A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Monterrey, Mexico, 26 Feb
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Race Track: Parque Fundidora
Location: Mexico
Race Day: Sunday, 26 February 2006
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The venue for round nine of the inaugural A1 Grand Prix series has one of the most spectacular backdrops of any circuits on the international motorsport scene. Sure, there are impressive mountains surrounding the city of Monterrey in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, but it's the disused steelworks around which it threads that dominates the skyline. A1GP series ground agent Ron Dickson knows it well, for he used the experience he had gained by creating a street coircuit in Surfers Paradise on Australia's Gold Coast to design it. So, it's safe to say that this former racer is excited at the prospect of A1GP entertaining the passionate Mexican race fans.
Built for the Champ Car series with the backing of Champ Car magnates Jerry Forsythe and Pat Patrick, the Fundidora Park circuit was an instant hit on its 2001 debut, attracting 318,000 fans through its turnstiles over the four days of its inaugural meeting, helped in no small part by Mexican hero Adrian Fernandez being a potential winner. As it was, he qualified poorly and Cristiano da Matta claimed the inaugural win. Da Matta won there again in 2002, with new A1 Team Brazil driver Christian Fittipaldi finishing third. Patrick Carpentier, who will be making his debut for A1 Team Canada here, was seventh. In 2003, Paul Tracy was triumphant, with Carpentier and A1 Team Malaysia racer Alex Yoong eighth and ninth respectively. Carpentier improved to fourth in 2004 as Sebastien Bourdais took the honours. Most recently, in 2005, Bruno Junqueira was the winner, with recent A1 Team Australia signing Marcus Marshall gaining useful experience of the circuit's twists and turns.
The lap is 2.104 miles (3.386km) long, with its open and wide lay-out permitting an average lap speed (for an 800bhp Champ Car) of 100mph. Overtaking should be possible into quite a few of its 13 corners. The first turn is a right flick that feeds almost immediately into a long left onto a straight that is bisected by a right-left chicane. The track then doubles back on itself through a left-hand hairpin before a short straight feeds it past the steelworks and then a baseball stadium into a long right-hander with a left-right chicane on its exit. After another straight and a 90 degree left, there's a a long left onto another straight and then the final sequence of corners. This starts with a 90 degree left into a long right and then a long left back onto the start/finish straight. The track surface is relatively low in grip.
The Fundidora Park baseball stadium alongside the circuit will also be busy when A1GP comes to Monterrey as it will be holding a concert on the Saturday night for Mexican band RBD. Better still, it will be hosting the Rolling Stones on 1 March.
Mexico is the powerhouse of Central America, as a country of almost 2 million square kilometres with a population of more than 100 million. With Vicente Fox at its helm, economic growth has been strong and cities such as Monterrey - home to A1 Grand Prix's first visit to Mexico this weekend - are very much at the vanguard of the country's growth, albeit dwarfed by the capital Mexico City which is home to 17 million.
Located not far from the border with the United States of America in the north-eastern corner of Mexico, Monterrey is an industrial city of more than 2.5 million inhabitants that draws its wealth from iron and sateel, textiles, chemicals and food processing.
Mexican history can be traced back to 2600 BC, thanks to the Mayan ruins on the Yucatan peninsula near the country's southern borders with Belize and Guatemala. The Zapotec civilisation, also in the south of the country, can be traced back to between 1000 and 500 BC, with the Mayans continuing in power until 1000 AD. By the 12th century, the Aztec started to take over, building their capital up in the mountains at what is now Mexico City in 1325. King Montezuma expanded the Aztec empire in the 15th century, but the Spaniards arrived in 1519, conquered the Aztecs and colonised the country. Diseases that arrived with the colonisers then reduced the indigenous population from 21 million to just one million as they had no resistance.
Mexico remained under Spain's control until 1821, with Augustin de Iturbide proclaiming himself Emperor Augustin I the following year.
The United States of America then became interested and fought over territory with Mexico between 1846 and 1848, annexing California and New Mexico. Next to attempt to wrest control were the French who installed Archduke Maximilian of Austria as emperor in 1864. He was shot dead three years later and Benito Juarez resumed the presidency.
