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SPRINT RACE
Durban, South Africa – A1 Team Germany has taken pole position for this afternoon’s Durban Feature race having comfortably won the 20-minute Sprint race on the challenging street circuit. Nico Hülkenberg took the lead from the rolling start but as the field followed through the tight turn one, the action began. Brazil, Lebanon and Malaysia all sustained damage from contact with other cars and an error from fourth placed Switzerland allowed the Netherlands to squeeze by.
As the three damaged cars pulled into the pits at the end of lap one, Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg worked to increase his lead which he then maintained throughout the duration of the race. Brazil and Lebanon were both able to repair the damage sustained and return to the race, but for Malaysia it was too severe and the team retired.
While Germany continued to lead, battles for position continued further down the field. Singapore’s bad weekend continued as Christian Murchison, who had been making his way up from a 22nd on the grid, thanks to a spin during qualifying, put the car in the tyre wall at turn four in an unforced error on lap eight.
One lap later, Mexico’s Salvador Duran pulled off at turn five suffering transmission failure while the USA’s Jonathan Summerton retired on lap 12 with drive line problems.
The seventh race win for Hülkenberg has put him on a par with A1 Team France’s 2005/06 season driver Alexandre Premat, who holds the record for the most A1GP race wins by a single driver.
Commenting on his win and preparations for the upcoming 70-minute Feature race, Hülkenberg said: ‘In the beginning it was pretty close, but the gap became bigger so it was more comfortable. The track was a bit slippery, it was not an easy race. When you are driving your adrenaline is pumping and you are focused so you do not feel the heat. However, it is very hot out here so it is important that we drink a lot of water.’
Loic Duval driving the second placed French car went on to say: ‘I had a great start and a great race, but found some difficulty to overtake. I lost some time behind the Pakistan team despite the blue flag and found Matt gaining ground. It is a difficult track to drive, to stay on the race line and to overtake. The competition looks close and I am looking forward to the feature race this afternoon.’
New Zealand’s Matt Halliday commented: ‘It is a bit chaotic out there and found it difficult to stop the French car as Loic came around the inside to overtake. It is going to be a difficult Feature race, and the heat is tough on the drivers and the car. It will be important to maintain the tyres and the car as well as get a good head start.’
So far it has not been the best weekend for A1 Team GBR and they were only able to make up one place from their starting position. This has meant the team has now dropped to sixth in the championship points, with both the Netherlands and Switzerland overtaking them.
Sprint race results
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Driver |
A1 Team |
Time |
Gap First |
1 |
Nico HÜLKENBERG |
GERMANY |
19:57.070 |
- |
2 |
Loic DUVAL |
FRANCE |
19:59.851 |
+2.781 |
3 |
Matt HALLIDAY |
NEW ZEALAND |
20:00.560 |
+3.490 |
4 |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
NETHERLANDS |
20:03.426 |
+6.356 |
5 |
Neel JANI |
SWITZERLAND |
20:07.767 |
+10.697 |
6 |
Richard LYONS |
IRELAND |
20:11.426 |
+14.356 |
7 |
Adrian ZAUGG |
SOUTH AFRICA |
20:14.179 |
+17.109 |
8 |
Alvaro PARENTE |
PORTUGAL |
20:16.017 |
+18.947 |
9 |
Robbie KERR |
GREAT BRITAIN |
20:16.986 |
+19.916 |
10 |
Ananda MIKOLA |
INDONESIA |
20:17.941 |
+20.871 |
11 |
Tomas ENGE |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
20:19.537 |
+22.467 |
12 |
Enrico TOCCACELO |
ITALY |
20:20.987 |
+23.917 |
13 |
James HINCHCLIFFE |
CANADA |
20:30.597 |
+33.527 |
14 |
Ho-Pin TUNG |
CHINA |
20:39.153 |
+42.083 |
15 |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
INDIA |
20:41.155 |
+44.085 |
16 |
Karl REINDLER |
AUSTRALIA |
21:15.050 |
+1:17.980 |
17 |
Bruno JUNQUEIRA |
BRAZIL |
20:32.104 |
1 Lap |
18 |
Nur ALI |
PAKISTAN |
20:51.819 |
1 Lap |
19 |
Allam KHODAIR |
LEBANON |
21:14.936 |
1 Lap |
20 |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
USA |
16:16.638 |
3 Laps |
21 |
Salvador DURAN |
MEXICO |
12:07.091 |
6 Laps |
22 |
Christian MURCHISON |
SINGAPORE |
11:02.387 |
7 Laps |
23 |
Alex YOONG |
MALAYSIA |
0 |
15 Laps |
Fastest lap: A1 Team Germany set the fastest lap of the Sprint race with a speed of 146.4 kph on lap four.
