It looks like A1 is beginning to get used to the new Ferrari powered cars, one man in particular, finally managed to deliver on the promise he showed in Zandvoort 5 weeks ago, unlike then though, this time he scored a dominant win in the sprint race and recovered well to take 2nd place in the feature race behind a first time winner, Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque. The big suprise though was the first appearance of the season for the Great Britain team, they only had limited testing with their new driver Danny Watts, but despite that, he still managed to grab a pole position and a pair of 3rd places. Not bad for a rookie. Series leaders though Malaysia had an unhappy time picking up just 6 points although this was enough to increase their lead at the top of the standings.
SPRINT RACE
Adam Carroll had qualified on pole position for the sprint race, but at the rolling start, he came under severe pressure fron the Netherlands car driven by ex-F1 driver Robert Doornbos, but going into the 1st corner, he managed to hold off the flying dutchman. At the same time, Britain's Danny Watts managed to haul himself up from 4th to 3rd passing the reigning champions Switzerland, who were also showing a welcome return to form.
Adam Carroll though was in a class of his own, with only Robert Doornbos able to keep up with Carroll's super quick pace, the pair of them were consitently at least half a second a lap quicker than the rest of the field. Behind them though, Watts could'nt hold off a hard-charging Jani who was sensing blood, and a podium spot, Watts though displayed some great defensive driving to hold off the more experienced Jani which would end up in him getting the podium finish he so richly deserved. Bufront though Carroll strolled across the line to take a dominant win ahead of Doornbos, before Watts croosed in 3rd place a massive 15 seconds later, the Irish now definitely look like real title challengers, especially if Carroll can reproduce pace like he did in the sprint. Behind the top 4 9Ireland, Netherlands, Great Britain & Switzerland) the other 4 points positions were taken by South Africa, Portugal, new Zealand and France, the french car this weekend driven by the great Alain prost's son Nicolas
FEATURE RACE
Carroll however didnt get the pole for the main feature, that honour went to Danny Watts with Carroll lining up 2nd ahead of Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal), Neel Jani (Switzerland) and Adrian Zaugg (South Africa) The feature race used the traditional standing start and from this, Watts got a blistering getaway, Doornbos (who finished 2nd in the sprint) didnt get away at all. Carroll didnt get the best of starts and would end up losing 2nd place to Albuquerque. The best start of all went to Monaco's Cilvio Piccione, who managed to get himself up from 7th to 5th, and then passed Jani for 4th at the 2nd turn. Doornbos's stricken car on the grid brought out the safety car for 2 laps.
Watts got the jump on everyone s the race restarted and so did Carroll, he now had a clear run on Albuquerque, but the Portugese driver had the inside line going into turn 1 and Carroll abandoned the attempt with Piccione lurking behind him. The positions would remain the same until the first round of pitstops. Watts pitted at the earliest opportunity along with the majority of the field, Portugal and Ireland though stayed out, assuming the lead of the race, Carroll pitted on the next lap, and after a super quick tyre change managed to get out ahead of Watts, but Albuquerque pitted on the next lap, the Portugese pit crew aced the pitstop and he got out ahead of the pair of them, even better for Albuquerque, he came out in a clear track while Carroll and Watts had traffic to deal with.
By the 2nd round of pitstops Albuquerque had managed to build up a lead of over 4 seconds as he pitted, Watts followed suit but unlike Albuquerque, he ended up in traffic which the Portugese driver managed to avoid, this would end up with Watts now battling to hold onto 3rd spot ahead of Jani. Until the 2nd pitstops, Carroll had not displayed any of the pace he showed in the Sprint, but now, with him in 2nd place and Albuquerque in his sights, he set off on a monumental charge, posting a succession of fastest laps in a bid to catch the leader. Meanwhile, the series leaders Malaysia were struggling somewhat in the higher reaches of the midfield, but that didnt stop Fairuz Fauzy, he pulled off a very brave move on the outside of Australia's John Martin for 5th on lap 35, 3 laps later, Nicolas Prost tried to do likewise, but ended up in the gravel trap, thus bringing out the safety car.
With all advantages wiped out the race became a short sprint for the finish, Albuquerque didnt manage to get the jump on Carroll he needed to give him some breathing space, Carroll on the next lap then tried a similar move to what Fauzy pulled off 6 laps earlier with little success, from then on he decided to settle for 2nd and Filipe Albuquerque made sure that Portugal would become the 17th different nation to win an A1GP race. Watts managed to hold off Jani to secure back to back 3rd places, Fauzy held onto 5th ahead of Martin, Cilvio piccione took 7th with USA's Marco Andretti finishing a difficult debut in the series with a fine points finish in 8th, the final 2 points positions went to Adrian Zaugg (South Africa) and Narain Karthikeyan (India)
NATIONS STANDINGS (TOP 12)
1. Malaysia 28, =2. Ireland 23, =2. France 23, =4. New Zealand 20, =4. Netherlands 20, 6. Portugal 18, 7. Switzerland 17, 8. Great Britain 16, 9. Australia 13, =10. Monaco 9, =10. South Africa 9, 12. USA 6
TOP 12 DRIVERS
1. Fairuz Fauzy 28, 2. Adam Carroll 23, 3. Loic Duval 22, =4. Filipe Albuquerque 18, =4. Earl Bamber 18, 6. Neel Jani 17, 7. Danny Watts 16, 8. John Martin 13, 9. Jeroen Bleekemolen 11, =10. Robert Doornbos 9, =10. Cilvio Piccione 9, =10. Adrian Zaugg 9
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