A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads to Chengdu International Circuit in Sichuan province in the south west of China for round two of the 10-event series on 7-9 November. This brand new track to the series has a lot to live up to in terms of entertainment after a thrilling season-opener at Zandvoort, in treacherous wet conditions, saw Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy take the team’s first victory in 27 races and France’s Loïc Duval take the Feature race win.
A1 Team China was in action last week testing at Silverstone in the UK with both Ho-Pin Tung and Congfu Cheng getting a chance behind the wheel of the new Powered by Ferrari car. The team is yet to announce which driver will be in the race seat for its home event, but both were equally keen to get the opportunity, although neither would have any advantage as Chengdu is unknown territory to them.
Tung was recalled to race in the season-opener at Zandvoort last month to start China’s Season Four campaign. Talking about the team’s hopes for the season, he said: “I am pretty confident we should be able to rack up the first win for China this year, and we should also be able to finish much higher in the championship than we have done so far.
“I think we’ve got a really strong team, everybody is working well, and cooperation is really good. I am happy and confident that we should be able to do a good job and be one of the front running teams this season.”
Commenting on Chengdu, Congfu Cheng said: “A lot of people are living there and the nature side of things is very beautiful. The place traditionally makes very good food. The food is very spicy, maybe hotter than in India, but I think it is a very good chance for all the people in A1GP to taste some of the special Chinese food, because you don’t get this in Europe. A lot of the people living there like motor racing, so we should have good support at the race.”
A1 Teams Great Britain, India and Mexico have still not tested their chassis, but their cars were in the freight that left the UK on Saturday to go to China. The A1GP organisers will allot extra testing time on Friday to these teams at the Chengdu International Circuit.
Great Britain has recruited the services of Danny Watts to help kick-start the team’s 2008/09 campaign in Chengdu, with the 28-year-old bringing a wealth of racing experience with him. After a successful 10-year racing career, which has spanned single seaters and GT racing, Watts has also undertaken testing in the new Powered by Ferrari car during its development process, running for two days this summer effectively replicating the running that has been available to the majority of other A1GP teams. Narain Karthikeyan will take to the track for A1 Team India and, after securing the team two victories last season, he will make his 29th race start for his nation.
India’s lead driver, Narain Karthikeyan said, “We are more ready than ever to get on the track at Chengdu. It has been a long break and, after doing a good deal of physical training during the off season, I am feeling fit and am eager to get behind the wheel of the brand new Powered by Ferrari car.”
Mexico will make its Season Four debut with David Garza behind the wheel. The 20-year-old last raced for his nation in front of his home crowd in Mexico City last season.
