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Donington
Park reverberated to the scream of Ferrari engines this
week as a string of the brand new breed of Prancing
Horse-powered A1GP single-seater machines took part in
their first test in the hands of the teams that will
campaign them when the new season gets underway. The
cars are not just Ferrari-powered, the new design has
seen design input from Maranello and is styled around
the Scuderia's highly successful F2004 Formula 1
chassis.
Trouble free was
the best way to describe the second day of testing at
Donington Park on Thursday with the new A1GP World Cup of
Motorsport Powered by Ferrari cars. Heavy rain interrupted
day one on Tuesday, but today was much drier with the cars
covering a total of 466 laps of the 2.5-mile circuit between
them and also beating the circuit’s 15-year-old track
record.
The honour of
going faster than the lap record went to A1 Team Malaysia’s
Fairuz Fauzy who continued where he left off on Tuesday on
top of today’s timesheets. The 25-year-old, who has competed
in ten races for his nation with fifth in South Africa this
year being his best result, was the driver who beat the time
set by Ayrton Senna in the 1993 Grand Prix of Europe. “It
was great today, the team did a good job to get the car
together with no problems. Today we did a lot of laps and
the more we do, the more data we are collecting. To finish
fastest today and beat the lap record is a real achievement
but we still need to work hard and I am looking forward to
Zandvoort,” Fauzy said.
A1 Team
Netherlands was in action with Jeroen Bleekemolen in the
Dutch car. “The level of downforce and brakes are a lot
better than before. The power doesn’t seem much greater but
I think that is due to the fact we have a lot more downforce
now. I don’t think the top speed will be a lot higher but
lap times will be a lot faster because of both the downforce
and brakes,” he commented.
John Martin also
put in a good performance for A1 Team Australia, with the
team announcing him as its main driver for the 2008/09
season. Martin impressed the squad last year during his 12
A1GP races, with his best finish being a popular fifth place
on home soil at Eastern Creek. His comment was: "It feels
really good to be back and I’m glad I impressed them enough
last year. I like the new car so it should be a really good
season."
Adrian Zaugg
continued the testing programme for A1 Team South Africa
while Edoardo Piscopo and Euro F3000 championship leader
Fabio Onidi both had time in the A1 Team Italy car. Chris
van der Drift, who competed in and was quickest in the
rookie session at the Season Three finale at Brands Hatch,
took to the track for A1 Team New Zealand.
A1 Team Pakistan
has also confirmed Adam Khan will not only race for the team
in Season Four, but will also be its new seat holder. "I am
looking forward to building the awareness for the team in
Pakistan through my role as seat holder, while also racing
for the nation at the A1GP events around the globe.
Combining the two responsibilities will certainly keep me
busy, but I also believe that having total focus on the team
will help to bring us more success both commercially and on
the track," said Khan.
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