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FEATURE RACE
Germany’s eighth race victory has broken A1GP records making Nico Hülkenberg the most successful driver in A1GP, winning more races than any individual driver and leading races for the most number of laps. The team won an action-packed Durban Feature race which saw 14 teams fail to finish as drivers battled with the challenging circuit and the hot conditions took their toll.
With such a short run down to the first turn, it was not a surprise that there was instant action as the 23 cars tried to manoeuvre this tight hairpin. There was contact between several cars and as the dust settled much to the disappointment of the fans their own team was among the cars stranded. Luckily the marshals were able to push A1 Team SA and Adrian Zaugg was able to make his way round to the pits. However, this was not the only car stuck there that caused the Safety Car to be deployed as the cars from Malaysia, Lebanon and the USA were also needing assistance before continuing.
As the cars lined up behind the Safety Car it was obvious who had made good and who had made bad starts. A1 Team Netherlands was a winner, slotting in behind A1 Team Germany who again led the way. However, the fastest riser was without doubt A1 Team China who went from 14th on the grid to seventh – proving that even though this is the Year of the Pig the car does not drive like one. Sadly for Ireland they were left on the grid and got away late, which proved no bad thing as they were able to avoid the accident and thread their way through the stranded cars. Italy never got that far as the car was pushed away from the grid and into instant retirement.
The Safety Car period only lasted until the end of lap two and when racing resumed it was Germany from the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Great Britain, who had also made a great start from ninth on the grid. This order soon changed as when the safety car peeled off, it was followed into the pits by France whose race came to an early end as the car suffered a driveshaft failure. Germany instantly pulled ahead creating a five second lead on the Netherlands who were closely followed by Switzerland and Great Britain. British driver Robbie Kerr began piling the pressure on Switzerland’s Neel Jani with his efforts paying off at the start of lap four, with the red, white and blue car charging past the Swiss on the main straight and into turn one, taking third place.
While the leaders started the fourth lap, a repeat of the opening lap incident saw Indonesia’s Ananda Mikola try to slip through the inside of the home team pushing Adrian Zaugg’s South African car into the tyre wall at turn one, trapping Pakistan and Lebanon behind him. Once again all the cars made it back on the track but the damage sustained by Indonesia forced the team into retirement, pulling off the track at turn five.
The pit stop window opened on lap eight and race leader Germany was first to pit, shortly followed by the Netherlands. A smooth pit stop allowed Germany to maintain their lead but as the Netherlands pulled away from their garage they collided with Australia putting Karl Reindler out of the race, resulting in a drive through penalty for the Dutch which they took at the end of lap 11.
By the start of lap 13, all teams had taken their mandatory pit stop and Germany was leading Great Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland, Portugal, the Netherlands and the USA whose pit stop strategy had put them into the points.
After the team’s best Sprint race result of the season, Ireland began the Feature race from sixth place but a poor start saw them drop down to 17th by the end of the first lap. Displaying a similar fighting spirit to that of the Irish rugby team, whose victory over the English in last night’s Six Nations tournament was emblazoned across the green car, driver Richard Lyons fought his way through the field to a best place of eighth in laps 16 to 19 with a series of impressive overtaking manoeuvres, clearly demonstrating how well he had taken to his first ever street race.
Malaysia’s Alex Yoong on the other hand started the Feature race from the back of the grid having retired on the opening lap of the morning’s Sprint race. Despite this he too fought his way through the field utilising his experience to climb to seventh place on lap 14. His charge was set to continue until a steering wheel failure forced him into the garage where his team repaired the fault and put the yellow and black car out again but at the back of the field.
By the halfway point, Germany had built up a 19 second lead on the remaining 15 teams, partly helped by the slowing of his competitors as they lapped the back of the pack.
Lebanon’s Allam Khodair pulled into the pits at the end of lap 24 with a badly swollen arm from it banging it on the radio in his car’s cockpit. He was sent to the medical centre for an xray.
China were on the verge of breaking into the points consistently running in eleventh place for 12 laps before pulling off at the chicane suffering from gearbox problems on lap 27. The team were hopeful of at least claiming a point for fastest lap, but in the closing stages of the race Team SA claimed this honour.
