Chengdu - Race weekend

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by Steevp

Can anyone tell me what times the races are on Sky Sunday? All I can find live is a 30 minute show at 5:30am..

The programme continues behind the Red Button at 6.am.

[LucaBadoer]

Originally Posted by Steevp

Can anyone tell me what times the races are on Sky Sunday? All I can find live is a 30 minute show at 5:30am..

SSX 5.30-6.00 then goes onto SSX interactive for the rest of the coverage (Sky have live sport on all their channels at 6am on a Sunday morning... A1GP rated below Golf/Rugby/Cricket/Tennis)

[Steevp]

Bugger.. I have to wake up at 6am to push the red button!

It's not easy being an armchair enthusiast.

I wonder if Danica Patrick will have 2nd thoughts about competing when she sees how Andretti qualified, I can't see her suiting the single lap qualifying.

I think this weekend will be between Neel Jani, Adam Carroll & Robert Doornbos, although that Watts boy is looking handy isn't he..

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by Mak

Not that it matters who is quickest, but I think you may find Ferrari turned up the wick and had extra push to past to increase the lap time. Just a good PR stunt.. What matters is the TV spectacle and racing which is always good in A1. Tomorrow we will see how the new cars are racing in the dry. I think they will be very good, especially with new improved push top pass.. Will be interesting with cars off that gripped up line... Can't really compare to GP2 as its a totally different concept.

I think you'll get an even better idea of how the cars are in the dry at Sepang. It is so bumpy and dirty at Chengdu that the drivers are not able to get the best out of the car.

[Zack]

Circuit is awful! bumpy! no overtaking!

Livetiming:
http://a1gp.alkamelsystems.com/LiveTiming.html

Livestream Video/Audio
http://www.a1gp.com/About/Promotion.aspx?id=31

17 mins for Feature race!

[Mak]

KIWI, true about not seeing best from cars, but I think best runners here will be best everywhere.

[RichardRenes]

Originally Posted by Zack

Circuit is awful! bumpy! no overtaking!

I think it was shown that it was possible to overtake.

Robert Doornbos was able to unlap himself against half the field, which is quite an achievement as it is. And relatively easy too, like a warm knife through butter. Time stopped his attempts behind team USA, but with more time he would have unlapped against Andretti too.

Us Dutch can be proud.

[strider]

Sky re-showed the races at 4pm in the UK, which saved my day because I was out until lunch time. I thought they were both good to watch and very entertaining. The circuit may not have been great, but it didn't provoke the expected mayhem.

Adam Carroll obviously had a great day with a win in the Sprint and 2nd in the Feature. Filipe Albuquerque drove really well to win the Feature race and take Portugal's first-ever win.

Danny Watts did all that could be expected of him and more to take two 3rd places ahead of the reigning champion Neel Jani for Team Switzerland. It was a great effort by Team GBR as a whole.

Sprint race:

Pos  Driver            Team           Time
 1.  Adam Carroll      Ireland        22:58.470
 2.  Robert Doornbos   Netherlands    +   2.037
 3.  Danny Watts       Great Britain  +  14.361
 4.  Neel Jani         Switzerland    +  14.619
 5.  Adrian Zaugg      South Africa   +  20.108
 6.  F.Albuquerque     Portugal       +  20.475
 7.  C.van der Drift   New Zealand    +  27.224
 8.  Nicolas Prost     France         +  27.923
 9.  Clivio Piccione   Monaco         +  30.378
10.  N.Karthikeyan     India          +  32.268
11.  John Martin       Australia      +  33.198
12.  Daniel Morad      Lebanon        +  34.293
13.  Fairuz Fauzy      Malaysia       +  34.655
14.  Edoardo Piscopo   Italy          +  36.541
15.  Marco Andretti    USA            +  38.102
16.  David Garza       Mexico         +  42.511
17.  Ho-Pin Tung       China          +  49.611
18.  Satrio Hermanto   Indonesia      +1:04.128
19.  Jin-Woo Hwang     Korea          +1:06.171
20.  Felipe Guimarães  Brazil         +  4 Laps

Feature race:

