Again, Willi Weber’s A1 Team Germany scored the maximum possible results in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport: in round 7 in Australia, Nico Hülkenberg from Emmerich in Germany started from pole position and won both the sprint and feature races. He also recorded the fastest race lap of the weekend on the Eastern Creek circuit. Only a fortnight ago in New Zealand, A1 Team Germany had achieved exactly the same feat already. After six wins – two in sprint races and four in feature races – Willi Weber’s team extended its lead in the overall standings from 19 to 25 points ahead of its new closest rival New Zealand with four events remaining.
A1 Team Germany once again turned its pole position into a good start in the sprint race. Nico Hülkenberg entered the first corners in top spot when a battle unfolded between New Zealand and Great Britain behind him, with both cars touching wheels and British driver Robbie Kerr car gaining one position. A spin of A1 Team Lebanon caused a safety car period in lap five. Thereafter, Nico Hülkenberg maintained his leading position, whilst New Zealand attacked Great Britain and regained second spot. After 14 laps on the 3.93 kilometre long Eastern Creek circuit, A1 Team Germany took its fifth win of the season, having achieved the fastest lap of the race, too.
At the beginning of the feature race, A1 Team Germany realized that the Australian race was not quite a carbon copy of the previous weekend in New Zealand, as Nico Hülkenberg lost his top position at the start to A1 Team New Zealand’s Jonny Reid. After a safety car period between lap 2 and lap 7, A1 Team Germany decided to do the mandatory pit stop in lap 9. In the following lap, Jonny Reid came in to get a set of fresh tyres. With his pit stop having been somewhat slower, he lost his position to Germany. Nico Hülkenberg gradually extended his lead, having held an advantage of 3 seconds midway through the race after 24 laps already. After 47 laps, he crossed the line 7.613 seconds ahead of Team New Zealand. Both leading cars were run by David Sears motorsport and were in a class of their own, more than 26 seconds ahead of Ho Pin-Tung’s A1 Team China car.
Nicolas Hülkenberg: “The sprint race was good but not easy at all as A1 Team New Zealand and later Britain were pushing. I managed to build up a lead of three seconds when the safety car came out. I lost my advantage, so I had to push and we won. In the feature race, I had too much wheelspin at the start. I lost one position and couldn’t get past Jonny Reid in the first corner as I was on the outside. Thanks to a quick pitstop, we fought back and I was ahead of A1 Team New Zealand again. This is clearly a victory of the team of David Sears that has helped me regaining my lead. Obviously, we are in a good position in the championship, but we don’t relax as my appetite is whetted for further victories. â€
Willi Weber: “Congratulations to Nico and the David Sears motorsport team. Thanks to them, A1 Team Germany again had a fantastic weekend, celebrated another couple of victories and scored the maximum number of points. This is more than we could expect after an exceptionally good weekend a fortnight ago. Some rivals dropped back in the standings now, but New Zealand emerged as the new strongest opposition. We are in a good position regarding the fight for the title, but we must not forget that there are still eight races to come on four weekends, so everything is open. Part of our successful weekend was once again Christian Vietoris who finished the ‘rookie practice session’ on Friday as runner-up in only his second outing for us. He deserves to get more miles in the car. Nico and Christian are two great German talents. â€
