Drivers succumbed to extra-tight hairpin bends and sticky safety car situations in this weekend’s Chinese A1 Grand Prix, which was held at the Jingkai street circuit. However, South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg recovered from a disastrous spin in the sprint event to finish fifth in the feature race.
Drivers succumbed to extra-tight hairpin bends and sticky safety car situations in this weekend’s Chinese A1 Grand Prix, which was held at the Jingkai street circuit. However, South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg recovered from a disastrous spin in the sprint event to finish fifth in the feature race.
A1 Team Italy’s Enrico Toccacelo secured the nation’s first-ever feature race victory in an incident-filled event in Beijing, China on Sunday. Great Britain came in second position, with Australian Karl Reindler third. After starting at 17th on the grid, France finished in fourth position, while South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg finished fifth after a close battle in the dying stages of the race with the Czech Republic’s Tomas Enge.
Team Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen, who started from pole position, made a clean start with Mexico’s Salvador Duran in second, before the race was interrupted by the safety car, which was deployed after Team Pakistan’s Nur Ali crashed into the barrier on lap two. Ireland’s Michael Devaney clipped his car at the entrance to the pit lane, and marshals were required to push the car back into a run-off zone.
When racing resumed, Bleekemolen and Duran battled for the lead before the Mexican lost second gear and retired shortly thereafter. That allowed Italy and Germany to dive ahead, but their charge was quickly reined in when the safety car was redeployed on lap 20… The Swiss team’s car had to be cleared from the circuit after Neel Jani spun too close to the pit lane entrance.
Canada’s James Hinchcliffe was at the front when the race resumed, but after his pit stop he rejoined the race further down the field. An ensuing tussle between Hinchcliffe and France’s Nicolas Lapierre saw the Canadian youngster’s car career into the wall on the penultimate lap.
Following the retirements of Bleekmolen (spin) and Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg (retired in the pits on lap 53 with gearbox problems), Team Italy seized the lead of the race and clinched a famous A1 victory.
“This is a really good result for us and I am really happy to be back here in A1GP, in Beijing and winning the race. In the first race I was third and was really pleased because I was pretty confident, as the car was quite good. I have been a little bit lucky in the last laps but anyway I feel the car was good and I was the quickest in the race,” Toccacelo said.
Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis benefited most from Germany’s problems as he moved into second overall on his A1GP race début. “At the start of the race the team discussed the strategy and we knew it was all going to be about being there at the end as it is a street circuit. A lot of people made mistakes and also the car struggled to get over the kerbs and the bumps. I think we could have had a better run in the first race but at the end of the day we have ended up on the podium and that is where we want to be.”
Meanwhile, Zaugg just pipped Enge to fifth place after making a bold move on the inside of the hairpin. The South African started the feature race from the back of the field after spinning off in the opening laps of the sprint race. Brazil and Singapore completed the feature race’s top eight. In the sprint race, Team Netherlands took the flag ahead of Mexico, Italy, Canada and Germany. Brazil rounded out the top six.
Following the Chinese race, Mexico leads the championship series ahead of the next round in Sepang from November 24 to 26.