Pos Driver                 Team                      Gap
 1. Filipe Albuquerque     Portugal          1:11:23.179
 2. Adam Carroll           Ireland                +0.571
 3. Danny Watts            Great Britain          +4.802
 4. Neel Jani              Switzerland            +7.157
 5. Fairuz Fauzy           Malaysia              +13.302
 6. John Martin            Australia             +15.544
 7. Clivio Piccione        Monaco                +16.236
 8. Marco Andretti         USA                   +16.690
 9. Adrian Zaugg           South Africa          +18.030
10. Narain Karthikeyan     India                 +18.759
11. Chris van der Drift    New Zealand           +19.675
12. Ho-Pin Tung            China                 +20.126
13. Daniel Morad           Lebanon               +22.580
14. Satrio Hermanto        Indonesia             +31.285
15. David Garza            Mexico                 +1 lap
16. Robert Doornbos        Netherlands            +1 lap
17. Jin-Woo Hwang          Korea                  +1 lap

Retirements

18. Nicolas Prost          France                 0 laps
19. Edoardo Piscopo        Italy                  0 laps
20. Felipe Guimaraes       Brazil                 0 laps


Fastest lap, Doornbos 1:15.212 on lap 33

[jackschmidt]

It was a good race weekend. I prefer Zhuhai over Chengdu but they did pretty okay considering the circuit provided little overtaking opportunities. Prost again with another driver error. I hope he learns but it seems as though he'll have a pretty long road ahead of him to be where his father is.

Felipe Albuquerque drove a great feature race. The tactics were executed to perfection. GB made a pretty bad call to pull in Danny. The traffic on the way out did them in.

Another rather ordinary weekend for Neel Jani. I expect him to do much better in Sepang which is a track he likes certainly more than this.

Adam Caroll seems like the consistent driver judging from the two races. Shame he spun out and got taken out in Zandvoort, but in here, he showed they are one of the top runners. Good drive.

I'm starting to think that New Zealand should give Earl Bambers another drive. The kid did well under horrible conditions in Zandvoort. Chris van der Drift has been, well, less than stellar. Or, they could try Jonny again, I suppose. They definitely need to find a better result than the one they got in Cheng Du.

[cos]

Sprint race was rather dire, but the feature had enough excitement. Malaysia's average weekend, coupled with Prost's gravel-ditching will open up the championship nicely. Rather strangeand dusty circuit... not helped by all that polysterene(?) that somehow ended up on the track.

[jackschmidt]

Originally Posted by cos

Sprint race was rather dire, but the feature had enough excitement. Malaysia's average weekend, coupled with Prost's gravel-ditching will open up the championship nicely. Rather strangeand dusty circuit... not helped by all that polysterene(?) that somehow ended up on the track.

That polysterene was caused by the Italian car who went off and pipped the sponsor sign. I guess somehow that reached the track and the drivers happily ran over it.

Sprint race was barren of any action but just when things were about to heat up, it ended.

Another note, didn't the new rules put 1 pit stop in the sprint race??

[cos]

Originally Posted by jackschmidt

That polysterene was caused by the Italian car who went off and pipped the sponsor sign. I guess somehow that reached the track and the drivers happily ran over it.

It looked as though that was what Prost ran over just before he spun off?

Another note, didn't the new rules put 1 pit stop in the sprint race??

They did; but the rules were tweaked, originally only for Zandvoort. I guess they've kept it the same way.

[jackschmidt]

Originally Posted by cos

It looked as though that was what Prost ran over just before he spun off?

The way I saw it, he was already losing grip on the turn. He was going too fast and he had to go wide, which is where he picked up the nice white crap. In my opinion, he missed his braking point. Better luck next time Prost Jr.

[diabloA1]

i think Prost executed the move a bit late compared to Fauzy, and had to go further off line to make the turn. The white stuff just added icing to a car that was already over the limit

[ASRoma]

A few errors, but for me Prost Jr was the revelation of the weekend, he really had bad luck.

I don't think people thought before he came there that he could be such a frontrunner and I think he just proved he is bloody quick.

I hope France will get him back in the car again soon, but from what I heard in the paddock he clearly impressed the team.

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

I think you'll get an even better idea of how the cars are in the dry at Sepang. It is so bumpy and dirty at Chengdu that the drivers are not able to get the best out of the car.

Hi Kiwi, was there a big crowd at the track?

Also, do you think Chengdu will stay on the calendar?

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by Asa

Hi Kiwi, was there a big crowd at the track?

Also, do you think Chengdu will stay on the calendar?

An OK crowd, not huge but not small either. However I doubt many paid very much to get in, and they were all obviously there for the novelty value only.

I hope it was a one off (I suspect it was, with the objective to display to the world that Sichuan is still alive and kicking after the earthquake). Zhuhai is a much much better circuit and they should be looking to race there and promote it in Hong Kong and Guangzhou in my humble opinion. No idea if that will happen or not though, in reality they will go wherever pleases the Chinese government (oops I mean CITIC ) into coughing up some Yuan.