Driver Line-up

[A1Reporter]

Season Entry list as it stands at present...

http://www.a1gp2008-09.gpworld-onlin...p?wrapper_id=1

[N.A-D.R]

A1GP Australia need a rookie driver, it will most likely be Nathan Antunes after he showed rore pace in the car end of last season.

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by A1Reporter

Season Entry list as it stands at present...

http://www.a1gp2008-09.gpworld-onlin...p?wrapper_id=1

Various rumours suggest they've got the NZL lineup wrong...I'd rather stick with the lineup that ten-tenths posters have compiled.

[RichardRenes]

what is wrong with Van der Drift/ Bamber/ Reid then ?

[kerrmanningjarv]

Well Reid may not be involved, considering he hasn't tested yet.

[DanicaFan]

I was down at Andretti Green Racing Headquarters today and Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti are driving for the US Team in A1GP. They have to be American drivers so they are going. They are going to kick some butt!

[diabloA1]

Thats very interesting! An would surely add PR value to A1GP. I had actually emailed Danica through her website over a year ago asking if she would ever drive for Team USA. Hooray!

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

I was down at Andretti Green Racing Headquarters today and Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti are driving for the US Team in A1GP. They have to be American drivers so they are going. They are going to kick some butt!

Feel sorry for Jonathan Summerton but...WOW! Two huge names and this will be great for A1GP.

[Kiwi3]

AUS: Martin
BRA: Junquiera?
CAN: Wickens? Hinchcliffe?
CHN: Ho, Cheng
CZE – Gone?
FRA: Duval, Prost?
GER - Gone? Lotterer?
GBR: Jarvis? Kerr? Davidson?
IND: Karthikeyan, Sureshwaren, Ebrahim
INA: Hermanto
IRL: Carroll
ITA: Piscopo, Onidi
KOR: Hwang
LEB: Morad
MAL: Fauzy, Yoong?
MEX: Garza? Gutierrez
MON: Piccione
NED: Bleekemolen, Doornbos
NZL: Van der Drift, Bamber, Reid?
PAK: Khan
POR: Alberqueque
RSA: Zaugg, Orr?
SUI: Jani (video shows he was at the Donnington test )
USA: Summerton? Andretti? Patrick?

Just updating the list a bit. Bamber will race for NZL at Zandvoort since Van der Drift will be competing in the final round of Formula Master in order to try and wrap up the series. Some may not have heard of Bamber, an article with some background here - http://www.stuff.co.nz/4708653a13275.html Hard to see Reid back this season if he is now third choice.

[META4]

Any informations why Jonny Reid has been dropped

[RichardRenes]

OK, so Bamber now confirmed. That news hadn't reached me yet.

If the Andretti Green rumor is true (still no confirmation anywhere!), then it's not unlikely that Brazil would claim Tony Kanaan .

[diabloA1]

Add Aaron Lim for Malaysia. There is no other candidate for rookie sessions

[RichardRenes]

Well, there is another emerging Malaysian talent: Jazeman Jafaar. Won't be surprised if he gets a call soon

[diabloA1]

Yup, won't be surprised. After dominating FBMW Asia Jazeman's racing in the real world now doing FBMW Europe and struggling to even qualify in top 10. This is where I think he will learn the most. Good kid and if he keeps chiselling at it he should be Malaysia's next F1 driver in 4-5 years time.

Aaron Lim needs a break in the sense that he needs a proper season of racing outside of rookie duties for Team Malaysia. He surprised everyone last year at Sentul leg of Formula V6 Asia. He had tried and failed to secure financing to race the whole season, however he got a break to race in Sentul only and he made the most of it. He joined CT Motorsports, a back end team and won the first race having never raced the car or worked with the engineer. He finished on podium for the second race. Unfortunately had no $$$ to continue with the season.

[N.A-D.R]

Jafaar is very good. He was the only driver in his team to be compeditive and score points this season, thats why he wasn't fighting for podiums ect. He did a nice job. Aaron Lim isn't that good, he will end up losing his place to Jafaar within time.

[diabloA1]

Originally Posted by N.A-D.R

Aaron Lim isn't that good, he will end up losing his place to Jafaar within time.

There is currently no driver qualified to sit in the A1GP car except for Alex, Fairuz and Aaron. There is then a substantial age gap(6 years) in the driver pool before we get to Jazeman.

