Switzerland’s Neel Jani claimed victory in this afternoon’s Go-GP.Org A1GP Gauteng, South Africa Feature race with what his Seat Holder, Max Welti, would most likely call a ‘gorgeous’ drive from fifth on the grid. The win means Neel Jani equals the all-time win record for a driver, Nico Hulkenberg’s record of nine wins for Germany.
Jani finished 13.176 seconds ahead of Brazil’s Felipe Guimarães, the 17-year-old putting in a mature drive to record the team’s best result of the year at the Kyalami circuit despite crashing heavily at the end of yesterday’s qualifying. Pole-sitter Clivio Piccione finished in third for Monaco after losing the lead to Switzerland in the first round of pit stops and then dropping behind Brazil after making a mistake.
As the feature race got underway, Switzerland made a fantastic start to move from fifth to second into turn one. A1 Team Ireland’s Adam Carroll was making a move around the outside of Malaysia for fourth when the pair touched resulting in the championship leader being beached in the gravel and out of the race.
Brazil made a good start, running in sixth by the end of lap one, while the battle for third was on as Malaysia began putting pressure on New Zealand’s Earl Bamber. Bamber’s defensive driving kept Malaysia at bay until lap four when Malaysia touched the rear wheel of New Zealand with Bamber spinning into the gravel.
Fauzy was then forced to pit with a suspected slow puncture from the incident and after changing a front tyre, he returned to the track, although now back in 16th place. A few laps later Fauzy returned to the pits for his mandatory stop and with four new tyres returned to the race track. On the same lap, Mexico and France also came together at the same corner ending both their races.
On lap nine the first mandatory pit stops began with race-leader Monaco not having the quickest of stops. Switzerland’s slick team-work enabled Jani to leap-frog Piccione and take the lead in Kyalami. Despite having a good stop, Australia had a disaster in the pit lane when John Martin stalled as another car came across in front of him when he was about to leave his pit box. He eventually got going but dropped down from third to 15th as a result.
USA’s Marco Andretti was the last to pit, but on rejoining lost four positions as South Africa, Germany, Lebanon and Indonesia all found their way passed the American car. Local A1 Team South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg was looking strong, having moved up from 15th to ninth, but on lap 17 coasted back to the pits and out of the race with gearbox problems.
Daniel Morad was putting in a good performance in the A1 Team Lebanon car to get passed Germany for seventh. Morad made his move around the outside of Michael Ammermuller through turn one before taking the inside line through turn two and the position.
On lap 19 the order was now Switzerland from Monaco, Brazil, Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal, Lebanon, Germany, Indonesia and China.
As the race reached half distance, Brazil began closing the gap to Monaco. The Brazilian car was only 0.466-seconds adrift on lap 24 with the 17-year-old finally capitalising on a mistake by Piccione to take second position.
In the second round of pit stops Switzerland had a ten second lead and another clean stop brought Jani out with a comfortable lead.
After the second pit stops, Malaysia continued to struggle with the handling of the car and was finally forced to go back to the team garage. The team worked quickly to resolve the problems and were finally able to send Fauzy back on track. With no hope of finishing in the top ten to score points, the team took the decision to use the PowerBoost and set the fastest race lap to score one point and Fauzy quickly accomplished this.
In the final stages of the race India put pressure on Italy’s Edoardo Piscopo for tenth. Narain Karthikeyan tried on a number of occasions to pass the 21-year-old Italian but to no avail.
Lebanon’s Morad was now chasing Great Britain’s Danny Watts for sixth and, with three laps to go, made a fantastic move on Watts to record Lebanon’s best ever A1GP finish, only its second ever points-finish.
Switzerland’s Neel Jani took the chequered flag 13.075-seconds ahead of a delighted Felipe Guimarães who recorded the team’s best result of the season and become the youngest ever A1GP medal winner. Clivio Piccione finished third getting Monaco’s first ever podium in its debut season.
Switzerland is now top of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport standings with A1 Team Ireland crashing out on lap one after an incident with Malaysia.
Neel Jani
“It was a little bit of a replay start from Taupo, from fifth to second. I was a bit worried starting from fifth, because I knew the first two turns would be very close and you could get knocked off easily, so my strategy was to just try the outside and it really worked and was a fantastic start. I then tried to follow Clivio (Piccione) and I struggled a bit. But then we had a great pit stop and I had good pace. I think Monaco had a bit of bad luck in the pit stop so that helped us too. But after it I could really keep up my pace.”