Civil war took place in 1911 and Mexico boomed after the Second World War through foreign investment, with many of these bills made payable by the discovery of oil reserves in the state of Chiapas in 1976. -
Qualifying results and sprint race grid:
25/02/2006 - Monterrey, Mexico – A1 Team South Africa has taken its first pole position in the World Cup of Motorsport recording an aggregate time nearly one second faster than series’ leader France. In an exciting climax to the afternoon’s sessions, Stephen Simpson snatched pole in the dying seconds, setting the fastest lap of the day with a time of 1.22.078 in the fourth segment.
The session started with all 22 cars sitting in the pit lane with no-one wanting to head out first on to what was a very dirty track. Graham Rahal, new to A1GP this weekend for A1 Team Lebanon, eventually made the first move and led the way for the rest of the field. It was a busy afternoon with all the teams recording a flying lap time in every segment, with the exception of A1 Team Canada after the weekendÂ’s other new driver, Patrick Carpentier spun off in segment two.
First time pole sitter, Stephen Simpson, said ‘I didn’t expect to be on pole when I woke up this morning, the car is working really well and I got to grips with the track quickly. Our progress has been building in the last few races, and my confidence has been building too. There is a great atmosphere in the team and things can only get better. I didn’t realise I lost pole in the last session, the team just told me that I was the last fast car on track so I just put my head down and tried to see what I could do.’
Alex Premat, driving for A1 Team France said: ‘Qualifying was really interesting, Stephen was really fast and did a great job. We improved throughout the session but it wasn’t enough. Maybe tomorrow we will have rain, I hope so as the car is great in the rain.’
Switzerland’s Neel Jani said: ‘The top three is always good, I knew we couldn’t go for pole as Stephen was too quick, but I thought we might be able to get second. Qualifying was quite difficult, there was so much sand at the beginning of the session, but by the end there was hardly any left, so the track was getting quicker and quicker. I don’t think third is too bad tomorrow for the Sprint race as I will have the inside line.’
A1 Team Driver Aggregate Time
1 South Africa Stephen Simpson 2.44.895
2 France Alexandre Premat 2.45.848
3 Switzerland Neel Jani 2.46.147
4 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 2.46.657
5 USA Bryan Herta 2.46.820
6 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 2.46.894
7 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 2.46.975
8 Ireland Ralph Firman 2.46.991
9 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 2.47.066
10 Portugal Alvaro Parente 2.48.071
11 Malaysia Alex Yoong 2.48.447
12 Germany Timo Scheider 2.48.810
13 New Zealand Matt Halliday 2.49.025
14 Mexico Salvador Duran 2.49.090
15 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 2.49.147
16 Lebanon Graham Rahal 2.49.266
17 Japan Hayanari Shimoda 2.49.364
18 Austria Patrick Friesacher 2.49.343
19 Canada Patrick Carpentier 2.49.511
20 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 2.50.169
21 Australia Christian Jones 2.54.116
22 China Ma Quinghua 2.56.400
Despite a regulation which allows A1 Teams to switch drivers between Qualifying and the Sprint race, all teams have decided to retain their qualifying selection and there will be no driver changes.
The Sprint race will be contested over 50 miles lasting up to 30 minutes in duration. With a rolling start at 13.30 local time, tomorrowÂ’s race will be run over 18 laps of the 3.39 km circuit. The outcome of the race determines the grid positions for the Feature race which will start at 15.00 local time with a standing start. The Feature race will be run over 100 miles (36 laps) lasting up to 60 minutes in duration. -
Sprint race results:
26/02/2006 - Monterrey, Mexico – A clean start to the Mexican Sprint race led quickly to an action-packed half-hour as a collision between A1 Teams Mexico and Ireland saw both cars leave the track on the first lap. The safety car was deployed as the track was cleared and the remaining cars took their positions behind it.
Unusually, it was under this safety car session that the next big incident occurred. As the pack headed onto the main straight at the end of lap four Japanese driver, Hayanari Shimoda sped to close the gap between himself and New ZealandÂ’s Black Beauty ahead. But as Matt Halliday braked while Shimoda accelerated the two cars collided with Japan flipping over New ZealandÂ’s rear, rolling twice before landing upside down on the main straight. Bodywork covered the track and the safety car continued to lead the field as a safe route through the debris was cleared. A1 Team New Zealand headed into the pit lane at the end of lap five and the safety car peeled off one lap later.
As racing began again, the NetherlandÂ’s Jos Verstappen started his advance through the field, improving on his gains from the opening lap. A1 Team South Africa suffered its second blow of the day, retiring at the end of lap seven with Vulindlela losing power and dropping down the field.
