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A1 Team
Netherlands set the pace in free practice for A1GP Zandvoort, the
Netherlands today. Driver Jeroen Bleekemolen smashed the lap record in
his new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car with a time of 1m 25.387s, as the
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport 2008/09 season got underway.
Neel
Jani, driving for reigning champion A1 Team Switzerland, was second
quickest, an impressive showing considering it was his first taste of
the new car. He finished ahead of Ireland’s Adam Carroll, and the USA’s
Charlie Kimball. The fastest times were set in the third morning
session on a dry track, after a downpour of rain washed out the
majority of dry running in the early part of the day.
The
day did start dry however, and it was with after much anticipation, A1
Team Monaco became the first to turn a wheel in an official race
weekend in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari era.
It
was just half an hour into the first session that a sudden downpour
dampened proceedings, with all the cars retreating to the garages, but
the teams soon began to emerge for some exploratory wet laps.
Fifty-minutes
into the new season and the red flags were out as A1 Team Australia’s
John Martin hit the barrier in the slippery conditions. “In the dry it
wasn’t too bad but we weren’t really pushing that hard,” Martin
commented. “There was then a bit of rain. I went out, did a lap and
unfortunately put it in the wall. I started aquaplaning and the car
turned straight right.”
The
session resumed but the second red flag of the day came out when A1
Team Korea’s Jin-Woo Hwang beached his car at S-Bocht.
Fabio
Onidi put in an impressive lap time for A1 Team Italy to end the second
half of practice, an entirely wet session, 1.8 seconds faster than the
rest of the field with a 1m 38.845s. “This morning was ok,” he said.
“After the rain I made a few little mistakes but there was nothing
wrong with the car. We have improved the set up and we are continuing
to work on this.”
Earl
Bamber took to the track in New Zealand’s Black Beauty, with the
18-year-old set to make his race debut this weekend. Returning driver
Adam Carroll, was on good form for A1 Team Ireland as the Celtic Tiger
completed its few first laps, which including narrowly avoiding one of
the track’s local residents – a brown fox.
Carroll
said: “I was on my out lap when I noticed the fox at the side of the
circuit, he didn’t seem too bothered about the cars as he strolled out
into the middle of the circuit so I had to chase him off, which was
quite interesting! But it was good. We got a few laps in the dry to get
our eye in so we didn’t really push too much as we wanted to get a few
for the circuit. It then started raining quite heavily but once we got
the wet tyres on the car was great. I really enjoyed that session in
the wet and the balance felt good.”
The
strong wind helped dry out the track ahead of second practice, when
local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen made his mark. He was happy to end on top
going into the first qualifying session of the season this afternoon.
“It
went really well, we had dry running as well as running in the wet and
we were fastest in the dry and second fastest in the wet so we are
looking good,” he said.
Charlie
Kimball took to the track for the first time today in the USA car, with
IndyCar legend Andretti Green Racing now running the squad. After only
getting the call on Wednesday, the Californian landed in the UK to
shakedown the car at Snetterton yesterday morning, before heading to
the Netherlands. A winner at Zandvoort in junior formulae, the
23-year-old will get his first chance to race for his nation on Sunday.
Bleekemolen
didn’t have a perfect morning, however, after stalling out on track
following a spin and causing the session to be stopped. There was a
final ten-minute dash when it restarted, but no one was able to better
the A1 Team Netherlands driver’s time.
China,
Brazil, France and Portugal are all now working hard to prepare the
cars in time for qualifying after arriving in the Netherlands only this
morning.
