closely-contested season since A1 started. In addition, we beat last year's champions, Germany," Carroll added.
Next season, which starts at a new venue, Mugello in Italy, will feature a brand new A1 car powered by Ferrari and with a new chassis designed in collaboration with Ferrari.
"We have shown this season that we can compete with the best in the world in this unique competition that pits nation against nation in identical cars. We look forward to season four and the new Ferrari era, which will take A1 to a whole new level; and we will be aiming even higher."
Switzerland
After the sprint at Brands Hatch, everything was clear. Fourth place was enough for Switzerland to become the overall winners of the Nations' Cup of Motorsport. Thus, the feature race in the afternoon was a show ride for Switzerland, in which Neel Jani finished on the podium for the eleventh time this season.
Switzerland claimed the world championship title with a margin of 41 points over New Zealand, an even more outstanding win than Germany against New Zealand last year (35) and almost as dominant as France against Switzerland in the 2005/2006 season (51). Winning the title is the biggest achievement in Swiss motor racing for a long time – comparable to the Grand Prix victories by Jo Siffert and Clay Regazzoni or the brilliant performance of the Sauber Mercedes-team in the sportscar world championship in the sixties, the seventies and the eighties of the past century.
"Our success is the result of the effort of all our 20 team members", said a notably emotional Swiss team principal, Max Welti. "Our driver Neel Jani deserves a very special accolade as he made the best of the team work out there on the tracks in an almost perfect way. I dedicate our victory in the nations' cup to the unforgotten Jo Siffert, who won his first Formula 1 race here at Brands Hatch 40 years ago and lost his life at the same venue in 1971", the 56-year old from Zurich added, not hiding his emotions: "Having been able to represent our country as the patron of the Swiss national team fills me with joy and pride, and even more so as we have succeeded in claiming honour for Switzerland all over the world."
Once again, Neel Jani did his job in a great way. "I did what I had to do", the soon-to-be-25-year old from Berne said. "Especially at the start of the sprint, I couldn't take any risks. For this reason, I let Ireland get through in the first corner without further ad and I concentrated on def ending my fourth position. For the feature race, I had my eyes set on another podium finish. Achieving this was more or less easy, so that I can look back on a rather successful season."
The Swiss record of the third season looks quite good. Apart from the title, with which the team earns one million dollars, Neel Jani has won two sprints and two feature races, awarded with 100,000 and 200,000 dollars each respectively. The Swiss car has been on pole position six times, Jani set the fastest race lap on five occasions and scored a podium finish five times. No other country can show such good results.
USA
A1 Team USA's Jonathan Summerton finished second in the Sprint race, but mechanical problems reduced a top-10 run to 12th Sunday in the Feature in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch.
Summerton started second in the Sprint and ran there throughout the 15-lap race on the 2.6-mile Grand Prix circuit. It was the third straight round that A1 Team USA stood on the podium.
With 12 points for second, A1 Team USA moved into 10th in the championship with the 48-lap Feature remaining in the 10-round season.
The 20-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., was in eighth place when he made the Feature's second mandatory pit stop on the 35th lap.
"We'd been stopped for four or five seconds and the engine suddenly shut off," Summerton said. "We don't know why."
Stalled for several seconds before being push started, Summerton rejoined in 16th place and moved up to 12th at the checkered flag. It left A1 Team USA outside the points and dropped it to 12th in the final standings.
"It was good to finish on the podium in the Sprint and we were happy for that, but it's a very big disappointment when it comes down to the car making the final decision on where you finish in the championship," Summerton said. "We started having gearbox problems, slipping gears, just before the second pit stop and it made it difficult to gain positions. Then, the engine quit and we lost several positions. What can you do? It was the car that caused us to lose our shot at 10th in the standings."
A1 Team USA ended with 56 points and would have needed to finish fifth to overtake India for 10th.
"We continued our very strong close to the season with second place in the Sprint and reached, temporarily at least, our redefined goal of 10th in the championship," A1 Team USA Holdings owner Rick Weidinger said. "We were in contention to complete our late-season mission when we had those mechanical problems.
"We had very good reliability this season with the 'We the People' car and it was unfortunate that we had them in the final race of the season. We're still very proud of the tremendous progress we made this season, closing with a victory in the Feature at Shanghai, second in the Sprint at Brands Hatch and third in the Feature at Mexico City. We're looking forward to our fourth season in A1GP in 2008-09 and will be announcing our plans in the coming months."