08/10/06 - BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC A1GP: SPRINT & FEATURE RACES

SPRINT RACE

A1 Team Malaysia has secured a comprehensive lights–to–flag victory in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Sprint race at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Canada, driven consistently by rookie James Hinchcliffe, came an impressive second, one second ahead of 2005/06 champions A1 Team France.
 
Malaysia’s Alex Yoong edged ahead at the rolling start after polesitter New Zealand and second-placed Germany clashed before the first corner. Nico Hülkenberg roared away from the lights to pull even with Jonny Reid at the end of the pit straight, but Reid jinked to the left to take the racing line and nudged into the German car. The impact sent Hülkenberg wide onto the grass, into the barriers and retirement, while Reid picked up a left-rear puncture. The black car returned to the pits for inspection, but the damage was too extensive and Reid also retired from the race.
 
With a clear track ahead Yoong was able to pull out a one second advantage by the end of the first lap over A1 Team Canada, who had leapfrogged ahead of China at the start. France was the big winners away from the lights however, jumping from eighth to third by the second turn. Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre commented, “It was not an easy start, but thankfully I had a good one and was able to keep out of the trouble until the end.”
 
Yoong continued to ease away from the field over the remaining nine laps to secure victory by 1.6secs. The ex-Formula 1 driver was delighted to seal his first victory of the year and the second A1GP win for Malaysia following their triumph in the Shanghai Sprint race last season, “I actually benefited from a slow start, which put me clear of the trouble. We’ve had a tough start to the new season and I’m delighted to bounce back here at Brno. As we don’t have a rookie driver, we don’t benefit from the extra track time in the Friday session, but the combination of my previous experience here and the team’s incredible effort overcame this.”
 
James Hinchcliffe kept out of trouble at the start and kept his nerve to finish his third-ever A1GP race in a fine second position. “I managed to stay clear of the acrobatics after the lights and carried on the momentum to the end. It’s a phenomenal result in only our second event together. I only came here to do the rookie session but I’m proud to be able to race all weekend. This result is a real bonus.”
 
Chinese driver Congfu Cheng had a steady race behind the frontrunners to finish a comfortable fourth, A1 Team China’s highest A1GP finish so far, while A1 Team Czech Republic’s Tomas Enge used his local knowledge to the full to secure fifth despite sustained pressure from the blue and red USA car. Last week’s Sprint race winners South Africa were however unable to repeat their Zandvoort success when the master switch failed on the fourth lap, bringing Stephen Simpson’s race to a premature end.
 
A1 Team Malaysia will now start the 38 lap Feature race on pole position. The grid for the race is determined by a unique points-scoring position that allocates points according to teams’ finishing position, qualifying position and lap times in the Sprint race. One point is awarded to the winner, two to the runner-up, three to the third-placed finisher, running down to the 23rd classified finisher, who is awarded 23 points. The same points system is applied to the qualifying and fastest lap classifications. The points are added together; the driver with the lowest amount of points starts the Feature race on pole.
 
The Feature race will start at 15.00 local time this afternoon.
 
Sprint race results

 
A1 Team
Driver
Time
1
Malaysia
Alex Yoong
18:02.946
2
Canada
James Hinchcliffe
18:04.580
3
France
Nicolas Lapierre
18.05.677
4
China
Congfu Cheng
18:07.608
5
Czech Republic
Tomas Enge
18:09.038
6
USA
Philip Giebler
18:09.629
7
Mexico
Salvador Duran
18:13.702
8
Switzerland
Sebastien Buemi
18:15.376
9
Great Britain
Robbie Kerr
18:16.350
10
Brazil
Tuka Rocha
18:17.965
11
Netherlands
Jeroen Bleekemolen
18:18.444
12
Lebanon
Graham Rahal
18:22.439
13
Ireland
Michael Devaney
18:24.590
14
Italy
Pier Guidi Alessandro
18:27.685
15
Australia
Karl Reindler
18:35.868
16
Indonesia
Ananda Mikola
18:37.457
17
India
Armaan Ebrahim
18:37.794
18
Singapore
Denis Lian
18:48.030
19
Greece
Nikos Zachos
18:48.642
20
Pakistan
Nur Ali
19:05.312
21
South Africa
Stephen Simpson
4 laps
22
New Zealand
Jonny Reid
1 lap
23
Germany
Nico Hülkenberg
0 laps

