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Oliver Jarvis gained further valuable points for A1 Team GBR
in both races at the first A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event to be held in
Zhuhai International Circuit, keeping the team in the Championship hunt in China.
Off the rolling start in the Sprint Race, Olly found himself
boxed in behind the leaders and had to brake early causing him to lose a place
to the Czech Republic.
Proceedings were then temporarily halted by an incident further down the field
at Turn 4 which bought out the Safety Car. With 11 laps to go the race resumed
but with the British team trapped between attacking and defending they couldn’t
make any further impression in such a short race so remained in sixth taking
some good championship points.
Olly made a fantastic start from second on the grid in the
Feature Race to take the lead from Switzerland and control the pack
until the first set of stops. Problems struck in the pit stop as the rear
wheels were spinning before the next set of tyres were on and the team lost
time which as a result dropped them down three places. After South Africa
found a way past the young Brit, he was P6 but gained a position when France was
called in for a drive through penalty. Olly pushed hard but on the second stop
was also slowed following damage caused during the first pit-stop. However, on
new tyres in the final stint he was the quickest car on the track and claimed
the fastest lap, and with it another valuable point, showing the clear pace the
car had.
After two solid points finishes at Zhuhai the team move up
the points table to fourth as they head into the Christmas break and will be
looking to continue making their way up the Championship ladder in the New
Year.
Oliver Jarvis: “We
lost a place at the start of the Sprint Race as I had to break early because of
the cars in front and Tomas Enge (CZE) just managed to carry a little bit more
speed around the outside. It was quite a difficult race to get close – every
time I tried to make a move on Czech
Republic I then had to
defend from India
behind. Its not exactly where we want to be but it was good to get some points
on the board ahead of the Feature race. The Feature was an extremely
disappointing result though. We had the pace and led the first stint, but the
two pit stops didn’t quite go our way. Its unfortunate but once again we showed
that we were very quick and when the luck goes our way we’ll start winning some
races.”
Katie Clements, Team
Principal: “Today’s results didn’t do justice to our performance – Great Britain
was the quickest car out there but unfortunately problems in the pit-stops
denied us of a certain podium. However we have moved up the Championship table
and will come back in 2008 to challenge the current top three.”
Channel Five will broadcast all the highlights from China at 0510
on Wednesday 19 December
Round 5 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport returns
in Taupo, New Zealand, on Friday 18 January
to Sunday 20 January 2008
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