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13.04.2008
Shanghai feature race - lap by lap Sunday, April 13, 2008
Flag What a race! A worthy winner and the championship goes on to Brands Hatch in three weeks time. Flag Summerton has gone crazy on the radio. He punches the air - he is over the moon. I wonder what he had in his breakfast today? Flag Portugal is second. Ireland is next ahead of New Zealand, Switzerland, Malaysia, India, France, Great Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, Australia, China, South Africa, Pakistan, Netherlands.
Lap 38 Final lap . Summerton has just got a few miles to go before scoring the team's first A1GP win. Lap 36 Canada has now got the fastest lap, with some superb pressure from Robert Wickens. Lap 34 Four laps to go. Lap 33 Jimmy Auby has gone off in the A1 Team Lebanon car. He got back going after the first turn mishap. Lap 32 Could USA become the 16th nation to win a race? Lap 31 USA has extended the lead. Summerton has so far driven a flawless race. Lap 28 So the order is USA, Portugal, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada (who hasn't pitted yet), Malaysia, India, France, Great Britain and Germany. Lap 27 Portugal has just got the fastest lap and is going to try and hunt down USA. The gap is 7.5 seconds. Lap 26 The championship is still alive! Switzerland has a bad stop, with a sticking rear wheel. Ireland and crucially, New Zealand, both get ahead at the pit stops. Lap 25 Switzerland, Ireland and New Zealand pit. Lap 25 Malaysia and India have also both just been in and come out in the same order. Lap 25 Portugal also pits, another good stop. Lap 25 USA pits from the lead. It's a good clean stop. Lap 24 The pit stop window is open. Lap 23 Neel Jani has just been told from the pits: 'Speed up, otherwise you could lose four places at the next stop.' I'm sure that cheered him up. Lap 21 Germany is also pushing Great Britain hard, but is also not managing to find a way through. Lap 20 Portugal and Ireland are shadowing Switzerland now. It's allowing Jonny Reid to catch up too, the New Zealannd driver is a bout a second per lap quicker. Lap 20 Portugal is pushing Switzerland hard now. Lap 20 Lebanon now have a 10-second stop/gon penalty. Lap 19 USA's lead is now 5.7 seconds. Filipe Albuquerque is now trying to line up a pass on Switzerland's Neel Jani for second. Lap 16 Malaysia makes a great move to take India for sixth. Alex Yoong dives down the inside at the final hairpin. Lap 16 Lebanon has got a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane. Lap 15 Summerton now has a 4.3-second lead over Switzerland. Lap 15 Jani is struggling on the exit of some of the corners. Losing second gear is crucial and Summerton is easing away now. Lap 14 Drama in Shanghai. Neel Jani has lost second gear in the Swiss car. Lap 13 Germany leads while the pit stops are shaking out. Lap 12 France managed to get out ahead of Great Britain on the pit stops. Lap 11 USA is still ahead of Switzerland after the stops. Lap 11 Switzerland and Ireland now pits. Lap 10 It's a great stop for New Zealand. It vaults both Malaysia and India, and exits ahead of them both. Lap 10 USA, New Zealand Malaysia, Canada all pit. Lap 9 The pits are open for the first mandatory stop. The order is Switzerland, Portugal, Ireland, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada. Lap 8 At the start of the lap, Adam Carroll dinks to Karthikeyan's right and makes the pass. Ireland now up to fourth. Lap 7 Ireland tries to get passed India now at the hairpin. But Karthikeyan blocks well. Lap 6 Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque passes India's Narain Karthikeyan going down into the final hairpin. It's a great move, and Portugal is up to third. Lap 6 James Robinson, the engineer for Switzerland, has come over the radio to say 'If USA pit, we stay out'. Lap 5 The USA currently has the fastest lap. Lap 4 USA and Switzerland are both getting away from the rest of the field. Lap 3 The USA's Jonathan Summerton has only a 0.6-second lead. Summerton cannot lose Neel Jani. Lap 2 Canada tries to take tenth at the final harpin, but overshoots the corner, and Italy retakes the spot. Lap 2 USA leads, ahead of Switzerland, India, Portugal, IReland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, Italy. Lap 1 Switzerland slots into second behind India. Lap 1 USA gets away the best and leads Lap 1 And away we go! 15:00 The red lights are on. 15:00 The cars are away for the formation lap. 14:55 It's overcast, and there has been spots of rain today. Could more come in the Feature race? 14:45 Early drama. South Africa's Adrian Zaugg is stuck in the pits and is not going to make it to the grid to take the start. It looks as if there is some kind of gearbox problem. 14:43 Medical update on the USA's Jonathan Summerton after the Sprint race crash. He has bruised the tendon over his metacarpal in his right hand. It is badly bruised and swollen and he has been given an anti-inflamatory dressing by the medical staff. He will take the start of the Feature race. 14:42 It could be an historic A1GP race this afternoon - Switzerland is on the verge of its first A1GP title. 14:41 It is a 38-lap race. 14:40 The second pit stop window will be between laps 24 and 32. The first, as always, will be between laps 8 and 16. 14:30 Welcome to Shanghai. It's overcast and about 16 degrees.
- A1GP -also photos photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - A1GP
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Sunday, 13.04.2008 - 01:30 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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Flag USA wins! It's the 16th nation to win an A1GP race this season.
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