Feature race grid
 
 
Team
Driver
Points
Sprint race result
Fastest lap
Sprint race grid position
1
Malaysia
Alex Yoong
5
1
1
3
2
Canada
James Hinchcliffe
9
2
2
5
3
China
Congfu Cheng
12
4
4
4
4
France
Nicolas Lapierre
14
3
3
8
5
USA
Philip Giebler
17
6
5
6
6
Czech Republic
Tomas Enge
18
5
6
7
7
Great Britain
Robbie Kerr
26
9
7
10
8
Mexico
Salvador Duran
27
7
9
11
9
Switzerland
Sebastien Buemi
27
8
10
9
10
Netherlands
Jeroen Bleekemolen
31
11
8
12
11
Brazil
Tuka Rocha
36
10
11
15
12
Lebanon
Graham Rahal
37
12
12
13
13
Ireland
Michael Devaney
44
13
13
18
14
New Zealand
Jonny Reid
45
22
22
1
15
Italy
Pier Guidi Alessandro
46
14
15
17
16
Germany
Niko Hulkenberg
48
23
23
2
17
Indonesia
Ananda Mikola
49
16
17
16
18
South Africa
Stephen Simpson
49
21
14
14
19
India
Armaan Ebrahim
52
17
16
19
20
Australia
Karl Reindler
54
15
19
20
21
Greece
Takis Kaitazis
58
19
18
21
22
Singapore
Denis Lian
60
18
20
22
23
Pakistan
Nur Ali
64
20
21
23


FEATURE RACE

A1 Team Malaysia secured a double victory today in Brno as Alex Yoong added the Feature race spoils to his Sprint race win. A1 Team Czech Republic’s Tomas Enge clinched second position, with Mexican Salvador Duran completing the podium in third.
 
Malaysian Yoong started the race from pole position, however a lightning start from A1 Team Canada dropped him back to second after the first corner. Rookie James Hinchcliffe belied his relative lack of A1GP experience as he pulled out a five second gap over the next 15 laps. Yoong however kept in touch and was finally able to seize his chance on lap 32 when Hinchcliffe ran slightly wide through turn eight. As Hinchcliffe was pitched into a spin, Yoong powered up the inside to snatch the lead. Yoong credited his Canadian rookie rival, “James defended quite hard but he was fair. I had a four second gap to him after the pit stop and I knew he was about two tenths of a second per lap faster, so the most important thing was to keep in touch and see what happened. When he ran wide I got through and took the lead. I’m really happy with the weekend’s results, the team did a great job for both races.”
 
Hinchcliffe was able to rejoin after his spin, but with dirty tyres he was soon caught by the chasing cars of Czech Enge and Mexican Duran and dropped to fourth. Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg similarly saw his opportunity and squeezed past the Canadian into fourth. Hinchcliffe kept his composure to hold fifth until the flag despite heavy pressure from A1 Team Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr and New Zealand’s Jonny Reid.
 
The 28,000 Czech fans that had crowded into the natural amphitheatre surrounding the Brno circuit were delighted to see Tomas Enge secure the Czech team’s first podium finish of the season. Thanks to a slick tyre change on lap nine, the Czech was able to squeeze past Duran when the Mexican pitted two laps later. Duran pushed Enge hard to regain position, but the Brno specialist kept his line until the finish. “It was a strong performance,” Enge said, “I had to get used to the car again after so long away, I had to get used to a new engineer, but everyone did a great job and I’m really happy with the result. I don’t know if I’ll celebrate too much tonight though – it’s been a tough week!”
 
Duran enjoyed his battle with the Czech ace, “I followed Tomas all the way, the team did a great pit stop and it was so close when I came out the pit lane, but we were just a little too late and lost the position. We had a strong weekend though, the car was very demanding but it was awesome.”
 
A1 Team Germany retained their championship lead, thanks to 19-year-old Hülkenberg’s charge up the field to fourth position from 16th on the grid. The German rookie flew off the line to ninth after the first corner and pushed ahead of Great Britain into eighth on lap 14. An error by A1 Team China’s Congfu Cheng on the following lap allowed both Germany and Great Britain into fifth and sixth respectively and able to captialise on Hinchcliffe’s misfortune in the latter stages of the race.
 
Great Britain, New Zealand and China completed the top eight, however a notable absence from the top ten were defending 2005/06 A1GP champions France whose challenging weekend continued when Nicolas Lapierre retired on the first lap with engine troubles.
 
