Brad Morgan
4 February 2008
A1 Team South Africa's Adrian Zaugg produced a sensational drive in pouring rain to win the feature race at Eastern Creek just outside Sydney on Sunday. It gave his team a superb victory three weeks before the next stop on the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport schedule in Durban, South Africa on the weekend of 22 to 24 February.
Zaugg's timing could not have been better and his win will likely boost interest in the Durban race beyond its traditionally fantastic support.
Despite qualifying third for the sprint race, Zaugg managed only a seventh place finish in the sprint race that preceded the feature race, but his steady effort was merely the calm before the storm.
Sprint race
France's Loic Duval dominated the 14-lap sprint; starting on pole, he opened up a comfortable lead to eventually win by over nine seconds from runner-up Jonny Reid of New Zealand.
Canada, thanks to a brilliant drive by 18-year-old Robert Wickens, took third as the rookie improved his position from 15th to third.
Germany's Michael Ammermüller just missed out on a podium finish, taking fourth place, with the USA's Jonathan Summerton in fifth, John Martin of Australia in sixth, and Zaugg in seventh.
Feature race
The 21-year-old South African qualified sixth for the feature race, but his position improved before the race had started when pole-sitter Jonny Reid of New Zealand stalled, meaning the Kiwi car, "Black Beauty", was forced to start from the pits.
Duval, the winner of the sprint race, had qualified one place ahead of Zaugg, in fifth, but he stalled on the formation lap because of a clutch problem, which led to Team France being relegated to the back of the grid.
Team South Africa adopted a feature race strategy that called on Zaugg to stay out longer than the opposition before pitting and it worked out perfectly.
Into the
lead
He had an edge in speed in the wet over the two drivers in front of him, Switzerland's Neel Jarni and Great Britain's Robbie Kerr, turning in faster lap times around the Eastern Creek circuit, and once the other two pitted on lap eight for the first of two mandatory stops, Zaugg took over the lead and never relinquished it.
A sharply-executed first pit stop saw the South African ace rejoin the field with a six-and-a-half second lead over Jani. He proceeded to build on his advantage, turning in a series of fastest laps, which lifted him 11 seconds clear of the chasing pack by the halfway mark.
Another slick pit stop saw Zaugg back on the track with a 13-second advantage over Jani in second place.
Comfortable victory
Driving smoothly and with precision, he continued to pad his lead and by the time he claimed the chequered flag, Zaugg was close to 20 seconds ahead of the second-placed Swiss driver. Britain's Kerr took
third place, 25 seconds back.
Brazil's Sérgio Jimenez finished fourth, a long way back - nearly 43 seconds off the pace - which emphasised just how much Zaugg had dominated the race.
The South African's victory earned him 15 points in the championships standings, plus an additional point for the fastest lap, which he turned in nine laps before the finish, with a time of 1'39.034.
Speaking afterwards, a thrilled Zaugg described his victory as "one of my best races".
'A better pace'
He praised his engineer and pit crew for deciding on a strategy that played a big role in his success, and added: "I could see I was able to go at a better pace than at least Robbie (Kerr) and Neel (Jani), so I thought we had a good chance.
"We stayed out and put in some good laps and then pitted and got out ahead. It was very very hard in these conditions. Each time I was trying to get a move or to pass someone, but when you come so close the visibility gets so bad you can't see anything.
"It was just safer to wait until we got a chance for some clear laps and that's all we did," he added.
Confidence for Durban
Looking ahead to the next round of the championship, Zaugg was understandably in an upbeat mood.
"The win gives you lots of confidence, but each time it's a new race and a new day and I always give it my best, but definitely we have a great motivation coming to Durban," he reckoned.
Team South Africa's strong showing at Eastern Creek has the team in fourth position in the A1 GP standings, after six of 10 rounds, behind New Zealand, France, and Switzerland.
New Zealand and France both have 96 points, but the Kiwis have the edge because they have three wins to France's one. Team Switzerland is within easy striking distance on 93 points, while Team South Africa has 79 points, just two ahead of Germany.
POINTS
- New Zealand - 96
- France - 96
- Switzerland - 93
- South Africa - 79
- Germany - 77
- Great Britain v58
- Netherlands - 55
- Ireland - 50
- Brazil - 38
- Canada - 37
- China - 29
- India - 28
- Mexico - 19
- Australia - 15
- USA - 12
- Czech Republic - 10
- Portugal - 5
- Italy - 4
- Malaysia - 2
- Pakistan - 1
- Lebanon - 0
- Indonesia - 0
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