16/12/07 - ZHUHAI, CHINA A1GP: SPRINT & FEATURE RACES
SPRINT RACE

Pole sitter A1 Team Germany's Michael Ammermüller raced to his first A1GP victory in this morning's inaugural Zhuhai Sprint race at round four of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season while China's CongFu Cheng put in an incredible performance on home soil, taking a fantastic home race podium.

German rookie Ammermüller dominated the race from lights to flag, holding off Neel Jani to cross the line just over half a second ahead of title leader Switzerland who finished second. The packed grandstand roared when home nation China's CongFu Cheng made a sensational move past Ireland's Adam Carroll on lap 10 to grab third place. The 23-year-old from Beijing went on to take the first podium finish of his career and China's first of the season.

Czech Republic, Great Britain and India finished fifth, sixth and seventh while France and the Netherlands crossed the line in eighth and ninth place respectively.

Canada's Robert Wickens made a brave move past Jonny Reid on lap four to snatch 10th position from New Zealand. The pair continued to battle and in the closing minutes of the 13 lap race, Reid collided with the Canadian racer to take back the final points paying position.

Five of the 22 cars on the grid were involved in a first lap collision, Australia, Brazil and South Africa tangling at turn four and Lebanon running off into the gravel, bringing out the safety car for three laps. Malaysia was forced out of the action due to a puncture sustained from running over debris caused by the incident.

All 22 nations are now preparing for the main event of the weekend at Zhuhai, a thrilling and unpredictable 70 minute Feature race, which starts at 15:00 this afternoon.

Germany's Michael Ammermüller was pleased with his first win and happy to put the challenges he experienced in Malaysia behind him:

'It was a very nice race. We did a good job yesterday in qualifying and we had a good start today. The car was very good and I didn't make any mistakes. The last race in Sepang wasn't so nice but this time the start was a lot better and I'm happy. This afternoon will be more difficult as I'm starting from fifth position but it's a longer race and lots can happen.'

Switerland's Neel Jani, who finished second in the Sprint race and is on pole for this afternoon's Feature race, said:

'My start wasn't too bad, I got very close to Michael but he defended well and I couldn't really get past him without taking any risks. In the end I just settled for second and picked up some good points, plus I got the extra point for the fastest lap. We're on pole position this afternoon which is a good starting point but we will struggle with brakes towards the end of the race, as everybody will, so it's a just a question of who gets through the race with the least amount of problems.'

China's CongFu Cheng was delighted with his first podium finish and overwhelmed by all the support from his home fans:

'It was a great race and I want to say thanks to the crowd and to A1 Team China. It feels fantastic to deliver the first podium of the season for myself and for the team. The crowd was great and big thanks to the team, I'm speechless.'

Sprint race results

Pos

Driver

A1 Team

Time

1

Michael AMMERMÜLLER

GERMANY

20:31.432

2

Neel JANI

SWITZERLAND

20:32.033

3

Congfu CHENG

CHINA

20:36.064

4

Adam CARROLL

IRELAND

20:38.139

5

Tomas ENGE

CZECH REPUBLIC

20:38.818

6

Oliver JARVIS

GREAT BRITAIN

20:39.297

7

Narain KARTHIKEYAN

INDIA

20:40.093

8

Loic DUVAL

FRANCE

20:40.465

9

Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN

NETHERLANDS

20:41.082

10

Jonny REID

NEW ZEALAND

20:44.424

11

Edoardo PISCOPO

ITALY

20:46.141

12

Jonathan SUMMERTON

USA

20:48.327

13

Ian DYK

AUSTRALIA

20:48.601

14

Adam KHAN

PAKISTAN

20:52.376

15

Robert WICKENS

CANADA

20:53.216

16

David GARZA

MEXICO

20:54.820

17

Satrio HERMANTO

INDONESIA

20:55.224

18

Sergio JIMENEZ

BRAZIL

-1 Lap

19

Joao URBANO

PORTUGAL

-3 Laps

20

Adrian ZAUGG

SOUTH AFRICA

-12 Laps

21

Alex YOONG

MALAYSIA

-12 Laps

22

Chris ALAJAJIAN

LEBANON

-13 Laps

Fastest lap: A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani set the fastest lap (1m24.418s) of the Sprint race on lap 11.

