After a two month break, A1 Team Great Britain was back in action today in Taupo, New Zealand as the fourth round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport kicked off in the popular North Island town. James Winslow and Dan Clarke both drove their first outings in the A1GP Powered by Ferrari car for GBR, with James driving in today’s rookie sessions before handing the reins to Dan, who will complete the rest of the weekend for the team.
Although James drove the last generation A1GP car in several rookie sessions last season, today saw his first experience of the all-new Powered by Ferrari car, and his first practice session of the 08/09 season. He completed several installation laps in the first session before moving onto the testing programme to begin setting up the car for the Taupo circuit. He ran as high as third fastest in the second segment but had fallen to eighth by the chequered flag due to a problem late on in the half-hour.
Brand new to A1GP and returning to the cockpit after more than a year out of single-seater racing, Dan Clarke took his first laps this afternoon in the one-hour second practice session. The aim of the session was for Dan to become acclimatized as quickly as possible to both the car and the track before working on set-up. The session was unfortunately littered with red flags, however Dan was able to complete 28 laps of crucial practice, and will look to further his experience in tomorrow’s final practice session ahead of qualifying.
Dan Clarke: “I’ve not been racing for fourteen months and I was pleased how I got back in touch with it and felt really good by the end of the session. I actually accomplished more than I thought I would. Our aim was for me to just get comfortable in the car, learn it and the track, but we moved on to set-up changes and made steady progress, making some changes. We used the tyres so much that the times we were doing were looking pretty good although there is still loads of time to make up. The GBR car is good and the speed, tyres, brakes and balance are good – it’s really nice to drive and I enjoyed the session. I feel confident and happy after the session and feel there is a lot more potential.”
James Winslow (Rookie): “This morning was good although obviously a steep learning curve as it was my first time in the car. We did a few installation laps and then I had the chance to get on with the job. It’s a brand new car and I tried to adapt as quickly as I could. We were up to P3 in the second session of the rookie practice, which I was really pleased about as there were race drivers and also very experienced rookie drivers in the session. We had a slight problem towards the end and we slipped down, so we could have finished in the top three or four but it was a positive morning for us.”
Katie Clements, Team Principal: “There was a lot of work to do today, with both James and Dan having their first outings in the car and we needed both to get up to speed quickly. The team is happy with the day’s work and preparations and we will be working hard tomorrow to get Dan ready for the crucial qualifying session.”
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