Feature race results & standings:
Sentul, Indonesia A1 Team Canada fought their way from back of
the grid to win the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Sentul Circuit,
Indonesia giving them their first win of the season. In front of a
packed grandstand of 32,000 spectators, Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and government representatives including the
Ministers for Sport and Tourism, A1 Grand Prix laid on a
spectacular race, action-packed from start to finish.
It was turmoil from the green light with pole sitter Frances bad
start allowing second place Great Britain to take the lead off the
grid. Mexico also suffered a bad start and with cars taking
avoiding action as they went into the first corner, Japan and
Indonesia collided and the car bearing the rising sun ended up in
the barrier while Ananda Mikola managed to stay on track.
The incidents brought out the safety car at the end of lap one and
both Switzerland and Italy pitted. With the former obviously
realising this was against the regulations unless the car was
damaged, Neel Jani drove through the pits and rejoined the back of
the field. A1 Team Mexico had obviously suffered damage as his
right rear tyre came off the rim on lap two and so the car limped
back to the pits. Several of the drivers took the opportunity to
take their mandatory pit stop at the end of lap
two but Great Britain did not and so maintained the lead. The
safety car came in again at the end of lap three and as racing
recommenced there was a collision between France and Malaysia, with
the Sprint race winner having to pit for a new front wing.
The race was not the smoothest for the eventual winner as in lap
five Canada was given a drive through penalty for crossing the line
at the pit lane exit. A1 Team USA managed to keep going despite a
visit to the gravel trap while man on a mission, Nicolas Lapierre
found himself down in twentieth spot and a lap down on the
leaders.
The safety car was soon out on the track again to retrieve A1 Team
Lebanons car from the gravel but they were not the only ones to go
off at this point. Both France and Austria visited the gravel but
were able to get out under their own steam.
At this point A1 Teams Malaysia and Netherlands made their pit
stops from the front of the field but race leader Great Britain
stayed out, with the team saying that he was past the point where
he could pit when they knew the safety car was going to come
out.
The safety car came in at the end of lap 11 at which point the
order was Great Britain, South Africa and Portugal. Canada and the
USA were battling for twelfth place with the former getting by on
lap 12 followed closely by A1 Team Netherlands. The Indonesian fans
had to suffer more disappointment on lap 13 when their hero
collided with Malaysia and spun although luckily he was able to
continue. This was also the point when China joined the race having
fixed the gear box problems suffered in the earlier Sprint
race.
The number of cars visiting the gravel traps continued to rise with
A1 Team India and A1 Team Ireland off in turn three on lap 14 and
then to add insult to injury the Indian team were given a drive
through penalty for a false start and the Irish team retired at the
end of lap 15. However, there was some compensation for the Irish
team as driver Ralph Firman scored the bonus point for recording
the weekends fastest race lap at 1.19.029 at a speed of 180.6
km/h, setting a new lap record for the Sentul circuit.
While Great Britain and South Africa were leading, third and fourth
were Portugal and Mexico. A1 Team Mexico had made their pit stop
and so were in a strong position as the others hadnt. However as
they went into turn one at the start of lap 19 they collided with
Portugal and retired from the race while Portugal continued. The
safety car was deployed yet again but neither A1 Team Great Britain
nor South Africa pitted. The safety car came in at the end of lap
22 as the cars went down into turn one it was South Africa who got
the best of a side by side battle with Great Britain and came out
in front.
By the end of lap 24, it was obvious that A1 Team Canada could win
their first race as only rain could save Great Britain and South
Africa who still needed to make a pit stop each. India was not
having a good race and received its second drive through penalty,
this time for ignoring a red light when exiting the pit lane.
Another team having an uncharacteristically bad race was France
with yet another excursion to the gravel pit on lap 28 with A1 Team
New Zealand although no contact was made.
One of the scarier moments of the race was on lap 30 when following
contact with Malaysia, Netherlands spun and ended up coming back on
the racing line with A1 Team Portugal bearing down on him.
Thankfully the quick reactions of Alvaro Parente avoided an
accident and both stayed on track.
A1 Team Great Britains hopes of its first win disappeared at the
end of lap 30 when the car pitted and lost 44.5 seconds which
included time for a sticking left rear tyre. By the time Robbie
Kerr had rejoined the race, they were down in fifteenth.
Lap 31 saw A1 Team Germany head into the gravel with what was
obviously a problem with the front right tyre and A1 Team Czech
Republic visit the outs for a new nose. On the next lap it was
retirement for A1 Team Italy after a spin which left the car
stranded on the side of the track.
