2008-2009 A1GP Season..........

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mlittle
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Portugal wins Chengdu Feature Race.........

Post by mlittle » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:28 am

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Quoting from multiple sources............
Filipe Albuquerque claimed A1 Team Portugal's maiden win in the A1GP Chengdu, China Feature race to become the 17th different nation to take an A1GP victory. Portugal took the lead thanks to a slick first pit stop and held off the charge from A1 Team Ireland's Adam Carroll in the closing stages. Great Britain's Danny Watts took the final podium position after starting on pole but dropping back after his two mandatory pit stops.........Despite all Carroll's efforts, Filipe Albuquerque crossed the finish line to take the team's first ever series victory and became the 17th nation to win in A1GP. Malaysia's fifth position was enough to hold on to the championship lead, but Ireland's points haul brought them right into contention, and they now sit equal second with France on 23 points. Race winner Albuquerque said: "The lap times were getting faster and faster. In the second stint, I was really fast, faster than anyone else. I was pulling away and had four seconds and everything was under control. But then Ireland was way too fast with the new tyres. I could not go any faster so I just had to keep the car on the track, not make any mistakes and get the win.
Results from Chengdu(Feature Race)..............
1. Filipe Albuquerque Portugal 51 1:11:23.179
2. Adam Carroll Ireland 51 1:11:23.750 0.571 0.571
3. Danny Watts Great Britain 51 1:11:27.981 4.231 4.802
4. Neel Jani Switzerland 51 1:11:30.336 2.355 7.157
5. Fairuz Fauzy Malaysia 51 1:11:36.481 6.145 13.302
6. John Martin Australia 51 1:11:38.723 2.242 15.544
7. Clivio Piccione Monaco 51 1:11:39.415 0.692 16.236
8. Marco Andretti USA 51 1:11:39.869 0.454 16.690
9. Adrian Zaugg South Africa 51 1:11:41.209 1.340 18.030
10. Narain Karthikeyan India 51 1:11:41.938 0.729 18.759
11. Chris van der Drift New Zealand 51 1:11:42.854 0.916 19.675
12. Ho-Pin Tung China 51 1:11:43.305 0.451 20.126
13. Daniel Morad Lebanon 51 1:11:45.759 2.454 22.580
14. Satrio Hermanto Indonesia 51 1:11:54.464 8.705 31.285
15. David Garza Mexico 50 1:11:37.063 1 lap
16. Robert Doornbos Netherlands 50 1:11:40.217 3.154 1 lap
17. Jin-Woo Hwang Korea 50 1:11:58.454 18.237 1 lap
18. Nicolas Prost France 37 50:48.185 14 laps
19. Edoardo Piscopo Italy 30 42:26.221 21 laps
20. Felipe Guimaraes Brazil 13 19:28.502 38 laps
note......from L-R: finishing position, driver, country, laps completed, time, distance from 1st, gap from 1st
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Post by mlittle » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:47 am

Current A1GP Standings.............

1st} Malaysia, 28 pts(1 win)
t-2nd}[2]Ireland, 23 pts(1 win)
t-2nd}[3]France, 23 pts(1 win)
t-4th}[4]New Zealand, 20 pts
t-4th}[5]Netherlands, 20 pts
6th} Portugal, 18 pts(1 win)
7th} Switzerland, 17 pts
8th} Great Britain, 16 pts
9th} Australia, 13 pts
t-10th}[10]South Africa, 9 pts
t-10th}[11]Monaco, 9 pts
12th} United States, 6 pts
13th} South Korea, 4 pts
14th] Lebanon, 3 pts
t-15th}[15]Italy, 2 pts
t-15th}[16]China, 2 pts
17th} India, 1 pt
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Post by mlittle » Sat Nov 22, 2008 11:23 am

Sepang Practice Session #1 top-5(rookie drivers & developing nations only)
1. Nicolas Prost France 1:50.679
2. Danny Watts Great Britain 1:51.096 0.417 0.417
3. Earl Bamber New Zealand 1:51.240 0.144 0.561
4. Aaron Lim Malaysia 1:51.815 0.575 1.136
5. Stefano Coletti Italy 1:51.839 0.024 1.160
note......L-R: position, driver, country, time, gap to next position, gap from 1st