The top four places looked set and the battle moved further down the field as Great BritainÂ’s Robbie Kerr edged past experienced Monterrey driver, Patrick Carpentier in the Canadian car. Great Britain moved into tenth place and took on its closest SeriesÂ’ rival, A1 Team Brazil. On lap 13, Kerr made his move, pulling alongside Christian Fittipaldi but as their wheels touched, the red, white and blue car spun, narrowly missing the Canadian he had overtaken just two laps before. A1 Team Brazil continued to race but as the damaged caused in the collision began to slow the car, Great Britain tried again and climbed above Brazil one lap later.
Commenting on A1 Team France’s twelfth win, Alexandre Premat said: ‘I’m really pleased with the win, but the car was really difficult to drive. There was a lot of understeer and I will have to speak to the engineers to see what we can do for the Feature race. It will be important to get a good start here as it is difficult to overtake. We’ll see what happens.’
Second place man, Neel Jani commented: ‘It’s very difficult to overtake here, and it is so dirty off line there isn’t much you can do. It just isn’t worth the risk in the Sprint race, as the big race is coming up. Commenting on what will be his last race for A1 Team Switzerland, Neel said: ‘I would really like to win the race, we have lead about three Feature races before, some right until the last lap and still not won, so obviously I would like to add a Feature race win to my record.
Finishing third in his first race since Dubai, Enrico Toccacello said: ‘We had a great result in Dubai and it’s great to be back in the car now. It is the nature of A1GP to try different drivers and focus on the nation, but I’m really glad to be back driving. We starting improving in Malaysia, and got better in Dubai, and I showed in this race that I am fast. We have a good set up and I’m confident for the next race.’
A1 Team Driver Time
1 France Alex Premat 29.20.743
2 Switzerland Neel Jani 29.21.026
3 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 29.21.617
4 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 29.22.884
5 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 29.34.296
6 USA Bryan Herta 29.40.822
7 Malaysia Alex Yoong 29.43.613
8 Germany Timo Scheider 29.44.100
9 Canada Patrick Capentier 29.46.979
10 Austria Patrick Friesacher 29.47.654
11 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 29.49.444
12 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 29.59.203
13 Lebanon Graham Rahal 30.02.149
14 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 30.11.492
15 China Tengyi Jiang 30.12.464
16 Australia Christian Jones 30.33.185
17 South Africa Stephen Simpson 9 Laps
18 New Zealand Matt Halliday 4 Laps
19 Portugal Alvaro Parente 4 Laps
20 Japan Hayanari Shimoda 3 Laps
21 Ireland Ralph Firman 0 Laps
22 Mexico Salvador Duran 0 Laps -
Feature race results:
26/02/2006 -
Monterrey, Mexico – The second clean start of the weekend meant all the cars made it round the first lap. As is quite often the case, many of the teams pitted early for their mandatory pit stop with race leader France first in and executing a trouble-free stop in 51.3 seconds. Much to the disappointment of the local fans, A1 Team Mexico was not able to take part in the opening laps as their mechanics were still repairing the damage after the Sprint race incident and the leaders completed four laps before Mexico joined the field.
A couple of teams with problems early on as A1 Team Brazil was given a drive through penalty for a false start and A1 Team Canada for speeding in the pit lane. By the end of lap eight, all but one team had pitted and the one still out in front was A1 Team USA with a lead of over 28 seconds. A1 Team Mexico was still suffering as their car was shown a mechanical black flag and pitted at the end of his seventh lap for repairs and retired from the race at the same time as A1 Team Ireland.
While A1 Team France extended its lead there was some good battles going on behind with Switzerland, Germany and Italy involved in one and New Zealand, Austria and the Czech Republic in another.
An incident going into turn one on lap 22 between A1 Teams Indonesia and Australia saw the only safety car period of the race. Indonesia had just passed Australia but the car of Ananada Mikola then speared into the car of Christian Jones which retired there and then while the Indonesian made it round to the pits for a new nose cone.
The safety car pulled in at the end of lap five and the car of A1 Team GBR was able to overtake that of A1 Team Czech Republic. At this point Robbie Kerr still had eight of his PowerBoosts left and over the next few laps he used them to good effect by passing Austria for seventh on lap 28, and then New Zealand for sixth on lap 30.
