Brit Oliver Jarvis Scores Large at A1GP Mexico
Written by Allan Brewer · March 26, 2007
Summerton Registers A1GP Team USA’s Best Finish Ever
Great Britain moved up the A1GP “World Cup of Motorsport” standings with Cambridge’s Oliver Jarvis taking two podium finishes at A1GP Mexico City, Mexico on Sunday, March 25th.
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Oliver Jarvis. Photo: A1G |
Jarvis’ triumph in the Feature Race, and runner-up place in the Sprint, pushed the team past France into third behind Germany and New Zealand.
The win was the first for the British team in its two years of competition in the series and comes in the ninth round of the 2006-2007 season. The racing calendar for A1GP winds down over the next month with dates in Shanghai and Brands Hatch.
A1GP Official Website: Race Results and Analysis
Auto Racing Daily: Brit Wins Mexico for Great Britain
ThisIsLondon: First A1GP Triumph for Great Britain
The race was won by A1 Team Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis, himself a rookie driver taking the seat of regular driver Robbie Kerr for the Brits. Kerr was on hand to lend expert advice to twenty-three year old Jarvis, who benefited from the extra practice and setup time accorded his “rookie” status.
A1GP Team USA’s Jonathan Summerton scored the American team’s best finish ever Sunday in the A1GP Mexico City, Mexico Feature race. The eighteen year-old driver fulfilled the promise he showed at A1GP Australia in February, where he was P1 in practice sessions, with a second-place podium effort in the 45-lap event.
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Jonathan Summerton. Photo: A1GP |
Jarvis shot to the lead at the start when pole-sitter Alex Yoong of A1 Team Malaysia flubbed his start, falling back to the middle of the field within seconds.
A1 Team South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg placed third, holding off A1GP Beijing, China winner Enrico Toccacelo of Italy. Yoong recovered from his miserable beginning to place fifth in the car that took him to victory in the Sprint race earlier on Sunday.
Rough Racetrack Raises Concerns from Drivers
The race was conducted over former F1 circuit Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, home to the Mexican Grand Prix in the sixties and eighties. The Formula 1 cars last competed here in 1992.
Nearby are several active volcanoes, whose rumbling and occasional earth-quaking have left the track uneven and rough in places. Several drivers commented on the condition of the circuit and admitted altering racing line to accommodate ridges, ripples, breaks and other surface irregularities.
Hulkenberg’s Absence Felt at Germany, But Not by Much
A1GP Team Germany’s ace Nico Hulkenberg was absent this round for the German team. His seat was filled by another teenager, Christian Vietoris, who fell victim to the field’s lust for revenge on the red/yellow/black car that has beaten them soundly with “The Hulk” behind the wheel.
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Grid Girl in Mexico. Photo: A1GP |
Vietoris scored only two points for the German team over the weekend while Hulkenberg raced Formula 3 in his home country.
The result still left A1GP Team Germany in front in the race for the “World Cup of Motorsport” by an impossible twenty-seven point margin with only two races remaining in the 2006-2007 season.
A1GP Team New Zealand retained second place in the season championship race, while Jarvis’ efforts (he also placed second in the Sprint race to Yoong earlier Sunday) boosted A1GP Team Great Britain past France into third place.
The next stop for A1GP comes at Shanghai in three weeks, the next-to-last date on the calendar for the series. The season finale takes place at Brands Hatch, near London, on April 29th.
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