30/09/07 - ZANDVOORT, HOLLAND A1GP: SPRINT & FEATURE RACES
SPRINT RACE

A1 Team South Africa has won the first race of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season at Circuit Park Zandvoort in The Netherlands, dominating the 12 lap race from start to finish. Zaugg was joined on the podium by A1 Team France and home nation A1 Team Netherlands in second and third position respectively.

Pole-sitter South Africa's Adrian Zaugg took the advantage as the pack crossed the line for the rolling start of the 20 minute Sprint race in mild but dry conditions. The field got away well as the rain clouds cleared, the only exception being A1 Team Australia's Ian Dyk who started from pit lane after stalling on the grid.

By lap three Zaugg had pulled out an impressive 2.5 second lead on A1 Team France and the South African continued to storm away from Loic Duval and third placed A1 Team Mexico. Zaugg was never really under threat from the rest of the field and by lap nine he had a comfortable lead over Duval of over five seconds. The gap was up to an incredible seven seconds by the penultimate lap and one lap later A1 Team South Africa took the chequered flag in first place, winning the season-opening Sprint race from pole for the second consecutive year.

Loic Duval had a fairly uneventful race, continuing the impressive form he has been enjoying all weekend at Zandvoort. The Frenchman managed to hold off a strong challenge from the home nation to cross the line in second position and pick up 12 championship points.

Home driver Jeroen Bleekemolen made a sensational start from fifth on the grid, taking fourth place from Switzerland's Neel Jani and making a move on A1 Team Mexico before the end of the first lap. The Dutchman delighted home fans as he continued to chase down Mexico's Salvador Duran, his sights firmly set on a podium position. Lap three saw Bleekemolen sneak past the Mexican car and by the fourth lap he was all over the back of second placed A1 Team France. The Dutchman pushed hard for the remaining eight laps and went on to cross the line in an impressive third place, taking A1 Team Netherlands' first podium finish at home and collecting 10 championship points.

A1 Team Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis, who started 10th on the grid, enjoyed a thrilling first race of the season, carving his way through the field to pass Ireland's Ralph Firman for seventh position on lap eight. Jarvis immediately started to hunt down A1 Team Germany and on lap 11 the British ace was still fighting hard with Christian Vietoris for sixth place. Jarvis went on the cross the line in seventh position, opening his championship account with a valuable four points.

Lebanon's Chris Alajajian put in a superb performance on his A1GP debut, finishing in 14th position having started from 18th on the grid. The Lebanese driver enjoyed a mid race tussle with Czech Republic and China, the trio of cars getting side by side at one point.

All 22 A1GP cars finished the race - the first time the cars had driven the track in dry conditions this weekend - in front of packed grandstands and sand dunes.

Race winner, A1 Team South Africa's Adrian Zaugg was pleased with the win and is confident the team will be able to repeat its performance this afternoon: 'We prepared a really good car for today and yesterday in wet conditions and we have shown we can be competitive in both the wet and the dry, so it's looking good. After two or three laps I looked in my rear mirrors and I couldn't see anyone anymore so from then I never had to go to the maximum, but it was very hard not to lose my rhythm. I hope to do it again for the Feature race. When you look at the times we should be the ones to beat in that race so we have every chance.'

Second placed Loic Duval driving for season one champions A1 Team France said: 'The first two or three laps we were on the same level and then the car was a bit difficult to drive - we have more over steer so I couldn't follow him. I then had to concentrate to keep the second position which was not too difficult because I had some push to pass and he (Bleekemolen) didn't. It was a great race but we have to work a lot on the car for the Feature race and we have to make some changes.'

Jeroen Bleekemolen was delighted to be on the podium in front of his home crowd: 'It's great. Yesterday we really messed up the qualifying for the Feature race so I'm pleased to take the podium in this one so it's in the bag, and then in the next one I hope we can also find a way back to the front. I think it looks good because the car was fantastic; we had a quick car and in the Feature race things will be different, the tyres go off more so you can overtake a bit easier - I'm looking forward to it!'

The Dutchman, who is starting the Feature race from 11th on grid, continued: 'With A1GP anything is possible but we have to be realistic. It's not going to be easy to drive our way back to the front, but there's two pits stops this year and the guys are good at it so I'm feeling quite confident. If we can run in clear air without any traffic, then we should be able to do it.'

