A1 Team Netherlands is ready for the ninth round of A1GP, at the Mexico City circuit. This weekend Rookie driver Renger van der Zande will make his race debut for A1 Team Netherlands. The 19 year old Van der Zande will drive the qualifying and the Sprintrace at the high altitude track in the Mexican capitol. After that Jeroen Bleekemolen will take over the wheel from Renger for the Feature race.
Renger van der Zande reisde op maandag af naar Mexico City om alvast te acclimatiseren aan de omstandigheden in deze immens grote stad. “Ik heb er natuurlijk erg veel zin in om te gaan racen en in deze mooie klasse uit te komen. Dat is voor mij een mooie kans. We gaan proberen om alles eruit te halen. Het weekend wordt nu wel anders voor ons, het is voor het eerst dat de indeling anders is. Het circuit ligt er in ieder geval goed bij en ik kan niet wachten”.
Renger van der Zande traveled to Mexico City on Monday to get acclimatized to the conditions in the immense big city. “Off course I am very much looking forward to racing and competing in this fantastic Series. For me this is a very nice chance. We will try to get the maximum out of it. The weekend will be different for us though, it is the first time that we will split the weekend between us. The circuit is looking good and I can hardly wait”.
For the first time this season Jeroen Bleekemolen will hand over the wheel during qualifying and the Sprint race. “For me it is somewhat of a strange weekend, now I just drive one hour on Friday and then Sunday in the Feature race. Others do drive all the time and this might make some difference. But we will go all out. Where I will start depends on Renger, but whether I will have to start from 20th in the Feature race or from first place does not matter to me. The last few races we were inside the top five all the time and that is where we belong when we look out our pace”.
A1 Team Netherlands will travel to Mexico City lying sixth in the Championship, but the gap with the numbers five and four is only a few points and also the number three spot is not out of reach yeat. The team will do everything to score maximum points in Mexico. At least it is promising to become a close battle”
The team also has got a new engineer for the final three races of this season, the 28 year old Tim Wright. Wright is well experienced, amongst others in GP2, Formula 3000 and Formula 3. Wright also worked for Pi, which takes care for the data logging in A1GP, during his study. Tim also is no stranger to the team. In the first season he already worked as engineer for A1 Team Netherlands, during the Sepang race in 2005.
The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez was built in 1962. The 4.46 km circuit is probably best known from the F1 Grand Prix which was held here between 1963 and 1970 and then again from 1986 to 1992. Recently the Camp Car Series and Nascar saw action at this track.
At an altitude of 2,285 meters above sea level the circuit is by far the highest that A1GP has visited up to now and conditions at this altitude will almost certainly come into play. Especially the drivers will have to acclimatize fast.
On Friday March 23 the A1GP Mexico City will kick off, with the Rookie sessions at 11.00 and the first official practice at 14.00 hours.
| 
|