A1 Team Italy repeated its Sprint race performance, taking its second podium of the day and finishing the race in third. Driver Enrico Toccacelo came in for his pit stop seconds before the safety car was deployed and his comment on this and the close finish with A1 Team India was: ‘I have been lucky as I came in and there wasn’t a safety car. So I was lucky as I came in and after about ten seconds during the pit stop the safety car came out. I was lucky and happy for that. Today the big problem for me was that because after the safety car there was one car in front of me and blocked me. I lost time, I lost gap, I lost Robbie and Nico. The last lap Team India was really far from me but Team Mexico on the last lap completely blocked me until the last corner. So I finished the race with the Indian car too close to me. ‘
The timing of Italy’s pit stop was the subject of a protest by A1 Team Netherlands who felt the Italian team broke A1GP rules by pitting under the safety car. The protest was considered by the A1GP stewards who rejected the protest, ruling that A1 Team Italy headed into the pits before the safety car was deployed. A1 Team Netherlands have lodged their intention to appeal the stewards’ decision and have 48-hours (until 20.30 on Tuesday 1 May) to confirm this move. On confirmation, the appeal will go to the Motor Sport Association (MSA), the British ASN, who will give a final decision on the subject. Until this ruling, the results of today’s Feature race remain provisional.
While the front of the grid made a clean get away, further down the field the start was not so smooth. Australia and the Czech Republic made contact, damaging the steering of the gold and green car, sending it off the track and into the wall at Paddock Hill bend. After South Africa’s 25 second penalty for causing an avoidable incident in its Sprint race collision with Switzerland, the team was relegated to 15th on the grid behind Australia, embroiling them in the start line debacle. With the steering gone, Australian driver Ian Dyk had no control of the car and as it shot across the track, South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg was forced into the gravel to avoid his second collision of the day. While the Czech Republic continued, the incident brought an early end to Australia and South Africa’s race and the first safety car period of the day.
Australia left the track at speed, hitting the tyre wall with considerable force and while both Dyk and Zaugg walked away unharmed, substantial damage was caused to the wall. The safety car controlled the race for four laps while repair work was undertaken and as it returned to the pits at the end of lap five, Germany led, Great Britain, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ireland who had made one of the best starts off the grid.
As the pit window opened at the end of lap eight, race leaders Germany were the first to head in for their mandatory stop. It looked like Great Britain intended to make the most of its time at the front of the pack, aiming to build up a comfortable lead before taking its mandatory stop. The British team had a quick change of strategy, however, when the Brazilian car hit the wall at Stirling’s and the possibility of a second safety car period became apparent. As mandatory pit stops under the safety car are not permitted under A1GP rules, the team made the decision to quickly head into the pits before the call was made. The decision appeared to pay off as the red, white and blue car of Kerr left the pit lane just behind Germany as the safety car took its position at the end of lap 10.
With the race leaders having pitted, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland and Indonesia found themselves at the front of the pack ahead of Germany and Great Britain. For local team Ireland, this was the first time it had officially led an A1GP race but without having made its mandatory stop, it was not a situation the team could continue. Unfortunately for the Irish, they led for one lap too many as the team, quickly followed by Switzerland, headed into the pits just missing the mandatory pit stop window, resulting in both teams being excluded from the race.
The safety car peeled off at the end of lap 14 and racing resumed. New Zealand, determined to defend its second place in the championship from Great Britain, was the first to make its move passing Malaysia at Hawthorne’s for 12th. As teams continued to pit, New Zealand moved further up the field, eventually overtaking Canada on lap 27, settling into eighth behind France. The finish gave New Zealand the three points needed to maintain its championship position by just one point.
Looking forward to the start of the 2007/08 season at Zandvoort in September, on behalf of the season champions Nico Hülkenberg said: ‘I really enjoyed A1GP. I will forever have great memories of A1GP travelling round the world having great races. Great fights, so I really want to come back next year. On the track we are racing. It is hard racing. It was nice racing with Robbie, it was hard but it was fair. As well we always have the media events on Thursday which are pretty nice for drivers. We can get in and chat and I really like stuff like this. ‘
Feature race results
Pos Driver A1 Team Time Gap First
1 Nico HÜLKENBERG GERMANY 1:11:01.907 -
2 Robbie KERR GREAT BRITAIN 1:11:02.526 +0.619
3 Enrico TOCCACELO ITALY 1:11:20.441 +18.534
4 Narain KARTHIKEYAN INDIA 1:11:20.704 +18.797
5 Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN NETHERLANDS 1:11:28.176 +26.269
6 Jonathan SUMMERTON USA 1:11:30.123 +28.216
7 Loic DUVAL FRANCE 1:11:37.155 +35.248
8 Matt HALLIDAY NEW ZEALAND 1:11:37.392 +35.485
9 Alex YOONG MALAYSIA 1:11:39.420 +37.513
10 Congfu CHENG CHINA 1:11:48.328 +46.421
11 Alvaro PARENTE PORTUGAL 1:11:52.757 +50.850
12 Sean McINTOSH CANADA 1:11:04.140 1 Lap
13 Allam KHODAIR LEBANON 1:11:08.246 1 Lap
14 Juan Pablo GARCIA MEXICO 1:11:21.128 1 Lap
15 Jan CHAROUZ CZECH REPUBLIC 1:11:47.959 1 Lap
16 Moreno SOEPRAPTO INDONESIA 1:12:21.714 1 Lap
17 Nur ALI PAKISTAN 1:11:39.038 2 Laps
18 Bruno JUNQUEIRA BRAZIL 9 Laps 41 Laps
19 Ian DYK AUSTRALIA 0 Laps 50 Laps
20 Adrian ZAUGG SOUTH AFRICA 0 Laps 50 Laps
21 Sebastien BUEMI SWITZERLAND Excluded
22 Richard LYONS IRELAND Excluded
2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport final points standings:
POS NATION POINTS
1 Germany 128
2 New Zealand 93
3 Great Britain 92
4 France 67
5 Netherlands 57
6 Malaysia 55
7 Italy 52
8 Switzerland 50
9 USA 42
10 Mexico 35
11 Canada 33
12 Czech Republic 27
13 Australia 25
14 South Africa 24
15 China 22
16 India 13
17 Portugal 10
18 Brazil 9
19 Ireland 8
20 Singapore 3
21 Indonesia 1
22 Pakistan 1
Fastest lap:
A1 Team Great Britain set the fastest lap race lap in the Sprint race, lapping the Brands Hatch GP circuit in 1.14.923 with a speed of 177.9 kph on the final lap of the race, setting a new circuit lap record.
Next race: A1GP Zandvoort, the Netherlands, 28-29 April 2007
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