Felipe Guimarães
“I am so happy as it’s the first time I have been on the podium. Yesterday I had the big crash in qualifying and I didn’t think that today I would finish on the podium! But I had a great start then during the race the car was good. It was a bit worrying at the end because the engine was losing power, but we managed to keep going to the finish thankfully. I was pushing hard but not taking any risks and we brought it home in second. I really wanted to do a good job today and I have.”
Clivio Piccione
“At first we got in the lead and I kept a distance from Switzerland. The car felt pretty good as well. We got into our first stints and then comes the tricky bit – the pit stop. For now, we’re not the quickest team in the pit stops and we know it. But the team did the best they could and we know we’re going to work it out. Our second stint was a bit of a struggle as I suffered with a lot of understeer and I think my tyres were not at their best. I made a slight mistake and Brazil got through. Then we went for our last pit stop where we knew we had new tyres. We had a problem on the back wheel but got out in third. From there on I could push pretty hard and we were catching Brazil because they struggled as well. Still overall it’s a good result – I’m pleased with the final ending.”
© CAPSIS International
SPRINT RACE
Jeroen Bleekemolen back on top in A1GP
Jeroen Bleekemolen took the Netherlands’ first victory in Season Four in this morning’s A1GP Gauteng, South Africa Sprint race.
Bleekemolen drove a faultless race around the 2.65-mile Kyalami circuit to win by 4.407-seconds from Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque. Switzerland’s Neel Jani had a good start to move up to second off the standing start, but finished third after losing time trying to manoeuvre round Malaysia’s car, which had pitted in front of him.
Bleekemolen made a clean getaway from the standing start to lead the chasing pack into turn one for the first time. Switzerland had a great start from third to take second position from Portugal while India’s Narain Karthikeyan also had a good start to move up from fifth to fourth.
India was not able to hold position for long as an aggressive move by Clivio Piccione moved Monaco ahead into fourth with Ireland’s Adam Carroll also sensing an opportunity to get ahead only a few corners later, so pushing India down to sixth. China's Ho Pin Tung and New Zealand's Earl Bamber were having a good battle for eleventh. China made a move at turn 13 on lap three but out-braked himself allowing New Zealand to re-take the position.
Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy moved up ahead of France’s Nicolas Prost for eighth, while the Netherlands’ was storming away at the front with Bleekemolen having a 4.686-second lead over Switzerland by lap four.
With the order now the Netherlands from Switzerland, Portugal, Monaco, Ireland, India, South Africa, Malaysia, France and Italy, the pit window opened. The Netherlands and Switzerland were first in the pits with the following three runners staying out on track an extra lap.
Bleekemolen had a smooth stop but Switzerland lost time having to get away slowly to manoeuvre round Malaysia’s car, which had pitted just in front. Portugal pitted a lap later and was able to re-take second from Switzerland. After the only mandatory stop of the race the order was now the Netherlands leading by 6.4 seconds from Portugal, Switzerland, Monaco, Ireland, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Malaysia, France.
A1 Team Australia’s fantastic pit work boosted John Martin six places up the field to his eventual finishing position, twelfth. While A1 Team New Zealand moved up three places after the stop. Portugal was on a charge setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 9 with a time of 1m29.072s, slightly closing the gap to the Netherlands.
Further down the field, Great Britain’s Danny watts and Brazil’s Felipe Guimarães came together fighting for fifteenth. The pair touched heading into turn one with Watts’ car spinning into the gravel and out the race.
A very happy Bleekemolen came through to take the chequered flag and record the team’s first win in 45 races. Obviously South Africa is lucky for the team as its first of three wins to date was round the streets of Durban in Season One. Switzerland and Portugal completed the podium with Ireland taking fourth from Monaco on the last lap, retaining its championship lead.
Jeroen Bleekemolen
“I’m feeling pretty good. It all just went amazingly. It was a very hard race for me though, because in the beginning I could feel there was some kind of pull with the fuel pick up. It didn’t cost me any time but I could just feel it coming. And then after the pit stop the car just stopped and I feared the race would be over, but it started working again. I lost about one and half or two seconds, but luckily we were still able to win."
“In the beginning we were really quick, I don’t know why we were so much faster, but everything worked. The car worked really well until the problem came but then it still was exciting for me.”
Filipe Albuquerque
“The team did a very good job and I managed to pass Switzerland. I’m really happy with the fastest lap and second place. I’m still aiming for the lead of the championship. It’s going to be an interesting Feature race now because we are all together in the middle of the grid. We will see who the luckiest guy is because anything can happen."
Neel Jani
“We were second and then unfortunately we had some problems at the pit stop. First of all the pit stop was not that quick, and then I couldn’t get out because Malaysia was parked in front of me. We have to be happy with third though as its still points so let’s see what happens in the next race."
E.A. © CAPSIS International