Sprint race results

Pos

Driver

A1 Team

Time

1

Adrian ZAUGG

SOUTH AFRICA

18:01.087

2

Loic DUVAL

FRANCE

18:08.619

3

Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN

NETHERLANDS

18:09.184

4

Salvador DURAN

MEXICO

18:09.292

5

Neel JANI

SWITZERLAND

18:09.668

6

Christian VIETORIS

GERMANY

18:11.431

7

Oliver JARVIS

GREAT BRITAIN

18:11.653

8

Ralph FIRMAN

IRELAND

18:13.255

9

Jonny REID

NEW ZEALAND

18:15.021

10

Narain KARTHIKEYAN

INDIA

18:19.603

11

Joao URBANO

PORTUGAL

18:26.054

12

Enrico TOCCACELO

ITALY

18:26.804

13

Sergio JIMENEZ

BRAZIL

18:27.131

14

Chris ALAJAJIAN

LEBANON

18:35.634

15

Erik JANIS

CZECH REPUBLIC

18:36.355

16

Alex YOONG

MALAYSIA

18:36.982

17

Congfu CHENG

CHINA

18:37.385

18

Adam KHAN

PAKISTAN

18:37.597

19

James HINCHCLIFFE

CANADA

18:40.596

20

Satrio HERMANTO

INDONESIA

18:49.019

21

Ian DYK

AUSTRALIA

18:49.070

22

Buddy RICE

USA

18:49.295

FEATURE RACE

A1 Team Great Britain won the Feature race at this afternoon's 2007/08 season-opener at AquaSP A1GP Zandvoort, the Netherlands. Oliver Jarvis took the chequered flag and his second Feature race win after a stunning drive in perfect weather conditions, ahead of South Africa and Switzerland.

Displaying the Scottish flag on the rear wing of the newly-liveried GBR challenger in tribute to the late World Rally Champion Colin McRae, Jarvis defended third place off the grid despite an early challenge from the Swiss car and by lap three the British star had moved up into second behind pole-sitter South Africa.

A1 Team Germany, closely followed by Switzerland, France, Mexico and New Zealand were hot on the heels of the leading duo. Meanwhile, Portuguese rookie Joao Urbano spun off the track and slammed into the tyre barriers, blocking the pit lane entrance briefly and bringing out the yellow flags until the end of lap five.

It didn't take long for Jarvis to reel in Zaugg, who had romped into the distance at the start of the 45-lap race, and by lap six the South African was firmly in his sights. As the first pit stop window opened at the end of lap eight, Great Britain and Germany were the first teams to head in for their mandatory stops, both pitting on lap nine from second and third place respectively, rejoining the action in the same order.

Race leader South Africa pitted on lap 12 and rejoined in second position behind Great Britain, who had gained track position after a series of flying laps from Jarvis and fast work in the pits. On lap 15, after all 22 cars had completed their first stop, the race order settled briefly to Great Britain, South Africa, Switzerland, followed by New Zealand, Mexico and Germany.

Great Britain's Jarvis continued to ease away from Zaugg and by lap 22 he had pulled out a three-second lead on today's Sprint race winner. The leaders pitted together as soon as the second mandatory pit stop window opened at the end of lap 30, Jarvis gaining a four-second advantage during the stop for new tyres. He rejoined nine seconds ahead of the South African car.

The British star visibly slowed on the last lap and coasted home to take Great Britain's fourth, and his second, A1GP win. A1 Team Great Britain now lies second in the championship on 19 points, just one point ahead of France.

An emotional Jarvis said: 'The whole team has done a fantastic job all weekend and I'm really pleased with today's result - a great way to kick off the season for the team. I was actually starting to slow down about five or six laps from the end. My pit crew were a little bit worried about fuel consumption so I started to back off - there was no rush because I had a big gap. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. You're representing your country, but not just that, my family are here so it was quite a proud moment for me after a difficult start to the weekend.'

Great Britain's Jarvis was joined on the podium by South Africa's Zaugg and Switzerland's Neel Jani.

South Africa is now comfortably leading the 2007/08 championship on 28 points as the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads to Brno, Czech Republic in a fortnight.

Zaugg struggled to get the best from the South African charger: 'I tried to push as hard as I could. With the second set of tyres I was able to close up on him (Jarvis) during the first couple of laps. It was a tough race but the conditions were changing all the time so it was quite difficult to get the maximum from the car.'

On the team's nine-point advantage in the championship after today's win and second place, Zaugg commented: 'It sounds good but it's early days and it's just the first race weekend. We have to keep delivering good results and we should be up there.'

Third-placed Neel Jani driving for Switzerland said: 'The start was really good; I was nearly in the wall because of Germany so Olly got past me at turn one and then I was just trying to keep up with the guys in front of me. I was catching Adrian at some stage and he kept falling back again, it was just a bit like a cat-and-mouse game in the end. It was an exciting race but unfortunately I couldn't do better than third - I'm happy with that though and it's a great start to the season for A1 Team Switzerland.'

The fourth and fifth spot were taken by Mexico's Salvador Duran and France's Loic Duval.