The USA, who had climbed to eighth place and battled to overtake American neighbour for 12 laps finally took its chance on lap 31. Mexico got caught behind Pakistan as the pair went to lap him and Jonathan Summerton made the most of the opportunity presented. Unfortunately their success was short lived as the American car clipped the wall at turn seven two laps later and headed into the wall at turn eight. Thankfully the driver was soon out of the car, but preliminary x-rays at the track medical centre showed there was a suspected fracture of the scaphoid in his left hand and he was transferred to the local Durban Hospital for further x-rays.
The Safety Car was deployed for a second time and Germany’s advantage came under threat as the field closed in on Hülkenberg’s 20 second lead. The stricken USA car was quickly recovered and the racing continued with Germany regaining its lead after the lapped Pakistani car failed to allow the field through. The excitement continued as Ireland overtook Mexico into turn one and Mexico re-took their position in turn two as the pair fought for seventh place. Unfortunately for Ireland, this was to be the end of their luck as a collision between the two resulted in a puncture on the rear left tyre of the Irish car putting them out of the race 10 laps from the end. It probably came as some consolation for the Irish as the Mexican car retired three laps later with electrical failure.
The battle for the final points lasted to the end of the race with the two former F1 drivers of Malaysia and India fighting for eighth place. Malaysia came out ahead as India pulled off to the side of the track at the end of lap 45 but with a strong advantage over Pakistan, Narain Karthikeyan managed to keep his two points for a ninth place finish.
A1 Team Pakistan were in buoyant mood after the race with the team having broken its duck by scoring its first ever A1GP points. From 18th on the grid Nur Ali made an excellent start to be 13th at the end of the first lap. The inexperienced driver often found himself in the middle of other cars’ battles and even split the first two at the re-start after the second Safety Car period. However, perseverance paid off and when the chequered flag came out tenth was the reward for avoiding the unforgiving concrete walls.
Race winner Nico Hülkenberg said: ‘Thank you to the team, the car was great - what can I say, three perfect weekends in a row. We are trying to continue with our performance, it is not easy, but we are putting in a lot of effort, and we are happy with the results. After the pit stop the Netherlands were one or two seconds behind me and then they dropped off and the team told me that I had a 15 or 16 second advantage so I just looked after my tyres, was driving easy and keeping the gap to 15 seconds.
He went on to say: ‘As we came to the end of the Safety Car period I had a gap for the re-start as I knew Pakistan was not as fast as the other guys so that was quite easy. After the Safety Car I still had good tyres so I showed what we could do and it was a lot of fun at that time. This time there was no point in using the boost button because it was comfortable and relaxed at the front. I saved them at the beginning as you never know what is going to happen. I am leaving for one race but I will be back in the car in China so I will miss you guys.’
Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr commented: ‘(This was) Definitely not an easy afternoon. We had problems in practice and qualifying so we were definitely on the back foot all weekend and to come away with second place at the end of the day was an absolutely fantastic achievement for myself and the team. I think I need to go and have a few words with Pakistan about where he is on the track at a certain point of time, as every time we came up to lap him he managed to get in the way and then Matt was right on my back end. We missed a good opportunity to try and get ahead but Nico was quick all weekend. Still it would have been a fantastic opportunity to try and get that one extra place.’
New Zealand’s Matt Halliday said: ‘I was a little bit rusty I guess is my excuse. It was very difficult today, when I knew France had dropped out and we were in third place I pushed hard to race Robbie but it was very difficult to pass. His car was quick enough in all the right places. I think I drove the middle part of the race a little bit off the pace. I am happy with the afternoons work, it was a shame about the start as my race was compromised off the line but we will try next time. Not sure when I shall be in the car again, but I hope to at least be in the car in Brands Hatch as I was very strong there last year. This weekend was a lot of pressure for me as I have been away a long time from A1. Hopefully it will not be another five months away before I get back in and fight Nico harder than this time.’
