DAY 1:
A1 TEAM MALAYSIA DEBUTS IN A1GP'S FIRST OFFICIAL TEST
Silverstone, U.K. - Thursday, 4th Aug 2005 - A1 TEAM MALAYSIA broke cover for the first time at A1 GRAND PRIX's first official test held at Britain's Silverstone circuit yesterday amongst 15 A1GP teams appearing at the famous circuit.
"It was a very positive day all round," said Alex Yoong who was at the wheel of the A1 Team Malaysia car. "As we did not take delivery of the car until late last week and had a lot to do in preparation for the running of the car, today’s focus was primarily on a shake-down and systems check session. Only later did I start to put my foot down a bit. We ran the car unpainted in its ‘bare’ form to ensure we had time to properly prepare the car. We will have the car painted into its scheme in time for when we run in France later in August.”
The first day's test was incident free and Yoong declared himself ready for the challenge, adding, "I was a little concerned about being out of a single seater race car for some time as I was racing in the V8s in Australia but, after 10 laps, I felt as if I had never really left racing a single seater, so I'm quite pleased with how the day has gone for the team today. We are looking forward to getting out on to the track tomorrow with new tyres and starting to put the car slowly but surely through its paces."
Yoong added, “The team members are also starting to get to know and work with each other well. That’s so important at this level of motorsport. I, of course, need to have confidence in how they have prepared the car and they need to have confidence that I will do justice to their hard work. As the car has been so late in delivery to us, the technical team worked to 0400 this morning to ensure we were on track on time. I am grateful to them for that kind of application and enthusiasm. Things are going well.”
When asked what the focus will be on for the second day, Yoong explained, “Tomorrow we will be slowly increasing the speed we run at and sometime, probably later on in the day, we will start to put in some lengthy sessions, increasing the numbers of laps we do between stops. We will also be changing the setup of the car significantly so we can start to really understand the way the car works. Its all part and parcel of getting to know then understand this new car.”
A1 Team Malaysia completed a total of 40 laps during today’s afternoon session on Silverstone's short circuit.
The Silverstone tests will continue on today (Thursday) before moving to Paul Ricard circuit later this month.
Fairuz Fauzy, who is back in Malaysia for a break after a hectic few weeks racing with his GP2 team, will be sharing test duties at Paul Ricard circuit alongside Yoong. At that test, the team is expected to carry out a full race simulation in preparation for the first round of the championship, slated for September 25 at Brands hatch, UK.
ENDS
A1 TEAMS AND DRIVERS AT SILVERSTONE 3RD AUG 2005
Australia - Christian Jones
Brazil - Nelson Piquet jnr, Danilo Dirani and João Paulo Oliveiria
China - Qing Hua Ma and Tingyi Jiang
France - Loic Duval, Alexandre Premat and Nicolas Lapierre
Great Britain - Robbie Kerr and Alex Lloyd
Lebanon - Kalil Beschir and Basil Shaaban
Malaysia - Alex Yoong
Mexico - Luis Diaz, Memo Rojas, David Martinez and Salvador Duran
Netherlands - Jos Verstappen and Jeroen Bleekemolen
New Zealand - Jonny Reid and Matt Halliday
Pakistan - Adam Khan
Portugal - Pedro Lamy
South Africa - Stephen Simpson and Thomas Scheckter
Switzerland - Neel Jani
USA - Jeff Simmons
A1 GRAND PRIX SILVERSTONE TESTS
3RD AUG 2005 - DAY 1 TIMES
Pos./Team/Time/Laps
1. England 48.888 47
2. Brazil 49.069 67
3. Switzerland 49.095 35
4. France 49.271 41
5. Portugal 49.393 68
6. Pakistan 49.506 34
7. Malaysia 49.634 40
8. USA 49.740 48
9. South Africa 49.864 42
10. Lebanon 49.976 58
11. Australia 50.066 52
12. Mexico 50.265 44
13. Holland 50.377 28
14. New Zealand 50.610 59
15. China 55.783 22
Comments
I feel bad for the Chinese. :(
Are you in England, Facty?
1. france
2. brazil
3. malaysia
How many laps did he manage to get in today?
A1GP SILVERSTONE TESTS - 3RD & 4TH AUG 2005
Day 2 - Final Results
1. France 48.251
2. Brazil 48.439
3. Malaysia 48.535
4. Holland 48.766
5. Portugal 48.835
6. United Kingdom 48.953
7. Pakistan 49.046
8. New Zealand 49.088
9. South Africa 49.115
10. Mexico 49.226
11. Switzerland 49.422
12. USA 49.514
13. Australia 49.675
14. Lebanon 49.876
15. China 50.640
should be a darn good series...top 10 within 1 sec.
son of Alan Jones who is the head of the australia A1 outfit. But that wouldn't be the reason why he got the drive? surely!
If you don't have a shit load of money, second best thing is for your dad to be running the team!
Hopefully someone like Will Power will get the second seat
The good part is, most countries will field two or more drivers over the course of the season. So I believe Will Power will get a shot in the car at some stage, only Jones will be behind the wheel in Australia...bad choice IMO.
Greg has driven a single seater for years, it would great to see how he handles it after years of V8 supertaxis.
The UK will win, of course.
The driver line-up is not so bad. Maybe I'll go along to Brands.
http://www.indyracing.com/pro/drivers/driver_info.php?driver_id=146
Scratch that, he's running Menards-Infinity again. He won at Milwaukee.
[Edited on 5/8/2005 by Jello_Biafra]
Dutch driver Jos Verstappen has said he has nothing to lose and he's looking to enjoy himself when the A1GP series gets underway at Brands Hatch at the end of September.
Verstappen, speaking to Crash.net Radio at this week's Silverstone A1GP test said he reckoned any chances of him ever making a return to F1 were remote and he wants to enjoy himself in the new 'World Cup of Motorsport.'
Explaining how the deal for him to drive the car came about, Dutch fan favourite Jos said, "We contacted the team and we were talking for four or five weeks and we made a deal last Thursday night."
Many observers reckon a move to a standard formula against young chargers can be a risk for an established star's stock, but Jos isn't concerned, he just wants to drive the car. "It's good. I don't mind to compete, the age doesn't matter I think, you still have to brake and turn the wheels like everybody else has to, we're all running the same car so I have nothing to lose really.
"The chance that I go back into Formula One is small anyway so I have nothing to lose, I enjoy myself."
And the car itself, something 'Jos the boss' will enjoy driving? "It's good. It's the first time that all of us have run the cars and it's very reliable, nobody had any problems so it's unbelieveable and we're really looking forward to this. It's a very competitive field and hopefully we can challenge for wins, and that makes it interesting."
Verstappen ended Thursday's running at Silverstone with the seventh fastest time.
I will be supporting the Dutch team with Jos Verstappen and their great team leader Jan Lammers who is in my eyes the best dutch racer ever and i got alot of sympathie for Jan!
This is a unique movie about the A1GP championschip, good quality:
http://www29.megaupload.com/files/3138119b953f47c88bd13d0851106986/A1.mpg
60 MB, 12 minutes!
Yes, that was dutch language, i live in Germany but i still speak good dutch:hehe:
I am not always charmed about JV butt i hope he will make the dutchies proud and wish him good luck, he is the best men for the Job!
Sorry about that I almost live in Germany so I speak also a little bit of dutch myself...
But, mark my words, after visiting this race we'll have another Verstappenista on this board...
He made an interesting remark after the test. Saying that there were cars out without painting, which should increase the car's weight by 6 kg ;) Why doesn't Minardi drive without paint? ;)