Official Practice Session 1 – part one (09:00 – 10:00)
|
POS
|
DRIVER
|
A1 TEAM
|
TIME
|
GAP_FIRST
|
LAPS
|
|
1
|
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
|
NETHERLANDS
|
01:26.892
|
-
|
6
|
|
2
|
Adam CARROLL
|
IRELAND
|
01:28.483
|
1.591
|
11
|
|
3
|
Earl BAMBER
|
NEW ZEALAND
|
01:29.884
|
2.992
|
13
|
|
4
|
Fairuz FAUZY
|
MALAYSIA
|
01:31.440
|
4.548
|
9
|
|
5
|
John MARTIN
|
AUSTRALIA
|
01:32.162
|
5.27
|
7
|
|
6
|
Fabio ONIDI
|
ITALY
|
01:32.514
|
5.622
|
8
|
|
7
|
Clivio PICCIONE
|
MONACO
|
01:38.450
|
11.558
|
9
|
|
8
|
Neel JANI
|
SWITZERLAND
|
01:50.039
|
23.147
|
8
|
|
9
|
Felipe GUIMARAES
|
BRAZIL
|
|
|
0
|
|
10
|
Ho Pin TUNG
|
CHINA
|
|
|
0
|
|
11
|
Loic DUVAL
|
FRANCE
|
|
|
0
|
|
12
|
Satrio HERMANTO
|
INDONESIA
|
|
|
1
|
|
13
|
Jin Woo HWANG
|
KOREA
|
|
|
0
|
|
14
|
Daniel MORAD
|
LEBANON
|
|
|
0
|
|
15
|
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE
|
PORTUGAL
|
|
|
0
|
|
16
|
Adrian ZAUGG
|
SOUTH AFRICA
|
|
|
0
|
|
17
|
Charlie KIMBALL
|
USA
|
|
|
0
|
Official Practice session 1 - part two(10:10 – 10:50)
|
POS
|
DRIVER
|
TEAM
|
TIME
|
GAP FIRST
|
LAPS
|
|
1
|
Fabio ONIDI
|
ITALY
|
01:38.845
|
-
|
12
|
|
2
|
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
|
NETHERLANDS
|
01:40.668
|
1.823
|
10
|
|
3
|
Adam CARROLL
|
IRELAND
|
01:41.036
|
2.191
|
9
|
|
4
|
Neel JANI
|
SWITZERLAND
|
01:42.528
|
3.683
|
10
|
|
5
|
Fairuz FAUZY
|
MALAYSIA
|
01:43.038
|
4.193
|
7
|
|
6
|
Daniel MORAD
|
LEBANON
|
01:43.082
|
4.237
|
10
|
|
7
|
Clivio PICCIONE
|
MONACO
|
01:43.679
|
4.834
|
8
|
|
8
|
Earl BAMBER
|
NEW ZEALAND
|
01:44.065
|
5.22
|
9
|
|
9
|
Jin Woo HWANG
|
KOREA
|
01:44.532
|
5.687
|
7
|
|
10
|
Adrian ZAUGG
|
SOUTH AFRICA
|
01:47.646
|
8.801
|
8
|
|
11
|
Satrio HERMANTO
|
INDONESIA
|
01:48.422
|
9.577
|
11
|
|
12
|
John MARTIN
|
AUSTRALIA
|
|
|
0
|
|
13
|
Felipe GUIMARAES
|
BRAZIL
|
|
|
0
|
|
14
|
Ho Pin TUNG
|
CHINA
|
|
|
0
|
|
15
|
Loic DUVAL
|
FRANCE
|
|
|
0
|
|
16
|
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE
|
PORTUGAL
|
|
|
0
|
|
17
|
Charlie KIMBALL
|
USA
|
|
|
0
|
Official Practice Session 2 (11:30 – 12:30)
|
POS
|
DRIVER
|
A1 TEAM
|
TIME
|
GAP_FIRST
|
LAPS
|
|
1
|
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
|
NETHERLANDS
|
01:25.4
|
-
|
12
|
|
2
|
Neel JANI
|
SWITZERLAND
|
01:26.0
|
0.608
|
24
|
|
3
|
Adam CARROLL
|
IRELAND
|
01:26.5
|
1.145
|
15
|
|
4
|
Charlie KIMBALL
|
USA
|
01:26.6
|
1.211
|
18
|
|
5
|
Fairuz FAUZY
|
MALAYSIA
|
01:26.8
|
1.453
|
19
|
|
6
|
Clivio PICCIONE
|
MONACO
|
01:26.9
|
1.469
|
23
|
|
7
|
Fabio ONIDI
|
ITALY
|
01:27.2
|
1.86
|
19
|
|
8
|
Daniel MORAD
|
LEBANON
|
01:28.5
|
3.093
|
15
|
|
9
|
Earl BAMBER
|
NEW ZEALAND
|
01:29.1
|
3.74
|
6
|
|
10
|
Adrian ZAUGG
|
SOUTH AFRICA
|
01:29.1
|
3.743
|
14
|
|
11
|
Satrio HERMANTO
|
INDONESIA
|
01:29.3
|
3.943
|
23
|
|
12
|
Jin Woo HWANG
|
KOREA
|
01:31.4
|
6.005
|
13
|
|
13
|
John MARTIN
|
AUSTRALIA
|
01:36.7
|
11.319
|
2
|
|
14
|
Felipe GUIMARAES
|
BRAZIL
|
|
|
0
|
|
15
|
Ho Pin TUNG
|
CHINA
|
|
|
0
|
|
16
|
Loic DUVAL
|
FRANCE
|
|
|
0
|
|
17
|
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE
|
PORTUGAL
|
|
|
0
|
All
17 teams are now working flat out to set up the cars for qualifying
which kicks off at 15.45 this afternoon. In place of the four separate
qualifying segments there will be just a one hour session for this
event, with no restriction on the number of laps each car can complete.
These times will determine the grid for the Sprint race. The Sprint
race will not have the mandatory pit stop and its results will
determine the Feature race grid.
Nominated drivers for Qualifying – A1GP Zandvoort, The Netherlands
|
A1 Team
|
Driver 1
|
|
Australia
|
John Martin
|
|
Brazil
|
Felipe Guimaraes
|
|
China
|
Ho Pin Tung
|
|
France
|
Loic Duval
|
|
Indonesia
|
Satrio Hermanto
|
|
Ireland
|
Adam Carroll
|
|
Italy
|
Fabio Onidi
|
|
Korea
|
Jin Woo Hwang
|
|
Lebanon
|
Daniel Morad
|
|
Malaysia
|
Fairuz Fauzy
|
|
Monaco
|
Clivio Piccione
|
|
Netherlands
|
Jeroen Bleekemolen
|
|
New Zealand
|
Earl Bamber
|
|
Portugal
|
Filipe Albuquerque
|
|
South Africa
|
Adrian Zaugg
|
|
Switzerland
|
Neel Jani
|
|
USA
|
Charlie Kimball
|
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