Sepang Practice Session #2 top-5
1. Danny Watts Great Britain 13 1:50.038
2. Neel Jani Switzerland 9 1:50.110 0.072 0.072
3. Narain Karthikeyan India 14 1:50.187 0.077 0.149
4. Loic Duval France 15 1:50.277 0.090 0.239
5. Jeroen Bleekemolen Netherlands 16 1:50.363 0.086 0.325
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Post by mlittle » Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:25 pm

Sepang Practice Session 3 top-5............
1. David Garza Mexico 20 1:48.431
2. Neel Jani Switzerland 16 1:49.013 0.582 0.582
3. Loic Duval France 14 1:49.224 0.211 0.793
4. Jeroen Bleekemolen Netherlands 16 1:49.401 0.177 0.970
5. Adam Carroll Ireland 17 1:49.453 0.052 1.022
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Post by mlittle » Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:39 am

Sepang Starting Grid(Sprint Race)
1. Switzerland 1:47.154
2. France 1:47.747 0.593 0.593
3. New Zealand 1:47.779 0.032 0.625
4. Portugal 1:48.930 1.151 1.776
5. Italy 1:49.007 0.077 1.853
6. Great Britain 1:49.076 0.069 1.922
7. Ireland 1:49.197 0.121 2.043
8. Mexico 1:49.293 0.096 2.139
9. Netherlands 1:49.323 0.030 2.169
10. India 1:49.350 0.027 2.196
11. South Africa 1:49.528 0.178 2.374
12. USA 1:49.650 0.122 2.496
13. Malaysia 1:49.753 0.103 2.599
14. Brazil 1:50.085 0.087 2.931
15. Monaco 1:50.171 0.086 3.017
16. Australia* 1:49.998 0.245 2.844
17. China 1:50.274 0.103 3.120
18. Lebanon 1:50.382 0.108 3.228
19. Indonesia 1:51.423 1.041 4.269
20. Korea no time
* two-place grid penalty for the Sprint race for using a non-approved part in practice
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Post by mlittle » Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:40 am

Sepang Starting Grid(Feature Race)
1. Ireland 1:47.124
2. Great Britain 1:47.340 0.216 0.216
3. Lebanon 1:47.645 0.305 0.521
4. Malaysia 1:47.648 0.003 0.524
5. Portugal 1:47.680 0.032 0.556
6. Netherlands 1:47.825 0.145 0.701
7. India 1:47.848 0.023 0.724
8. USA 1:47.866 0.018 0.742
9. France 1:47.993 0.127 0.869
10. China 1:48.126 0.133 1.002
11. Monaco 1:48.242 0.116 1.118
12. Brazil 1:48.323 0.081 1.199
13. Australia 1:48.586 0.263 1.462
14. Indonesia 1:48.839 0.253 1.715
15. New Zealand 1:48.866 0.027 1.742
16. Switzerland 1:48.980 0.114 1.856
17. South Africa 1:49.061 0.081 1.937
18. Mexico 1:49.537 0.476 2.413
19. Italy 1:49.885 0.348 2.761
20. Korea no time
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Switzerland wins dramatic Sprint Race