The battle for seventh spot was a train headed by A1 Team New Zealand with Austria, the Czech Republic and Portugal fractions of a second behind. The winner of the battle was the Czech Republic who got by both Austria and New Zealand before the chequered flag came out to give A1 Team France its thirteenth win of the season.
While only Switzerland has a mathematical chance of beating France to win the first World Cup of Motorsport, it is all to play for between A1 Teams Great Britain and Brazil with them having swapped places again as Robbie Kerr now goes to the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca 3 points ahead of the Brazilians.
‘The race was fun, and the car was quite good,’ said A1 Team France’s Alexandre Premat. ‘We changed quite a lot in the break after the Sprint race. We got the fastest lap as well which is nice. After the safety car it was really close so I had to push quite hard which was difficult with the tyres as I had no grip.’
Commenting on the possibility of A1 Team France winning the first World Cup of Motorsport with team mate Nicolas Lappierre at the wheel, Alexandre said: ‘I don’t mind really. I think he will do a good job, and I think we could win both races.’
Jos Verstappen driving for A1 Team Netherlands said: ‘After France pitted early we were pushing really hard, as were Switzerland I think. But it is difficult to overtake here and we have to be happy with second. This season we have been really good at pit stops and today’s was fantastic too. I think we missed taking the lead by about half a second. It was very close with Alex after the pit stop. We have done really well to finish second, when we came here on Friday it was really difficult for us, and we have got better and better over the weekend.’
Asked why he didn’t use his PowerBoost button at all in the Feature race, Jos replied ‘It didn’t make much difference here. The straight is very short and it is best to concentrate on the first corner rather than looking for the PowerBoost button.’
A1 Team Switzerland’s Neel Jani said: ‘First of all I would like to thank the team, I’ve had a great time this season. The start today was OK, I took second and was able to put pressure on France pretty much straight away. Our pit stop was good too, but in the end we didn’t improve the car enough in between the two races, as the other teams did.’
Commenting on his time racing in A1 Grand Prix, Neel said: ‘In the beginning it is no different, it is like racing for yourself. But after a while you get more into it, and realise you are driving for Switzerland. You start to have a really national feeling, with all the support and ambassadors visiting. It gives you a special feeling to be driving for your country. I’ve had a really nice time driving in A1 Grand Prix and I’ve managed to get lots of podiums. As they say in German, one eye is crying and the other is laughing. I’m sad to leave but looking forward to my next challenge.’
A1 Team Driver Time Gap first
1 France Alexandre Premat 52.26.709
2 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 52.27.489 +0.780
3 Switzerland Neel Jani 52.30.234 +3.525
4 Germany Timo Scheider 52.31.297 +4.588
5 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 52.31.703 +4.994
6 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 52.38.211 +11.502
7 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 52.41.549 +14.840
8 New Zealand Matt Halliday 52.45.537 +18.828
9 Austria Patrick Fiesacher 52.45.849 +19.140
10 Portugal Alvaro Parente 52.46.286 +19.577
11 Malaysia Alex Yoong 52.49.709 +23.000
12 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 52.50.270 +23.561
13 USA Bryan Herta 52.50.585 +23.876
14 Lebanon Graham Rahal 52.52.226 +25.517
15 Canada Patrick Carpentier 52.39.578 1 lap
16 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 53.05.966 1 lap
17 China Tengyi Jiang 53.12.807 1 lap
18 South Africa Stephen Simpson 55.20.794 1 lap
19 Australia Christian Jones 20 laps 16 laps
20 Ireland Ralph Firman 16 laps 20 laps
21 Mexico Salvador Duran 6 laps 30 laps
22 Japan Hayanari Shimoda Did not start
The bonus point for the fastest race lap of the day went to A1 Team France who recorded a time of 1.21.100 in lap 17 of the Feature race.
Series Points to date – A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Parque Fundidora, Monterrey, Mexico – 26 February 2006
1 France 153
2 Switzerland 121
3 Great Britain 73
4 Brazil 70
5 Netherlands 69
6 New Zealand 64
7 Malaysia 53
8 Portugal 51
9 Ireland 50
10 Canada 44
11 Czech Republic 41
12 Italy 40
13 Australia 37
14 Mexico 28
15 Germany 25
16 South Africa 20
17 USA 20
18 Austria 12
19 Indonesia 10
20 Japan 8
21 China 6
22 Pakistan 4
