A1 Team Great Britain scored a brilliant home race win at Brands Hatch today and finished third overall in the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport A1 Team Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr scored a fantastic home victory in the Sprint race at an electric Brands Hatch today, and followed that up with a second-place podium finish in this afternoon’s Feature race.
The brilliant double podium elevated GBR to overall third place in the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and the team will collect the trophy for bronze at tomorrow evening’s glamorous awards ceremony in central London.
Beginning from pole position in this morning’s 15-lap Sprint race, Robbie maintained his lead after the rolling start and had a good lead into turn 1, with USA behind in second and Ireland in third. Robbie maintained a lead of between seven tenths and 1.3s over USA’s Jonathan Summerton throughout the race and passed the chequered flag victorious on home ground.
With Franck Montagny finishing in tenth position and collecting just one point, GBR’s 15 point haul for the win moved the British squad two points clear of France to move up to third place. The win was GBR’s second of the season and fifth victory in three years of A1GP.
The focus then switched to the afternoon’s 48-lap Feature race and with Robbie beginning in second place and New Zealand’s Jonny Reid beginning from 17th, there was a possibility to make up the ten point deficit and take silver in the championship. Robbie maintained his second place behind India’s Narain Karthikeyan after the standing start and put a huge amount of pressure on the Indian car on the opening lap.
As India and third-placed Ireland made their first mandatory stop on lap eight, GBR opted to stay out to put in a strong lap and Robbie pitted on lap nine. After some fantastic pitstop work from the British crew, Robbie emerged in the lead ahead of India and Ireland and he was able to maintain his lead until the second stop, which he made on lap 32. Unfortunately he emerged just behind India out of the pitstop and was unable to pass Karthikeyan over the remaining laps and passed the finish line in second place.
Robbie Kerr: Sprint Race: "It was great to win at home once again – it was a fantastic feeling and the fans here today are brilliant. I felt comfortable throughout the race but I didn’t push too much as I wanted to bring it home so I just kept it sensible. The important thing is that we passed France in the championship for third."
Feature Race: "Narain and I were extremely close throughout the whole race and we kept gaining on each other and then dropping off a little throughout. For the first pitstop we chose to stay out and it worked brilliantly. The guys did an awesome pitstop and we came out in the lead.
The tyres were good to start with but dropped away a little bit towards the end of the second stint and then it didn’t quite go our way in the second stop.
The team have put in 110% this weekend and, although it was great to finish second, it is a shame we couldn’t get the win. We were just one point away from second place in the championship, just like last year, but it is fantastic to finish third again and show the consistency in the team."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "We are absolutely delighted with another home win. We were so close to winning the feature race as well so we are a little disappointed with second, but it has been an outstanding team performance all weekend and we finish this season third in the championship.
Heading into the weekend we had our sights firmly set on passing France for third in the championship and we were not even thinking second was possible, so to finish for the second year running just one point behind New Zealand is really good.
We have shown our consistency over three fantastic years of A1GP and now, while we will take a little time to enjoy today’s results, we are very excited at the prospect of season four, the new challenges that will bring, and the campaign to bring the winner’s trophy home to Great Britain."
Channel Five will broadcast all the highlights from Brands Hatch, UK at 00.01am on Monday 12 May 2008.
The first round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will take place at Mugello, Italy from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 September 2008.
A1GP Round 10 Sprint Race 1. Great Britain - 15pts 2. USA - 12pts 3. Ireland - 10pts Round 10
Feature Race 1. India - 15pts 2. Great Britain - 12pts 3. Switzerland - 10pts
A1GP Championship 1. Switzerland - 168pts 2. New Zealand - 127pts 3. Great Britain - 126pts
A1 Team Great Britain is partnered by AquaSP, Playseats, Visit Britain and Metro.
www.a1teamgbr.com
- Victoria Henley - photos A1GP
photos are on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - A1GP
