A1GP Preview

Fingers crossed, it’s going to be a case of third time lucky for Team Great Britain in the globetrotting A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport. At the end of the two previous championships, the British entry was left in third place, as Germany took the honours in 2006/07 and France in 2005/06.

However, Team GBR ended A1GP last season on a huge high by claiming three victories and three second places from the final six races. As a result of that late success, the in-form outfit starts this campaign as one of the top favourites for title glory. And the A1GP action kicks off again at Zandvoort in Holland this Sunday.

“Hopefully, it’s going to be a great year and we can carry on from where we left off,” said Robbie Kerr, who is sharing the Team GBR driving duties with another of the UK’s bright young prospects, Oliver Jarvis. “We were the ones to beat at the end of last season, so we must be among the teams in the frame for the title.”

While clearly encouraged by his own prospects, Kerr also foresees another highly competitive championship. All the drivers have identical 520bhp V8-powered single-seaters, so wheel-to-wheel racing is guaranteed.

Moreover, the opposition features several former Formula One drivers, including Ralph Firman (Ireland), Alex Yoong (Malaysia) and Narain Karthikeyan (India), as well as many highly rated stars of the future.
Nico Hülkenberg marked himself out as the man to watch by helping Germany to last year’s title at the age of only 19. Willi Weber, the long-time manager of Michael Schumacher, is masterminding ‘the Hülk’s’ career, and it can’t be long before the talented youngster breaks into the F1 fold. In Hülkenberg’s absence, the German entry is now being raced by another rising star, Christian Vietoris.

“Germany and New Zealand were strong last season, and France and Switzerland were the guys to beat in year one,” said Kerr. “It’s going to be close between the five of us, and sev­eral other teams have a chance, too, so anything can happen. I can’t wait for it all to kick off.”

However, it will be Jarvis who will race the Union Jack-liveried machine in this weekend’s opening round. The 23-year-old secured Team GBR’s first victory on his last appearance in Mexico, and he’s determined to mount a serious challenge from the outset.

“The pressure is on me to open the scoring for Team GBR,” he said. “The better the start we make, the more it sets us up for the rest of the year. "But at the same time, if we can bank some reasonable finishes – say a couple of podiums – then we can certainly think about building on those results.” Jarvis believes he may have opened the floodgates with his milestone victory in Central America.

“Giving the team its first triumph was one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced,” he told us. “We always knew once we got that first one out of the way, others would come much more easily. With Robbie then taking first place at Brands Hatch, it rounded off a very good end to the season.”

So can Team GBR now go on to conquer the world? “I would be lying if I didn’t say we are looking to win the championship,” said Jarvis. “That’s got to be our goal, but it’s going to be a lot tougher. This will be the most difficult season yet.”

Looking at the bigger picture, the season ahead is make-or-break for the championship itself. A1GP has been through a couple of major management shake-ups since Sheikh Maktoum of the Dubai royal family introduced the initial concept of nation-versus-nation racing in 2004. And many of the individual franchises are now up for renegotiation at the end of this term. More worryingly, although the on-track action is often more exciting than that served up by F1, the series has still to attract either significant international sponsors or decent global coverage on terrestrial television.

Still, for the time being, A1GP will keep on delivering more than its fair share of spectacular motor racing. And on top of that, this is one World Cup that Britain actually could win!

How new regulations will turn up the heat

AS A1GP gears up for its third season, some changes have been made to spice up the action even further.

Sundays will still run to a double-header format, but the grids for both Sprint and Feature races will now be sorted out during Saturday’s qualifying session. In other words, the grid for the Feature round is no longer taken from the results of the Sprint – a situation which discouraged risky overtaking moves in the opening showdown. More points are also up for grabs under the new rules, with both races rewarding the top 10 finishers on a 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points scale.

The longer Feature event will now include not one, but two mandatory
pitstops, with the first to be taken between laps eight and 16. But to test team strategies to the utmost, the window for the second stop will only be revealed just before the grid forms.

“We’ll have to see how it all pans out after the first few races, but it should add to the unpredictability and excitement,” enthused Team GBR driver Robbie Kerr.