Brands Hatch, UK, Friday: - A1 Team Great Britain gets off to the best possible start at Brands Hatchwith Robbie Kerr topping the timesheets in free practice.
A1 Team Great Britain won round one of the battle of Brands Hatch today when Robbie Kerr scored the fastest timein the afternoon’s free practice session as the season finale weekend of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsportgot underway.
{intextwap}
The day began with the rookie practice session this morning with James Winslow at the wheel of the GBR car.Winslow returned to the team after performing rookie duties at the Taupo, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia roundsearlier this season. He arrived fresh from an Australian Formula 3 victory last weekend and, during the 50-minutesession, needed to reacclimatise himself to the A1GP car and the Brands Hatch circuit. The team struggled withsome balance issues during the rookie session and, as a result, was unable to get the lap times out of the car.
Robbie Kerr took over driving duties this afternoon as he began his preparations for the weekend as the team getready to fight for third place in the championship. Despite the fact that Robbie was in P1 after his opening laps, heexperienced some initial problems with the balance of the car and the team opted to bring the car in to address theissue. While he was in the pits, China and USA were able to set faster times until Robbie went back out and wasonce again right on the pace, setting another fastest time with a lap of 1:14.891. This put him back at the top of thetimesheets, three tenths ahead of second-placed China, and made him the only driver to break into the 1 minute 14’s.
Robbie Kerr:
“The car was reasonable at the start but there were a few issues initially so, despite going quickest, wedecided not to waste time on laps trying to solve the issues, but come in and take time to go through everythingproperly. We took our time and unfortunately a few teams went faster, but they were drivers who knew the circuit well.We got the car back together and went out there again, setting the fastest lap. We’re fairly confident but there isdefinitely room for improvement and more time to come – we just have to keep working at it and make sureeverything is a hundred per cent for qualifying as that is key in A1GP. If you’re not there at the top end of the firstflying lap, it can be an uphill struggle.”
James Winslow:
“It was quite a good session - we managed to get all the jobs done but weren’t quite as quick as wecould have been. Jumping from an F3 to an A1GP car is a big difference so it took me a few laps to adapt and havinghad a look at the data we found that I was driving like I was in an F3 car. So I reckon the key to being quick in A1GP is possibly not to drive any other race cars for a while! But overall I’m pleased with the way the session went, we didwhat we needed to do, and Robbie has done a fantastic job this afternoon. Hopefully things are looking good for theweekend.”
Katie Clements, Team Principal:
“It’s been a positive start but we cannot be complacent. The competition is so tightand you only have to look at today’s practice results to see just how competitive this weekend will be. I’m very happywith the way we have started, but there is a long way to go yet, so we are now working hard ahead of tomorrow’s finalpractice and qualifying.”
| 
|