A1 Team Ireland's Ralph Firman was on fine form today, charging through the field and picking off seventh-placed Netherlands after the second round of pit stops, going on to steal sixth from New Zealand on lap 33. Firman continued to push hard and crossed the line in sixth behind France's Duval.

Local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen, who was squeezed onto the gravel at the start and pushed back to 14th, brought the Netherlands car home in a commendable eighth, having started 11th on the grid. The Dutchman pulled off a series of stunning manoeuvres throughout the 70-minute race, thrilling his home fans who had turned out in force to support the 25-year-old.

The final three point scoring positions were taken by the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Feature race results

Pos

Driver

A1 Team

Laps

Time

1

Oliver JARVIS

GREAT BRITAIN

45

1:09:51.394

2

Adrian ZAUGG

SOUTH AFRICA

45

1:09:57.136

3

Neel JANI

SWITZERLAND

45

1:09:59.368

4

Salvador DURAN

MEXICO

45

1:10:02.910

5

Loic DUVAL

FRANCE

45

1:10:17.183

6

Ralph FIRMAN

IRELAND

45

1:10:25.091

7

Jonny REID

NEW ZEALAND

45

1:10:39.029

8

Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN

NETHERLANDS

45

1:10:40.664

9

Christian VIETORIS

GERMANY

45

1:10:41.270

10

Erik JANIS

CZECH REPUBLIC

45

1:10:51.058

11

Sergio JIMENEZ

BRAZIL

45

1:10:51.472

12

Ian DYK

AUSTRALIA

45

1:11:21.987

13

Buddy RICE

USA

45

1:11:22.542

14

Enrico TOCCACELO

ITALY

44

1:09:54.770

15

Congfu CHENG

CHINA

44

1:09:55.855

16

Satrio HERMANTO

INDONESIA

44

1:11:09.629

17

Adam KHAN

PAKISTAN

43

1:09:55.197

18

James HINCHCLIFFE

CANADA

40

1:03:43.361

19

Chris ALAJAJIAN

LEBANON

40

1:05:08.999

20

Narain KARTHIKEYAN

INDIA

13

13 laps

21

Alex YOONG

MALAYSIA

8

8 laps

22

Joao URBANO

PORTUGAL

2

2 laps

2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points standings

Pos

A1 Team

Points

1

SOUTH AFRICA

28

2

GREAT BRITAIN

19

3

FRANCE

18

4

MEXICO

17

5

SWITZERLAND

16

6

NETHERLANDS

13

7

IRELAND

8

8

GERMANY

7

9

NEW ZEALAND

6

10

CZECH REPUBLIC

1

11

INDIA

1

Fastest lap: A1 Team Mexico set the fastest lap in the Feature race, lapping Circuit Park Zandvoort in 1m29.181s with a speed of 186.8 kph on lap 37 of the 45 lap race.


Reporting by A1GP.com
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SPRINT RACE
Adrian Zaugg (Team South Africa) dominated the Sprint Race.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Loic Duval (Team France) won a close battle for second...
(Picture A1GP.com)
...from local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen (Team Netherlands).
(Picture A1GP.com)
Salvador Duran (Team Mexico) was a very competitive fourth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Neel Jani (Team Switzerland) finished right on the tail of the fourth placed Team Mexico car.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team Germany (Christian Vietoris) was further down the results sheet than normal in sixth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Oliver Jarvis (Team Great Britain) suffered from his poor qualifying position.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Ralph Firman (Team Ireland) was just off the pace.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Jonny Reid could do no better than ninth in the Team New Zealand "Black Beauty".
(Picture A1GP.com)
Narain Karthikeyan (Team India) completed the top ten runners
(Picture A1GP.com)
FEATURE RACE
Oliver Jarvis was uncatchable in the Feature Race for Team Great Britain.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Adrian Zaugg followed up his earlier win with second in the Feature Race for Team South Africa.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Neel Jani finished third for Team Switzerland.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Salvador Duran had another good result for Team Mexico.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team France (Loic Duval) were less competitive than they had been in the Sprint Race.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Sixth for Ralph Firman (Team Ireland).
(Picture A1GP.com)
Jonny Reid (Team New Zealand) with one of the Zandvoort grid girls.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Jeroen Bleekemolen (Team Netherlands) could do no better than eighth`.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team Germany were still not on the pace.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Eric Janis showed a lot of promise in the Team Czech Republic car.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Oliver Jarvis (Team Great Britain) shows his pleasure at the end of their race.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Adrian Zaugg (Team South Africa), Oliver Jarvis (Team Great Britain) and Neel Jani (Team Switzerland share the podium.
(Picture A1GP.com)
One of the very attractive Zandvoort grid girls.
(Picture A1GP.com)
The Zandvoort circuit from the air.
(Picture A1GP.com)