|
From the Netherlands to the Mountain - Chris Alajajian's world tour continues at Bathurst |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 04 October 2007 |
Fujitsu V8
Supercar Championship series racer Chris Alajajian returns to Mount
Panorama, Bathurst, this weekend for a short stop in what is fast
becoming a month-long world tour for the 20-year-old Sydney driver.
Willoughby-based Alajajian will race in this weekend’s sixth
round of the Fujitsu V8 series fresh from racing in the opening
round of the 2007 / 08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport series at the
Zandvoort circuit in The Netherlands last weekend.
t will
only be a short trip home, however, as he will jump on the plane
immediately following the racing at Bathurst to head to the Czech
Republic – and the Brno Circuit – for the second A1GP round next
week.
The month of October will see Alajajian visit three
different circuits in three countries and travel over 20,000km by
plane and car.
Alajajian is driving for A1 Team Lebanon in
the Nation-against-Nation series and made his international open
wheel debut last week.
He finished 14th in the first
(Sprint) race before mechanical problems unfortunately sidelined him
in the longer feature event.
Still, the performance drew
positive reviews from the Lebanese team management.
“Chris
coped well with the pressures of the challenge that he had, not only
with his A1GP debut, but also having the weather to contend with,”
Seat holder Tameem Auchi said.
”I think it’s been
a promising start for the season ahead.”
Alajajian said today
that the last week had been one of the most exciting in his brief
career.
”I’ve certainly travelled internationally more in the
last month than I have in my entire life,” he said.
”It has
been an amazing experience and there is a lot more to come. To be
able to drive for A1 Team Lebanon in the World Cup of Motorsport is
a great opportunity for me.”
Alajajian added that his first
weekend in International Open Wheel competition was a challenging
yet rewarding experience.
”It was such a massive learning
curve for me, and to make matters worse all of the practice and
qualifying was in the wet. When I got to the first race it was the
first time that I had driven the Zandvoort circuit in the dry so it
was very challenging.
”A1GP is very competitive. Some of the
drivers in the series have a heap of experience and have been racing
in the series since it started, so the competition is very tough.
The cars are all even and the racing is close so it’s a tough job to
be competitive as a rookie. Miles are everything.
”The cars
are awesome to drive at a fast track like Zandvoort. The fans from
The Netherlands are amazing – there were so many of them filling the
circuit,” he enthused.
”Jumping back into a V8 Supercar this
weekend has been an even bigger challenge. The cars are so
completely different – I got to the top of the mountain in the V8
this morning (in opening practice) and went ‘Woah!'
“But
within a few laps everything was coming back and I was back in the
groove of driving a V8. Today didn’t go quite to plan however - we
didn’t get a totally clear run. There is definitely more to come
from the car tomorrow.” He said.
”I’m looking forward to
getting into the racing this weekend before heading to the Czech
Republic to get back into the A1GP car.”
Alajajian took his
#43 Protecnica Racing / Jack Hillermans Smash VZ Commodore to 13th
fastest time in today's combined practice session times ahead of
tomorrow’s qualifying and opening race.
The next round of the
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will be held at Brno, in the Czech
Republic, next weekend - Alajajian flying out from Sydney early in
the week.
|
News