After a 6 week sabbatical, A1GP made its return with rounds 7 and 8 at the Taupo circuit in New Zealand, and despite the Ireland driver Adam Carroll dominating practice, qualifying and winning the sprint race, Switzerland and Neel Jani, the reigning A1GP champions hit back with a stunning drive to win an eventful feature race to put the Swiss right back in the title running after a shaky start to their title bid, there was disappointment for Great Britain though, their first choice driver Danny Watts had to pull out of this weekend's action after his partner went into labour with their first child, champ car driver Dan Clarke was drafted in at the last minute by GBR team boss Katie Clements, he tried his best but lacked experience in the car, finishes of 13th and 12th have now all but ended British hopes of ending their title hoodoo.SPRINT RACE
Ireland dominated qualifying taking pole for both races, Adam Carroll was fast all weekend up to raceday qualifying ahead of Robert Doornbos (Holland) and Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal), as the race got underway, the start was largely uneventful at the front but at the back, Great Britain's weekend went from bad to worse as Dan Clarke was punted off by Brazil's Felipe Guimaraes. Carroll then proceded to increase his advantage over Doornbos, Albuquerque, Loic Duval (France) and the fast starting Neel Jani (Switzerland).
At the pit window, the Ireland team produced their own slick pitwork again to get their driver out in double quick time, but then on his outlap Carroll's bargeboard fell off and Doornbos had an opportunity to take the lead at their stop, but as Doornbos experienced gearbox trouble as he switched off the pit speed limiter, holding up both him and Albuquerque who had pitted at the same time, this meant that not only did Carroll regain the lead but Jani ended up being the big winner in the pitstop reshuffle jumping up from 5th to 2nd, Doornbos dropped to 3rd while Albuquerque dropped back to 7th but he did manage to take Edoardo Piscopo (Italy) for 6th before the race's finish. Carroll managed to hold on to win despite a barrage of pressure from Jani, Doornbos took 3rd with Duval (France), Van Der Drift (New Zealand), Albuquerque (Portugal), Piscopo (Italy) and Fairuz Fauzy (Malaysia) completed the top 8 point scorers.
FEATURE RACE
Carroll got a good start from pole position for the 47 lap feature race but Doornbos was under pressure right from the off from Neel Jani who got a blinder of a start from 4th on the grid, he took Doornbos on the outside of the 1st corner and then took advantage of Albuquerque's problems behind Carroll to steal 2nd place. Carroll then showed his class to pull away from Jani, setting a string of fastest laps in the early stint until he was the first of the leaders to make their first pitstop, the usual quick work from the Irish crew got Carroll out back in front once everyone else had done likewise. There was an uneasy incident however during the first pit window as Guimaraes (Brazil) and Cilvio Piccione (Monaco) clashed forcing the latter to use up their pitstop for a new nose.
It was then pretty much status quo at the front with Carroll again setting a succession of fastest laps to increase his lead over Jani but that was all about to change at the 2nd round of pitstops on lap 22, despiteanother impressive stop by the Ireland team, Carroll suffered a problem trying to get away from the pitbox, a fault with the car's anti-stall system caused Carroll to stall his car and the stoppage was all that Jani needed to overtake the hapless Carroll after his own stop.
After that, Jani, despite a safety car period and worries from the team over the radio about falling oil pressure in his engine, he coasted to his 2nd win of the season ahead of Carroll and Albuquerque who ended up with the fastest lap bonus point, John Martin (Australia) produced a great drive to take 4th, Doornbos (Holland) took 5th with Duval (France), Karthikeyan (India), Piscopo (Italy), Adrian Zaugg (South Africa) and Fauzy (Malaysia) completing the top 10.
There are high hopes for the next round at Gauteng in South Africa at the end of February where we should finally see a full grid of 23 cars with Pakistan, Canada and Germany expected to finally make their long awaited first appearances with the new car.
WORLD CUP OF MOTORSPORT AFTER ROUND 4 (TOP 12): 1. Ireland 65pts, 2. Switzerland 52pts, 3. Portugal 49pts, 4. France 41pts, 5. Holland 38pts, 6. New Zealand 35pts, 7. Malaysia 31pts, 8. Australia 30pts, 9. South Africa 17pts, =10. Great Britain 16pts, =10. USA 16pts, 12. Monaco 9pts
DRIVERS STANDINGS (TOP 12): 1. Adam Carroll 65pts, 2. Neel Jani 52pts, 3. Filipe Albuquerque 49pts, 4. Loic Duval 40pts, 5. Fairuz Fauzy 31pts, 6. John Martin 30pts, 7. Earl Bamber 29pts, 8. Robert Doornbos 21pts, =9. Jeroen Bleekemolen 17pts, =9. Adrian Zaugg 17pts, 11. Danny Watts 16pts, 12. Marco Andretti 13pts
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