Post by mlittle » Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:08 pm

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Quoting from multiple sources.........
~~~Sepang, Malaysia -- Neel Jani became the fifth different race winner this season as A1 Team Switzerland took victory in a dramatic Sprint race at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. After a red flag, Switzerland controlled the re-start and made a slick pit-stop to take a comfortable win in the hot and humid conditions. France's Loic Duval finished second ahead of a charging Earl Bamber for A1 Team New Zealand
.

As the cars came in formation towards the rolling start, an incident involving USA, Brazil and India brought out the red flag. The pack appeared to pick up pace as it approached the start line, but then backed off causing a concertina effect towards the back of the field.

The USA car of Marco Andretti and the Brazilian car of Felipe Guimaraes took it in turn to climb over the back of Narain Karhtikeyan's Indian entry scattering debris across the pit straight.

Marco Andretti commented: "I'm disappointed. You can say it's unavoidable but at the time I thought everyone was going and I could only see two rows ahead of me. I couldn't see ahead of the whole field. I was about to grab fourth gear, and as soon as the rear tyres were hooking up that was when I needed to be stopping the car so there was no hope. Once you are committed you are kind of stuck with it. In the States you either go or you don't. Here, they went, and then stopped. No one was to blame, it was just racing, but ultimately I crashed out two cars."

Australia's John Martin had lightening reactions to dive left and onto the grass to avoid the accident as the race was immediately red flagged.

After a 30-minute delay the cars lined up in single file to start behind the Safety Car, but Danny Watts was now in trouble having to crawl back to the pits as the Great Britain car was stuck in first gear.

With the race finally underway, Switzerland held the lead as the pack came round for a cautious single file race start. Further down the field, David Garza was under pressure losing out to The Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen, who grabbed seventh round the outside of the Mexican at Turn 9.

South Africa then made a move down the inside of the final hairpin to pass Mexico and as the pair both ran wide, home nation Malaysia was right in the thick of the action, as Fairuz Fauzy snatched eighth going through on the inside of both cars.

South Africa tried to fight back and as the pair went wheel-to-wheel they touched with Malaysia picking up a left rear puncture. Fauzy limped back to the pits much to the disappointment of the Malaysian crowd.

After 3 laps the order at the front settled with Switzerland having a 2.3-second lead from France, New Zealand, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa. With changes to the regulations this season, the cars headed towards their first ever mandatory Sprint race pit stop with France and New Zealand being the first to dive in.

France had a slower stop, and New Zealand's Earl Bamber was released alongside France. With New Zealand's nose being just ahead France was forced to ease off allowing Bamber to take the position as the pair exited the pit lane. However, the team made the call to give the position back to France to avoid any further penalty for what could be deemed to be an unsafe release.

A lap later Jani pitted and, after a slick stop by the Swiss crew, rejoined with a comfortable lead. A great stop from the Irish team also leap-frogged Adam Carroll ahead of Italy and into fifth. On lap 7 the order was Switzerland still up at the front from New Zealand, France, Portugal, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy and Australia.

Switzerland held on to win the Sepang Sprint race for the third year running to become the fifth different race winner in the five races so far this season.

"It was a great race, we had very good pace, a good re-start and pit stop so it was just a perfect race for me," said Jani.

"The big race is the Feature race though, and we are at the back of the grid so it's a totally different task. It's about the average of the weekend and we need to get a good points average."

France's Loic Duval said: "The pit stop was not that good and I ended up third. I thought New Zealand may have a drive-through or something like that as the car was released in front of me from the stop, but he let me go back past. The car was not that good so we have to improve a little bit for this afternoon but after that, we were ok and there was no problem at all."

"We got a really good pit stop," said Bamber who brought Black Beauty home in third. "The team did a fantastic job and it was quite close between me and Loic where I just squeezed past, but the team radioed me to let France back past because of an unsafe release. I let him pass on the back straight and then I finished the race in third. It was a good result so we will see how I do from 15th this afternoon."
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Ireland wins Feature Race; Marco finishes 3rd for USA

Post by mlittle » Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:10 pm

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Quoting from mulitple sources.............
~~~A1 Team Ireland became the first nation to score two victories this season, as Adam Carroll dominated the Sepang Feature race in Malaysia. Filipe Albuquerque took an excellent second place for Portugal while Marco Andretti finished a great third for the USA from eighth on the grid. Ireland now leads the championship heading into the Christmas break.

As the lights went out, Adam Carroll got a clean start from pole position to lead the pack into the first corner. Daniel Morad got a brilliant start from third, capitalising on Lebanon's best ever grid slot to move ahead of a slow starting Danny Watts for Great Britain in second.

In an eventful first lap, Netherlands and India collided with Narain Karthikeyan spinning into retirement. A good start from Portugal helped Albuquerque move from fifth to third into Turn 1, before Albuquerque moved ahead of Lebanon for second. Switzerland then spun, resulting in the safety car being deployed at the end of lap one to allow the marshals time to pick up both the Swiss and Indian cars from dangerous places.

A couple of laps later and the race was back on, with Ireland leading from Portugal, Lebanon, Malaysia, Great Britain, Netherlands, USA and France.

Monaco's race ended early as Clivio Piccione pitted with technical problems. Boosted by his home crowds, Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy made a move around the outside of Morad to grab fourth. Great Britain's Watts then began putting pressure on Lebanon as he tried to make up for his bad start. Watts made a move but the pair ran wide allowing Netherlands and the USA to get through. Brazil dived up the inside of a recovering Watts, but France, to the right of him, chopped across in front taking off the British car's nose and leaving France with a puncture.

The order at the front was now Ireland from Portugal, Malaysia, Netherlands, USA, Lebanon, China and Brazil.