FEATURE RACE

A1 Team India's Narain Karthikeyan made history today when he took his and the team's first ever A1GP race win in this afternoon's incident-packed Feature race at China's Zhuhai International Circuit. Karthikeyan was joined on the podium by New Zealand's Jonny Reid, who started from 10th on the grid, and South Africa's Adrian Zaugg in third.

The 30-year-old Indian driver, who started from third on the grid, took the lead from New Zealand during the second pit stop window on lap 29 and, despite a huge amount of pressure and some excellent racing from Reid, Karthikeyan held off Black Beauty and went on the cross the line in first place and score India's first A1GP win in the history of the sport.

South Africa's Zaugg also enjoyed a strong race to take the final podium position, having started from ninth on the grid. Zaugg was under attack from Germany's Michael Ammermüller during the last 10 laps of the 45 lap race but the 21-year-old South African pushed hard to take third place ahead of the German rookie who ultimately finished fourth.

Fifth place was taken by Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis, who got away well from second on the grid and snatched the early lead from pole sitter Switzerland as Brazil, Ireland, Canada and Malaysia were all involved in an incident behind them at turn one, bringing out the safety car for four laps. Fast work in the pits during the first pit stop window allowed Switzerland to steal the lead when they rejoined the action while GBR fell back to sixth place.

Having enjoyed an early lead, the British and Swiss teams were both hampered with delays in their second pit stops due to technical issues, ultimately finishing in fifth and sixth positions respectively. Despite a disappointing finish, GBR's Jarvis was clearly pushing hard, picking up a bonus point for setting the fastest lap in the Feature race on lap 29.

France, who finished the race seventh, was hit with a drive through penalty on lap 16 due to releasing their car unsafely from its first pit stop. As he drove past the USA pit box, Loic Duval caught the hose connected to one of the airguns causing a USA mechanic to be pulled to the ground.

Tomas Enge, making his A1GP race return for the Czech Republic after an absence of 10 months, had a superb afternoon, racing from 16th on the grid to finish a solid eighth.

Home nation China's CongFu Cheng, who was running in sixth place on lap 31 after the second round of pit stops, fell down the order to 10th after taking a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The Chinese star was determined not to give up, charging past USA with five laps remaining and finally crossing the line in ninth place, picking up two valuable championship points, moving the team up one position in the overall championship standings.

Netherland's Jeroen Bleekemolen was forced out of the action on lap nine due to a puncture caused by suspected suspension failure at the final corner while 12th placed Portugal received a drive through penalty on lap five for making a false start.

Narain Karthikeyan, who made history today by scoring India's first ever A1GP win, praised his team's brilliant work in the pits:

'The team has been working really hard at pit stop practices and they've done a really good job this weekend. Both the pit stops were excellent and we got ahead but unfortunately I got stuck behind Pakistan on my out lap so I couldn't push but I came out just ahead of Jonny. There was a lot of pressure towards the end but then his tyres went off as well as mine and then we were equal - after that I just got the job done.'

Jonny Reid, who raced from 10th on the grid to finish a superb second, was delighted with New Zealand's team work this weekend:

'It was a fantastic team effort. Obviously I'm very pleased to come from P10 on the grid and having struggled in qualifying to threaten for the win in the end. It's a credit to the team. My in laps were good, my out laps were good, and there were a few mistakes from my side of the fence so overall I'm very pleased with the whole team this weekend. Fantastic effort.'

South Africa's Adrian Zaugg was pleasantly surprised by his team's podium finish today and enjoyed some competitive racing:

'I was quite surprised myself that we had the pace to finish on the podium. We were quite strong from the beginning of the race and passed quite a few people, Great Britain was one of them. He (Oliver Jarvis) made a slight mistake into the second last turn so I got a good run down the straight and passed him into the last turn. It was really good racing.'

Switzerland has extended its championship lead to 79 points, 19 ahead of second-placed France on 60, closely followed by New Zealand just one point behind in third place on 59 points.

The championship now takes a five-week break before heading to New Zealand for round five in Taupo, marking the first race of the New Year on 18-20 January 2008.