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport now takes a four-week break before returning to action on a circuit around the streets of Beijing, China from 10-12 November. Tickets for the Beijing race are now available on www.a1gp.com.
 
FEATURE RACE RESULTS
 
 
A1 Team
Driver
Time
Gap first
1
Malaysia
Alex Yoong
1:10:47.815
-
2
Czech Republic
Tomas Enge
1:10:55.151
+7.336
3
Mexico
Salvador Duran
1:10:56.780
+8.965
4
Germany
Nico Hülkenberg
1:10:57.657
+9.842
5
Canada
James Hinchcliffe
1:11:00.799
+12.984
6
Great Britain
Robbie Kerr
1:11:01.857
+14.042
7
New Zealand
Jonny Reid
1:11:02.434
+14.619
8
China
Congfu Cheng
1:11:19.190
+31.375
9
Netherlands
Jeroen Bleekemolen
1:11:20.077
+32.262
10
Switzerland
Sebastien Buemi
1:11:21.068
+33.253
11
South Africa
Stephen Simpson
1:11.21.736
+33.921
12
Lebanon
Graham Rahal
1:11.23.016
+35.201
13
Ireland
Michael Devaney
1:11.39.809
+51.994
14
Brazil
Tuka Rocha
1:11.40.271
+52.456
15
Indonesia
Ananda Mikola
1:11:41.485
+53.670
16
Australia
Karl Reindler
1:11:53.502
+1:05.687
17
USA
Philip Giebler
1:12:16.504
+1:28.689
18
India
Armaan Ebrahim
37 laps
 
19
Singapore
Denis Lian
37 laps
 
20
Italy
Pier Guidi Alessandro
37 laps
 
21
Greece
Takis Kaitazis
19 laps
 
22
Pakistan
Nur Ali
10 laps
 
23
France
Nicolas Lapierre
1 lap
 
 
The bonus point for the fastest race lap of the day went to A1 Team Malaysia who recorded a time of 1.47.296 on lap 2 of the Sprint race, with a speed of 181.3kph.
 
Series points
 
1
Germany
20
2
Mexico
19
3
Malaysia
17
4
Canada
11
5
Czech Republic
11
6
Great Britain
11
7
USA
10
8
Netherlands
9
9
France
8
10
Australia
8
11
China
8
12
South Africa
7
12
New Zealand
5
13
Italy
5
14
Switzerland
4
15
Indonesia
1


Reporting by A1GP.com
TOP^  
SPRINT RACE
Alex Yoong (Team Malaysia) took the lead at the first corner and was never headed.
(Picture A1GP.com)
An excellent second for James Hinchcliffe and Team Canada.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Nicolas Lapierre (Team France) took the final podium place.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Congfu Cheng gave Team China their best ever A1GP finish with fourth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Chaos at the start as Jonny Reid (Team New Zealand) and Nico Hülkenberg (Team Germany) made contact.
(Picture A1GP.com)
A disconsolate Nico Hülkenberg ends up in the barriers in the Team Germany car.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Tomas Enge (Team Czech Republic) leads the rest on his way to fifth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Robbie Kerr (Team Great Britain) was never on the pace.
(Picture A1GP.com)
The A1GP cars were often 3 or 4 abreast on the wide Brno track.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Salvador Duran (Team Mexico) leads the Team Switzerland car of Sebastien Buemi.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team Ireland and Team Australia battle for position.
(Picture A1GP.com)
A delighted Alex Yoong with his winner's medal.
(Picture A1GP.com)
FEATURE RACE
Alex Yoong makes it two from two.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Tomas Enge thrilled the Czech fans with second place in the main race.
(Picture A1GP.com)
The first corner can get a little crowded.
(Picture A1GP.com)
A poor pit stop ruined Team USA's chances.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Robbie Kerr could manage no better than sixth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Michael Devaney and the Team Ireland car were mired in the mid-field.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Nico Hulkenberg (Team Germany) passes the Team Brazil car of Tuka Rocha as he climbs through the field to fourth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Until an unfortunate coming together the Team Canada car of James Hinchcliffe kept Alex Yoong at bay for many laps.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Nico Hülkenberg makes his pit stop with the Team Germany car.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Graham Rahal (Team Lebanon) would be disappointed with twelfth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Alex Yoong is congratulated by his team.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Tomas Enge (Team Czech Republic), Alex Yoong (Team Malaysia) and Salvador Duran (Team Mexico) on the podium.
(Picture A1GP.com)