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Belmayne A1 Team Ireland will
continue the Asian leg of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport when they
head to Zhuhai, China next weekend looking to challenge at the front.
Adam Carroll will be
back behind the wheel, looking to
build on the team’s strong start to
the season which has seen it finish in the points in every race – one of
only four countries to do so. Last time out in Malaysia
the Portadown driver progressed from P13
at the rolling start in the Sprint Race to
finish 9th on the road by the chequered flag and reeled in further
points when a late stewards’ enquiry dropped both Germany and the Netherlands
down the field, promoting Ireland to 7th.
The Malaysian Feature Race
started well and, in spite of a high speed spin, Adam recovered well to
finish 7th overall taking four
more vital championship points. The team
is now looking to be back up on
the podium at Zhuhai, and is
targeting another double-points finish in
its efforts to challenge the top six contenders.
A new addition to the calendar
for this season, Zhuhai International Circuit is 4.3km long and has 14 turns.
Located one hour’s ferry-journey from Hong Kong, Zuhai was China’s first
purpose-build race track in recent years. With none of the teams having any
previous data, there will be a level playing field as everyone heads into the
unknown hoping to come out on top.
The Irish team currently lies seventh
in the championship standings and will be looking to close the gap to new
leaders Switzerland, with Carroll determined to return to the podium after
scoring a superb 3rd place in his first A1GP event in Brno, Czech
Republic.
Since the last
race, Adam took time out to fly
to Dublin to join Team Owner Mark
Kershaw at Motorsport Ireland’s Dunlop Champions
of Irish Motorsport Awards lunch. Formula
BMW racer Niall Quinn was announced as the Dunlop Young Racing
Driver of the Year and will join the team at Eastern Creek, Sydney, Australia
on 1 February 2008 to take part in the rookie test as part of his prize
for winning the prestigious award. Adam
will be ineligible to take part in
the rookie sessions from Australia onwards.
Adam Carroll: “We’re going to go
and put 100% into next weekend, we know where we need to improve and hopefully
we’ll be much stronger in China from the very beginning. I’m really looking
forward to getting to the circuit and I’m feeling confident and excited heading
into the race.”
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: “It’s a new
experience for all the A1 teams as it’s the first time we’ve all been to
Zhuhai. We have done a lot of preparation simulations and are feeling
confident. The whole team felt Malaysia did not reflect our true position, but
we’ve bounced back and are ready to show what we can do. It’s going to be a
level playing field and we’ve now sorted out a few issues we had with Adam’s
seat so it’s looking good.”
Mark Kershaw, Team
Owner: “We had a challenging weekend
in Malaysia but the team performed well
again and we are confident we will
once again be in the thick of
the action in Zhuhai. I think Team Ireland has surprised a
few people already this season, yet to be honest we have not really shown our
true potential, so there is plenty to come. Adam is working hard and the team has
never been more motivated.”
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