A1 Team Brasil’s Xandi Negrão finished today’s sprint and feature races at Brands Hatch in 16th and 14th places respectively to round off a frustrating 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season finale.
In this morning’s 15-lap sprint race, Xandi began from 19th and made a good start, passing Italy and Pakistan on the opening lap for 17th. He moved up to 16th on lap 12 after China fell back and crossed the line in that position.
Brasil began 14th in the feature race but fell back after a disappointing start from Xandi. The 22-year-old tried to pass Indonesia on the opening lap but ran onto the grass after Indonesia went wide. The Lebanese car then spun in front of Xandi and, with nowhere to go, he made contact, sustaining damage to his front wing which resulted in an unscheduled pitstop for a new nosecone. Xandi was able to make up the time to the back of the field after a safety car was deployed after an accident involving Lebanon and Pakistan. He made his first compulsory stop on lap 14 and emerged in 17th and then moved up to 16th four laps later as Ireland pitted for a new nosecone. He made his second stop on lap 33 and emerged in 14th position, which he retained until the chequered flag.
A1 Team Brasil finished the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 14th position in the championship with 44 points. Next year’s championship will kick off on 21 September in Mugello, Italy.
Xandi Negrão:
“The sprint race was good as I was able to overtake two cars. I was on the pace but in such a short race there wasn’t time for me to do anything else. In the second race I made a bad start and then, when I tried to overtake Indonesia on turn four, he went wide and I went off the track and came back on at the back. Then Lebanon spun in front of me and I didn’t have anywhere to go so I hit him and had to come in to change the nose. We were lucky with the safety car as I was able to make up the lap and rejoin the rest of the field but then I was stuck behind Mexico and couldn’t pass, which was frustrating. I was able to pass Mexico after the second pitstop but unfortunately couldn’t make up any more places.”
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