SA fifth in A1GP with one to go
15 April 2008
It was not the best weekend South Africa has had in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, but Adrian Zaugg and Vulindlela were still able to retain their fifth place overall in the championship at the end of a challenging and disappointing penultimate round at Shanghai in China.
Zaugg, 21, driving A1 Team South Africa's distinctively-coloured Vulindlela, overcame a lowly 11th place in the rolling start for the first of Sunday's two races to overhaul four of his rivals and finish a solid seventh in the 20-minute Sprint.
In the process, he scored four valuable championship points to close the gap to fourth-placed Great Britain by two points and to third-placed France by four points.
Bad Luck
South Africa was due to start from ninth on the grid in the standing start Feature race, alongside France's Franck Montagny and one place behind Great Britain's Robbie Kerr. However, the bad luck that seems to have dogged the team struck again, with the technicians encountering a problem with the new gear set they fitted between races.
By the time the problem was identified, the pit lane had closed and the rest of the 22-car field was lined up on the starting grid. South Africa was forced to start from the pit lane exit after the field had passed.
Zaugg did well to move up six places by half distance of the 70-minute race and was challenging China's Franky Cheng for 15th place. 'At the finish, after 38 laps of the 4.6-km state-of-the-art circuit, he was 16th.
Rivals France (eighth) and Great Britain (ninth) picked up three and two points respectively on South Africa.
First win for USA
Jonathan Summerton, 19, gave the United States its first A1GP win in the Feature race - becoming the 10th different winner this season - after Switzerland's Neel Jani dominated the Sprint race.
Summerton qualified second behind Jani, but took the lead before the first corner and was not headed throughout the race. Jani finished fifth, slowed by the loss of second gear, but did enough to give Switzerland a virtually unassailable 29-point lead in the championship heading into the final round at Brands Hatch in Great Britain in three weeks' time.
"We struggled to get the optimum set-up this weekend and, as a result, did not achieve the grid positions we needed for good results here in China,” said A1 Team South Africa general manager Mike Carroll.
'A good job'
"Adrian did a good job under the circumstances in the Sprint race and scored valuable championship points. We changed gear ratios for the feature race, but all we could hear was a 'clunking' noise inside the gearbox. By the time we had identified the problem, the pit lane was closed and we were forced to start from the pit lane.
"We were fortunate to come away with our fifth place in the championship intact, although we are now under threat from Germany and Ireland, who are nine points behind going into the final two races.
"We believe our targeted fifth place for the season is still achievable and we will be doing our best to even catch Great Britain, who are fourth overall and seven points ahead of us, but this will be a tall order on their 'home' circuit," said Carroll.
Disappointed but positive
Zaugg was understandably disappointed with the weekend's results, but remains positive about the team's chances of attaining its overall goal for this season.
"Although we battled with the car this weekend, the team worked hard and we improved as the weekend progressed," he said Zaugg. "We did well to score points in the Sprint race and once we missed the formation lap for the Feature race, there was not much more we could take from what has been a disappointing first visit to Shanghai for me.
"The pressure is on us for the last two races of the season in three weeks' time. Ireland and Germany are our biggest threats, but I’m sure we will be stronger at Brands Hatch and we will be working hard to achieve our goal of a top five championship result."
Championship Standings
(After nine of 10 rounds)
- Switzerland 150
- New Zealand 121
- France 111
- Great Britain 99
- South Africa 92
- Germany 83
- Ireland 83
- Netherlands 80
- Canada 75
- Portugal 50
The final round takes place at Brands Hatch, Great Britain from 2 to 4 May.
Source: A1GP.com
