Sentul - New Zealands Jonny Reid has secured a double victory
at the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul, Indonesia event. In a
rain-affected and incident-filled Feature race, Reid won by just
over two seconds from Germanys Nico Hülkenberg and Frances
Nicolas Lapierre.
Polesitter Reid led into the first corner and withstood heavy
pressure from Mexicos Salvador Duran and Great Britains Robbie
Kerr for the lead. Hülkenberg, starting from third, pulled level
with Duran through turns five and six, but it was Kerr who finally
found a way into second, driving round the Mexican on the inside of
turn seven. South Africas Alan van der Merwe had an outstanding
start, moving from eighth to fifth by the second sector and past
Duran into fourth by the end of the first lap.
Relishing the wet conditions, Hülkenberg put Reid under heavy
pressure for the lead over the first lap and drew level with the
New Zealander down the pit straight at the end of the lap using the
PowerBoost button. Reid however kept his line and jinked to the
right down the straight into turn three to defend his lead from the
German. Hülkenberg tried the same move the following lap but this
time made it stick and powered through into the lead of the field.
Willi Webers protégé then went on to pull out a six second lead
over the next five laps.
Hülkenberg held the lead until the first round of pit stops. As the
heavy rain that had delayed the start of the race cleared and the
track started to dry, it was a gamble for teams on whether to opt
for wet or slick rubber. Reid was amongst the first to stop on lap
16, with Hülkenberg pulling in two laps later. The Germans stop
was slightly slower at 37.8secs, but the advantage the German had
built over the preceding laps was enough to put him back out ahead
of Reid. Even a brief excursion into the gravel at turn two on lap
19 was not enough to delay the young German.
Over the next two laps Reid however put in a series of times over a
second quicker than Hülkenberg to close the gap to just under a
second by lap 24. As the track started to dry, drivers returned to
the pits for a set of slick Cooper tyres; Hülkenberg stopping on
lap 30. With clean air in front, Reid put the hammer down to record
a quick series of laps and when he stopped on lap 33, he came out
in front of the German in the lead. It was not a straightforward
race at all and the weather came in and played a big part in that
race, said Reid. After the start of the race I was struggling
quite a lot and at the pit stop we made a change and the car was
much, much better as you could see in the lap times. I snatched
back the lead and pushed hard to get a gap. We put a lot of push on
at the end and I just got my head down.
Great Britains Kerr was looking good for another podium spot
behind the Kiwi and the German until Frances Lapierre caught and
passed him down the straight on lap 34. With strategic use of the
PowerBoost, the Frenchman pulled level down the pit straight,
taking the inside line through turn one. Kerr tried to fight back,
but with no PowerBoosts remaining, Kerr struggled to find defend
his line.
A solid fourth position for the Englishman looked assured until he
ran wide at turn four on lap 39, spun and stalled. A five minute
safety car period was called to recover the car and when it
withdrew it was a sprint to the finish, with only three minutes
remaining.
Reid made an excellent start and held onto his advantage over a
charging Hülkenberg to win by 1.178secs, the Kiwis first A1GP
Feature race victory, Fortunately I was able to take the win
today. Germany and myself have shown clear pace in qualifying for
the first half of the season and I am confident we can keep that
pace up. We have got a good thing going with the alliance with
Germany and it is working well so I have every confidence that I
can put two wins on the board at home. I am looking forward to it
and I will push hard to do that.
Hülkenberg second position retained the series lead for Germany. I
got a pretty good start and was immediately behind Jonny. I could
see nothing, it was so hard to work out the braking points and that
was why it took so long until I overtook Jonny or he made a
mistake. I didnt see a lot so when I overtook him I had a very
good car and everything was fine. On my second set of tyres I made
a mistake and I dont know what was wrong the car was much worse. I
had oversteer, understeer and it was just much, much worse than
before. It was very slippery to the end and there was a lot of
power oversteer because it was still not dry, but we had changed
the slicks and from the beginning to the first corner I knew it was
a lot better there was a lot more grip from the first
corner.
France moved up from seventh to third overall, following an
excellent start and race-long battle with Malaysia. Lapierre was
pleased with his result, Frances fourth podium of the year, It
was a pretty good race for us considering our starting position.
The race was okay. We struggled a bit at the beginning with the
first set of tyres, I dont know why exactly. Then the second set
was okay and we were able to come back fighting with Great Britain
and my team made a great call to change to slick tyres. The end of
the race was good and certainly we had Pakistan and Australia
between me and Nico after the safety car so I could not do
anything, but we need to start a little bit more in the front and
we will be okay.
Italy finished a remarkable fourth after starting 15th on the grid.
The Netherlands were a strong fifth and Malaysia was a solid sixth,
despite Yoong reporting tyre pressure problems on his second set of
rubber. The USAs Phil Giebler had another consistent performance,
running with the top three throughout the first part of the race
and battling wheel-to-wheel with Kerr for third on lap 24, but his
efforts were ultimately not rewarded when he lost time with a spin
and stall on lap 43. Marshals got the American back on the road,
but the damage was done and Giebler slipped back to 10th.
Last seasons Feature race winner Sean McIntosh had an eventful
race after he almost crashed into the South African pit garage
after a routine tyre change. The team had chosen slick tyres, but
McIntosh hit a puddle and slewed into the South Africans. He then
failed to finish after a wheel came loose and flew off his car on
lap 38.
Germany continues to lead the nations standings going into the
sixth race of the year in Taupo, New Zealand, from 19 21 January
2007. The visit will be A1GPs first trip to the track and the
first visit of the season to the Southern Hemisphere.
