A1GP New Zealand Soars to New Series Heights
Written by Allan Brewer · January 21, 2007
|
|
Photo: AlGP
|
Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg Takes Tandem Wins on Sunday
Host A1 Team New Zealand’s Podium Finish a First in Series
A1 Team Germany raced away to a double victory Sunday afternoon in Taupo, New Zealand sweeping both the Sprint race and the fifty-lap Feature SuperPoints A1GP New Zealand over this winding, dusty, wind-swept 2.2 mile track before a weekend crowd of eighty thousand strong on the northern island.
A1 Team Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg posted another impressive driving performance, scampering home uncontested from the start in 1:03:38.1, just a tick shy of twenty seconds ahead of his closest competitor A1 Team France’s rookie driver Loic Duval.
“I got into my rhythm,” Hulkenberg said later. “I was able to find my pace and I could make a little gap between us. I want to say a big thank you to the team as we had a good strategy and a great pit stop.”
“At the end it was not so bad,” said runner-up Duval. “Unfortunately I was not first but for my first experience in A1GP I think it was quite good. I am fine with the team and happy to be in this series so I hope the next race will be better.”
He continued with, “I think the problem this weekend we were quick on the first two laps and then it was more difficult to drive the car, but anyway it was my first race and the team did a really, really good job. They did a great pit stop. At the end it was not such a bad weekend. Nico was just quicker than me, but this was my first experience with the team during a race and I think we can improve the car so now we see for the next race.”
Hosts A1 Team New Zealand, with Jonny Reid driving, finished only four tenths of a second awash of Duval for third place in the Feature race, with Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi and A1 Team Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen in fourth and fifth places respectively.
“It was tough out there,” said Reid. “I was sliding around. I knew if I could get in front I could pull away gradually. There was not much between us. I think we were quicker overall but I just couldn’t get into second place. When we had the back markers I knew that would cause some confusion so I put the pressure on but there were no mistakes made by the French team. Loic did a very good job under pressure and credit to him. That was a tough race for us all and I am happy with third place.”
The New Zealander’s podium finish in the Feature race was his second on the day, having taken the same spot in the earlier Sprint race in his black Lola-Zytec V-8 racecar. He continued with, “Everyone (in New Zealand) has done a fantastic job. Credit to everyone in A1 Team New Zealand, A1GP, the Government–everyone who has put this event together. This is our second best overall placing at an A1GP event so we can take those points and look forward to Eastern Creek (Australia).”
Hulkenberg also set fastest lap for the Feature race, just as he did earlier in the day during the Sprint, at a race-best 1:14.742 seconds. A1GP Germany thus takes home maximum points, seven from the Sprint and eleven from the Feature, to add to their already series-leading total (now 66 points).
New Zealand’s double podium finish in the Sprint and in the Feature earned the distinction of first team in the series’ two-year history to take a trophy from its country’s native A1GP event.
Canada’s James Hinchcliffe climbed from his eighth place starting spot on the Feature grid to a solid sixth place finish, while Formula 1’s Narain Karthikeyan completed the race seventh for the Indian team’s first-ever A1GP points and recorded second-fastest lap in the event.
A1 Team USA’s Ryan Hunter-Reay held down tenth place at the end, improving slightly on his eleventh place result in the Sprint race, and collecting the last point awarded in the competition.
Czechoslovakia’s Tomas Enge finished twelfth despite a brief off-track excursion on lap seven, with Ireland’s Richard Lyons nineteenth following a rear suspension failure five laps from the checkered, and one position ahead of Salvador Duran of Mexico in twentieth spot.
Britain’s Robbie Kerr fell to an unsettling twenty-first place with an electrical failure after a harrowing drive for practically the entirety of the Sprint race in a damaged car.
The day closed on a happy Kiwi podium with these comments from A1GP Chief Executive Officer Pete da Silva: “New Zealanders should be incredibly proud of today’s event. In excess of 80,000 fans experienced the thrill and excitement of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Taupo. The racing was incredibly close from start to finish with two podium places for the home team. Now we’re looking forward to heading across the Tasman to Sydney for round seven.”
The A1GP season resumes in two weeks time at the Eastern Creek race circuit in Sydney, Australia (2 - 4 February 2007).
Feature race results SuperPoints A1GP Taupo, New Zealand
Sunday 21 January 2007, 50 laps
A1 Team Driver Time Gap
1 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1:03:38.100
2 France Loic Duval 1:03:57.611 +19.511
3 New Zealand Jonny Reid 1:03:58.027 +19.927
4 Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 1:03:58.956 +20.856
5 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 1:03:59.451 +21.351
6 Canada James Hinchcliffe 1:03:59.908 +21.808
7 India Narain Karthikeyan 1:04:08.859 +30.759
8 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 1:04:09.574 +31.474
9 China Ho-Pin Tung 1:04:23.837 +45.737
10 USA Ryan Hunter Reay 1:04:26.641 +48.541
11 Malaysia Alex Yoong 1:04:27.335 +49.235
12 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 1:04:44.205 +1:06.105
13 Australia Karl Reindler 1:04:50.728 +1:12.628
14 Brazil Raphael Matos 1:03:47.045 1 Lap
15 Singapore Christian Murchison 1:04:07.242 1 Lap
16 South Africa Alan van der Merwe 1:04:07.555 1 Lap
17 Lebanon Alex Khateeb 1:03:41.966 2 Laps
18 Pakistan Nur Ali 1:03:42.145 4 Laps
19 Ireland Richard Lyons 58:31.366 5 Laps
20 Mexico Salvador Duran 56:21.688 8 Laps
21 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 51:20.590 10 Laps
22 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 10:30.923 42 Laps
The bonus point for the fastest race lap went to A1 Team Germany who recorded a time of 1:14.742 on lap 15 of the Feature race, with a speed of 159.9 kph.
2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport standings:
1 Germany 65
2 France 46
3 New Zealand 43
4 Great Britain 36
5 Mexico 34
6 Malaysia 30
7 Italy 29
8 Switzerland 29
9 Canada 28
10 Netherlands 26
11 USA 21
12 Czech Republic 20
13 Australia 18
14 South Africa 13
15 China 10
16 Brazil 5
17 India 4
18 Singapore 3
19 Indonesia 1
20 Ireland 1
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.