Feature race results
Pos |
Driver |
A1 Team |
Laps |
Time |
Gap First |
1 |
Nico HULKENBERG |
GERMANY |
49 |
10:35.582 |
- |
2 |
Robbie KERR |
GREAT BRITAIN |
49 |
10:45.138 |
+9.556 |
3 |
Matt HALLIDAY |
NEW ZEALAND |
49 |
10:46.101 |
+10.519 |
4 |
Neel JANI |
SWITZERLAND |
49 |
10:48.224 |
+12.642 |
5 |
Alvaro PARENTE |
PORTUGAL |
49 |
10:51.557 |
+15.975 |
6 |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
NETHERLANDS |
49 |
10:52.381 |
+16.799 |
7 |
Bruno JUNQUEIRA |
BRAZIL |
49 |
10:57.450 |
+21.868 |
8 |
Alex YOONG |
MALAYSIA |
48 |
11:07.662 |
1 Lap |
9 |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
INDIA |
45 |
06:57.998 |
4 Laps |
10 |
Nur ALI |
PAKISTAN |
45 |
10:42.933 |
4 Laps |
11 |
Salvador DURAN |
MEXICO |
42 |
01:28.717 |
7 Laps |
12 |
Richard LYONS |
IRELAND |
39 |
57:28.149 |
10 Laps |
13 |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
USA |
33 |
47:29.719 |
16 Laps |
14 |
Ho-Pin TUNG |
CHINA |
27 |
39:36.169 |
22 Laps |
15 |
Allam KHODAIR |
LEBANON |
24 |
36:54.423 |
25 Laps |
16 |
Tomas ENGE |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
15 |
31:07.066 |
34 Laps |
17 |
Adrian ZAUGG |
SOUTH AFRICA |
11 |
11:38.251 |
38 Laps |
18 |
Karl REINDLER |
AUSTRALIA |
8 |
13:17.908 |
41 Laps |
19 |
Ananda MIKOLA |
INDONESIA |
4 |
07:56.501 |
45 Laps |
20 |
Loic DUVAL |
FRANCE |
2 |
04:03.972 |
47 Laps |
21 |
James HINCHCLIFFE |
CANADA |
- |
- |
49 Laps |
22 |
Enrico TOCCACELO |
ITALY |
- |
- |
49 Laps |
23 |
Christian MURCHISON |
SINGAPORE |
- |
- |
49 Laps |
2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport standings:
POS |
A1 TEAM |
POINTS |
1 |
Germany |
99 |
2 |
New Zealand |
69 |
3 |
France |
57 |
4 |
Great Britain |
46 |
5 |
Switzerland |
45 |
6 |
Netherlands |
43 |
7 |
Malaysia |
38 |
8 |
Mexico |
34 |
9 |
Italy |
29 |
10 |
Canada |
28 |
11 |
Czech Republic |
26 |
12 |
USA |
24 |
13 |
China |
19 |
14 |
Australia |
18 |
15 |
South Africa |
13 |
16 |
Brazil |
9 |
17 |
Portugal |
6 |
18 |
India |
6 |
19 |
Singapore |
3 |
20 |
Ireland |
2 |
21 |
Indonesia |
1 |
22 |
Pakistan |
1 |
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Reporting by A1GP.com
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Nico Hulkenberg (Team Germany) continued where he had left off in the previous round.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Loic Duval took the runner-up spot for Team France.
(Picture A1GP.com)
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Matt Halliday completed the podium for Team New Zealand.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Jeroen Bleekemolen (Team Netherlands) drove a consistent race to take fourth.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Neel Jani (Team Switzerland) battled with Richard Lyons (Team Ireland) for fifth.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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The Team Brazil car of Bruno Junqueira was bundled aside at the first corner.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Adrian Zaugg pleased the home fans bringing the Team South Africa car home seventh.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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It was a tight squeeze into the first corner.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Nico Hulkenberg (Team Germany) celebrates on the podium.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Another double win for Nico Hulkenberg (Team Germany).
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Robbie Kerr drove a great race to take second for Team Great Britain.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Matt Halliday was a very close third for Team New Zealand.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Neel Jani (Team Switzerland), negotiating the debris, was fourth.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Alvaro Parent capped a successful series return for Team Portugal with fifth.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Richard Lyons lost a good result for Team Ireland with a gearbox failure.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Alex Yoong (Team Malaysia) held on for eighth.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Nur Ali gave Team Pakistan one of their best results with tenth.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Ho Pin Tung and Team China were off the pace this weekend.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Bruno Junqueira used his experience to bring the Team Brazil car home seventh.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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The first corner traffic jam.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Ananda Mikola (Team Indonesia) made a suicidal attempt to overtake the Teamm Soputh Africa car.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Allam Khodair was an unlucky retirement following a promising debut.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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The cars wait on the grid.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Matt Halliday and Robbie Kerr congratulate each other in parc fermé.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Robbie Kerr (Team Great Britain), Nico Hulkenberg (Team Germany) and Matt Halliday (Team New Zealand) on the podium.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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The beach is next to the track.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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The South African fans turned out in their numbers.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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Several pace car incidents failed to ruin the racing.
(Picture A1GP.com) |
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