At the end of lap 33, A1 Team Canada was assured of a win as South
Africa made its pit stop. At this point there was less than one
second between Canada and Malaysia but by the time the cars crossed
the finish line at the end of lap 36, the gap was nearly two
seconds.
It was a great weekend for newcomers to A1 Grand Prix as Marcus
Marshall for A1 Team Australia and Christian Fittipaldi for A1 Team
Brazil finished third and fourth respectively. Fittipaldis
spectacular drive put them back up above A1 Team Great Britain at
third place in the championship points standing.
First-time winner, Sean McIntosh, A1 Team Canada: Its just an
unbelievable result after the Sprint race. I shot myself in the
foot in the Sprint race, and came to win from the back, even with a
drive through penalty. It wasnt an easy decision to pit early and
then having to do the drive through penalty I lost all the ground I
made up. I overtook about six cars after that and by the end of the
race there were quite severe vibrations in the tyres.
Ironically, it will not be Sean McIntosh that drives for A1 Team
Canada at the next races in Mexico and the USA as new signing
Patrick Carpentier gets behind the wheel. Ive set a high standard
for Patrick, the pressure is on him now. But the team has more
points now and I will be back in China and back strong, McIntosh
continued.
Second place man Alex Yoong said: Im elated for the team. The car
was very strong. We should have pitted earlier though, we could
have been even closer. This is what the Series is all about, there
was so much overtaking, the cars are strong and built to overtake.
Jos Verstappen and I had a real cat and mouse fight as we made our
way through the field. It is such a good result for the team and
for our new sponsor Proton. Having Proton on board has made such a
difference for the team, as we have been able to concentrate on the
racing rather than getting to the next race.
Finishing on the podium in his first outing for A1 Team Australia,
Marcus Marshall said: It feels really good to be on the podium,
especially after I didnt even know whether I was coming or not. We
really struggled in the dry and a bit in Qualifying but we kept
pushing all weekend. We never gave up, and although there was too
much wing on the car, which meant I was losing time on the
straights, I was setting good times in the other sectors. Im
really stoked for the team, Fosters and everyone at home. A big
hello to everyone in Australia.
Marcus Marshall and Sean McIntosh praised the crowds that cheered
them on. The crowd were awesome. I know there have been smaller
crowds elsewhere, but this is the same for any series, I
experienced the same in Champ Car, some places take to Motorsport
and some dont said Marcus Marshall.
The support for Ananda Mikola was amazing in the crowd and for the
other drivers as well. The country of Indonesia has been amazing
and the people really passionate and excited about A1GP, continued
Sean McIntosh.
A1 Team Driver Time Gap
1 Canada Sean McIntosh 55.55.779
2 Malaysia Alex Yoong 55.57.710 +1.931
3 Australia Marcus Marshall 56.08.396 +12.617
4 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 56.09.779 +14.000
5 Switzerland Neel Jani 56.12.288 +16.509
6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 56.17.625 +21.846
7 New Zealand Matt Halliday 56.17.998 +22.319
8 France Nicolas Lapierre 56.18.477 +22.698
9 USA Philip Geibler 56.22.092 +26.313
10 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 56.38.748 +42.969
11 South Africa Stephen Simpson 57.10.293 +1.14.514
12 Germany Timo Scheider 57.28.763 +1.32.984
13 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 35 laps 1 lap
14 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 35 laps 1 lap
15 India Armaan Ebrahim 35 laps 1 lap
16 Italy Max Busnelli 31 laps 5 laps
17 Portugal Alvaro Parente 31 laps 5 laps
18 Austria Mathias Lauda 24 laps 12 laps
19 Ireland Ralph Firman 21 laps 15 laps
20 Mexico Salvador Duran 18 laps 18 laps
21 China Tengyi Jiang 11 laps 29 laps
22 Lebanon Basil Shaaban 7 laps 29 laps
23 Japan Hayanari Shimoda 0 laps 36 laps
Series Points to date A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Sentul Circuit,
Indonesia 12 February 2006
1 France 132
2 Switzerland 104
3 Brazil 70
4 Great Britain 68
5 New Zealand 61
6 Netherlands 53
7 Ireland 50
8 Portugal 50
9 Malaysia 49
10 Canada 42
11 Australia 37
12 Czech Republic 31
13 Mexico 28
14 Italy 26
15 South Africa 20
16 Germany 15
17 USA 15
18 Indonesia 10
19 Austria 9
20 Japan 8
21 China 6
22 Pakistan 4
