The second round of the A1 Grand Prix will take place at Germany’s EuroSpeedway in Lausitz on Sunday, and Stephen Simpson and Tomas Scheckter are among the candidates to drive the South African team car, Vulindlela, this weekend.
The second round of the A1 Grand Prix will take place at Germany’s EuroSpeedway in Lausitz on Sunday, and Stephen Simpson and Tomas Scheckter are among the candidates to drive the South African team car, Vulindlela, this weekend.
The inaugural A1 Grand Prix series, dubbed the World Cup of Motorsport, is the brainchild of Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum of the Dubai ruling family. It got off to a high profile start with one of the biggest crowds ever seen at Brands Hatch and a worldwide television audience of millions on September 25.
Simpson, the 21-year-old South Africa who won the national Formula Ford championship in 2000, drove a solid race to finish behind Brazil, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Malaysia after starting from the back of the 25-car field at Brands Hatch.
In the shorter, sprint race that determines the starting order for the main race, Simpson was forced to pit for a new nose cone after a first lap clash with the Netherlands’ car and lost two laps.
Simpson, who tested a Formula 3000 car at EuroSpeedway a few months ago this week said the circuit was “essentially a high-speed oval inside a stadium, with three banked corners and an infield section. Nowhere else in Europe can fans get so close to the action.
“It has a 40-metre high grandstand with 25 000 seats that protrude over the facility and when this is filled it promises to be a stirring spectacle for teams and spectators alike.
“Fans can expect quite a bit of overtaking, particularly at the first corner coming off the oval and going into the infield. The infield is very challenging and bumpy. I think we can look forward to two very exciting races on Sunday,” he said.
Like most of the teams, A1 Team South Africa will announce its drivers for the weekend on Friday before Saturday’s official qualifying. After turning in a good performance at Brands Hatch, Simpson is likely to be in action at the EuroSpeedway and IRL star Scheckter, who has extensive experience of racing on oval tracks, could be ideally suited to drive in the feature race this weekend.
Meanwhile, new names can be expected from the 25 nations competing, as several candidate drivers were not available for the opening race because of prior racing commitments.
SABC will broadcast Saturday’s qualifying live from 2pm to 4pm and Sunday’s two races live from 1pm to 4.30pm.