On lap eight the first pit window opened and Malaysia was first in, followed by Netherlands, USA, China and Lebanon. China had a fantastic stop which got it out ahead of both USA and Lebanon. Portugal pittted on the next lap as Ireland remained out in front, still putting in consistently quick lap times.

Marco Andretti in the USA car was now piling the pressure on China, eventually making his move stick around the outside of the hairpin at Turn 9.

With a 15-second lead, Ireland pitted with another fantastic stop from the Irish crew, getting Carroll back out comfortably at the front.

Netherland's Jeroen Bleekemolen, was in fourth when he received a drive-through penalty for the first lap collision with India, which was deemed avoidable, dropping him down the field to a disappointing 14th. Australia's John Martin passed China down the main straight and then started attacking Adrian Zaugg, whose South African team had got him out quickly in the pit stops.

After the first round of pit stops Ireland had a five-second lead over Portugal, Malaysia, USA, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, China, Lebanon and New Zealand.

Lebanon's Morad made a mistake through Turns 7 and 8 and ran wide, losing a further two places to drop him down to 11th.

On lap17, from third position, home favourite Fairuz Fauzy confused his team and the watching crowds by diving into the pit lane unexpectedly. A communications glitch meant he received a radio call, that only he heard, to pit that was from another team. His bemused team sent him straight off, but the time lost cost him a potential podium and dropped the Malaysian to 14th.

The USA's Marco Andretti was now promoted to third. After being involved in a huge start line crash earlier in the day; the 21-year-old was back on track with the help of Korea's rear wing as the Korean team didn't make either race due to technical problems that couldn't be resolved after qualifying.

New Zealand's Earl Bamber, who started down in 15th, was making good progress, passing China's Ho-Pin Tung around the outside of the final hairpin for eighth.

On lap 18 Mexico's David Garza threw away tenth place by spinning while challenging Daniel Morad's Lebanon car.

Out at the front Portugal was keeping Ireland honest, with the pair putting in consistently close lap times in the blistering heat.

On lap 22, the second pit window was open and the cars began coming in. Australia's mechanics did another superb job getting John Martin out ahead of South Africa, in what would eventually be fourth position after all the pit stops.

A1 Team Ireland kept up its reputation of being one of the best crews in the pit lane, helping their man retain a healthy lead from Portugal.

Great Britain was back in the pits again on lap 25 to fix a brake problem, getting Watts back out although six laps down, to end a disappointing day for the team with no points scored.

In the closing stages of the race Malaysia was fighting hard as Fauzy passed Lebanon to move up into 12th. Italy's Edoardo Piscopo gave away ninth place by running wide at the final hairpin and promoting Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen. Malaysia and Italy then had a great battle for the final point. In a great wheel-to-wheel battle, Fauzy's superb driving got him ahead of Piscopo to take tenth, much to the delight of the cheering crowds.

As the chequered flag came out, Ireland claimed its second victory of the season ahead of Portugal. USA's Marco Andretti and Australia's John Martin both put in great drives to come through the field to finish a commendable third and fourth respectively.

Adam Carroll completed the perfect race taking the win, pole position and fastest lap to give the team an eight-point lead at the top of the championship as A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads into the Christmas break.

He said: "We were starting from pole position and I just concentrated on getting a good start, which allowed me to control the race from there. It's a long race, the car's heavy at the start so you just run as fast as you can and be smooth and it allowed us to open up quite a good gap.

"It's all team work though, it doesn't just come down to one person as everybody works extremely hard. It's been hard for the guys to be out here since Tuesday at the circuit in this heat and humidity, but they practiced pit stops every night to make sure they did a good job.

"We planned to come here and try and come away leading the championship and we have. Winning the race is just a good bonus and I'm going to fight hard to keep it."

Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque said: "I achieved our goals. Actually, I went better than what we were expecting. We wanted to go to the first pit stop in third, but it was even better as we were in second. I was doing whatever I could to keep the pace, but it all needs to be perfect, and Ireland did a good pit stop and we didn't. We are also missing one guy from our crew who's in hospital, so I wish him the best. In the end it was good to just take the points. You cannot win every time and they were just perfect and I'm really happy with the second place. "

A1 Team USA's Marco Andretti said: "The start was a bit of survival and I used the PowerBoost when everybody was close together and we needed the track position. The boys did a good job in the pits and then we weren't threatened from behind, but I had nothing on these guys in front so I was just enjoying the car and Sepang. It's a lovely circuit."
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