Mechanical issues hamper A1 Team Lebanon progress

Chris Alajajian has been selected to drive for the Lebanese team this weekend and, after arriving in Malaysia last week, with team mate Khalil Beschir, has been acclimatising to the hot and humid conditions in preparation for Sunday’s two races. T

he team were ready to take to the track at the beginning of the first part of the rookie session, two 25 minutes of running reserved for young drivers and developing nations, and Alajajian began his initial preparations for the weekend. Alajajian was struggling for pace as he began to gain experience of the track, and as the session progressed, he became more uncomfortable with the car.

Returning to the pit garage in the closing stages, the technical crew quickly began to inspect the car, revealing mechanical problems which had been the root cause of the team’s problems. The repairs required were lengthy and Alajajian was forced to sit out the second 25 minutes session while the A1 Team Lebanon crew set to work to ensure that they were able to participate in the afternoon.

They had hoped to be able to return to the track for the end of the rookie session, but the repairs needed took longer than had been hoped and they were unable to continue in the morning. Alajajian began the afternoon session cautiously, aiming to build his pace through the session. At the start he needed to limit his runs to two single laps in order that the technical team could check that all the systems and mechanical parts were working correctly.

This, once again, curtailed track time for the Lebanese team, but they were able to join the track midway through the session. Alajajian set to work to start developing the performance of the car and despite his lack of laps, by the conclusion of the session he had posted 18th fastest time.

The young Australian-Lebanese driver said at the end of the day, "It was very frustrating for us all today. All we want to do is be out on this great Sepang track, gaining experience of it, learning its characteristics and developing the package, but we just didn’t have the time we needed. The Lebanon team boys did a great job to do the repairs and make sure we had some running and I made the best use of it that I could, but it was just too little to make any significant progress."

Marcus Koch, Chief Engineer, A1 Team Lebanon added, "It was disappointing for us today. We had hoped to have a full day of practice and with Chris now having experience of an A1GP weekend, we had a detailed plan and plenty to get through today, but it didn’t happen. We’re on the back foot now and that increases the challenge for us, but we’ll work hard and pull together to make progress tomorrow."

The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Sepang, Malaysia, continues tomorrow with final practice and qualifying sessions ahead of the race day which includes the Sprint and Feature races.

- Alison Hill -