Feature race results

Pos

Driver

A1 Team

 Laps

 Time

1

Narain KARTHIKEYAN

INDIA

45

1:08:30.759

2

Jonny REID

NEW ZEALAND

45

1:08:31.261

3

Adrian ZAUGG

SOUTH AFRICA

45

1:08:34.887

4

Michael AMMERMULLER

GERMANY

45

1:08:35.666

5

Oliver JARVIS

GREAT BRITAIN

45

1:08:36.026

6

Neel JANI

SWITZERLAND

45

1:08:45.275

7

Loic DUVAL

FRANCE

45

1:08:49.331

8

Tomas ENGE

CZECH REPUBLIC

45

1:08:57.899

9

Congfu CHENG

CHINA

45

1:08:58.338

10

Jonathan SUMMERTON

USA

45

1:09:04.147

11

David GARZA

MEXICO

45

1:09:20.112

12

Joao URBANO

PORTUGAL

45

1:09:34.590

13

Chris ALAJAJIAN

LEBANON

44

1:09:01.358

14

Adam KHAN

PAKISTAN

44

1:09:11.681

15

Ian DYK

AUSTRALIA

42

1:09:35.597

16

Adam CARROLL

IRELAND

27

1:03:01.695

17

Satrio HERMANTO

INDONESIA

19

0:31:17.476

18

Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN

NETHERLANDS

9

0:16:08.328

19

Robert WICKENS

CANADA

3

0:06:41.803

20

Edoardo PISCOPO

ITALY

1

0:01:53.984

21

Sergio JIMENEZ

BRAZIL

1

0:02:37.624

22

Alex YOONG

MALAYSIA

0

+

2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points standings

POS

A1 Team

Points

1

Switzerland

79

2

France

60

3

New Zealand

59

4

Great Britain

48

5

South Africa

47

6

Netherlands

41

7

Ireland

39

8

Germany

37

9

China

28

10

India

27

11

Brazil

22

12

Mexico

17

13

Canada

10

14

Czech Republic

10

15

Italy

4

16

Portugal

2

17

Australia

2

18

Malaysia

2

19

USA

2

Fastest lap: A1 Team Great Britain set the fastest lap in the Feature race, lapping Zhuhai International Circuit in 1m24.703s with a speed of 183.6 kph on lap 29 of the 45 lap race.

Next race: A1GP Taupo, New Zealand, 18-20 January 2007


Reporting by A1GP.com
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SPRINT RACE
Michael Ammermüller (Team Germany) took a controlled win.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Neel Jani (Team Switzerland) chased the winner all the way home.
(Picture A1GP.com)
"Frankie" Cheng delighted the home fans with a superb third.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Adam Carroll finished fourth for Team Ireland.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Tomas Enge showed all his old form with fifth in the Team Czech Republic car.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Oliver Jarvis (Team Great Britain) was just off the pace in sixth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
The start of the Sprint Race.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Neel Jani, Michael Ammermüller and Congfu Cheng share the winners podium.
(Picture A1GP.com)
FEATURE RACE
Narain Karthikeyan took a wonderful debut win for Team India.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Jonny Reid took every advantage to steer the Team New Zealand car into second.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Adrian Zaugg (Team South Africa) looked very impressive in third.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Michael Ammermüller (Team Germany) took fourth.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Pit stop problems wrecked the hopes of Oliver Jarvis (Team Great Britain).
(Picture A1GP.com)
Start of the Feature Race.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team India and Team Great Britain fight for position.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Adam Carroll had a race to forget for Tem Ireland.
(Picture A1GP.com)
A number of incidents resulted in the appearance of the Pace Car.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team Australia and Team Pakistan ended up off the track.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Satrio Hermanto (Team Indonesia) crashed following a puncture.
(Picture A1GP.com)
David Garza (Team Mexico) and Ian Dyk (Team Australia).
(Picture A1GP.com)
Team Lebanon pitstop.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Jonny Reid (Team New Zealand, Narain Karthikeyan (Team India) and Adrian Zaugg (Team South Africa) celebrate.
(Picture A1GP.com)
Chinese grid girls.
(Picture A1GP.com)