Therefore saying that Jazeman may replace Aaron, given time, is the logical conclusion. Though the hope of course is that he will more than just replace Aaron. Jazeman still needs to get into higher formulae before he can be considered for A1GP rookie.

However credit is due to Aaron Lim. He hasn't been exactly slow in the Friday rookie sessions despite most of his practice time spent running routine tasks for the team leaving few laps to actually push for lap times. He is also experienced enough to give good technical input back to the team.

And we cannot deny what he did at Sentul FV6 Asia last year. Jumped in a back end team driving a car he had never raced with, and WON on merit.

Jazeman unlike Aaron is fortunate that he has the financial support to back up his driving abilities. There are plenty of 'Aarons' out there - good ability but no chance to prove it.

[F3 Rocks]

Aaron Lim isn't that good, he will end up losing his place to Jafaar within time.[/quote]

I completly endorse what has been written by DiabloA1,

Aaron is a very good driver, and has proved this on the track many times many ways. The main thing in this series is team work no room for egos. he is a good team player, he delivers exactly what is asked of him as reserve driver by the team. Not many teams in A1 GP have reserve drivers who are as professional as Aaron, thinking only of promoting themselves.

Who are you to make rubbish comments about race drivers like you have done?

[N.A-D.R]

Umm. One good drive doesn't prove a driver... He isn't a bad driver, i just think he wont last very long because he has the likes of Jafaar coming through the ranks. I didn't make any rubbish comments at all, he is there because he gives good feedback, but he will never be the main driver as long as you have Fairuz or Yoong there. People have different opinions on drivers... As im a driver myself.... I don't think Aaron Lim has what it takes.

[RichardRenes]

Anyway, wasn't this tread about a driver line-up?

Back on topic please.

[N.A-D.R]

yes please.

Are anymore drivers getting confirmed ever since Earl Bamber?

[Kiwi3]

Piscopo and Onidi confirmed to drive a white Italian car with Green and Red stripes.

AUS: Martin
BRA: Junquiera?
CAN: Wickens? Hinchcliffe?
CHN: Ho, Cheng
FRA: Duval, Prost?
GER - Lotterer?
GBR: Jarvis? Kerr? Davidson?
IND: Karthikeyan, Sureshwaren, Ebrahim
INA: Hermanto
IRL: Carroll
ITA: Piscopo, Onidi
KOR: Hwang
LEB: Morad
MAL: Fauzy, Yoong? Lim?
MEX: Garza? Gutierrez
MON: Piccione
NED: Bleekemolen, Doornbos
NZL: Van der Drift, Bamber, Reid? Kiwi3?
PAK: Khan
POR: Alberqueque
RSA: Zaugg, Orr?
SUI: Jani
USA: Andretti? Patrick? Summerton?

[kerrmanningjarv]

Add:

BRA - Felipe Guimaraes?
IRL: Niall Quinn
KOR: "Tom" Mun
LEB: Jimmy Auby
MEX: David Martinez?
RSA: Gavin Cronje? Cristiano Morgado? Michael Stephen?
SUI: Alex Imperatori?

[kerrmanningjarv]

http://www.rtl.nl/sport/rtl_gp/a1gp/teams/ Wow... this is RTL's list (they're the channel that show A1 in Holland). Ignoring the fact that the Czech Republic are still there, some of the drivers listed are interesting. It does say "This list is with reservation", so some aren't necessarily definite, but look at some of the drivers they list:

BRA - Junqueira - as predicted already on here.
CAN - Hinchcliffe - may just be a guess as Canada have been silent this off-season.
GBR - Kerr and Plowman - Kerr as racer and Plowey as rookie? Could happen I suppose although I am hoping for slightly more ambitious choices.
ITA - Toccacelo - that's wrong as they have announced Piscopo and Onidi.
USA - Summerton - again, could be a guess, or perhaps AGR will retain him.

As I said, don't know how reliable this list is, but it will certainly stir up a few more driver discussions .

[DanicaFan]

Danica Patrick will be driving this weekend in the Netherlands for Team USA. She will also win the race. She will school them all on racing.

[Leighton Irwin]

Danica Fan: You are probably right about Danica driving as you do have inside knowledge of AGR.
But please cool it on the hype. Let us wait and see how she does without the BS. You have been reasonable on this forum till now unlike a certain other forum where your constant silly hype of Danica has turned many people against you. She is a reasonable driver and you have not got a clue just how good or bad the other drivers in this series are.
I know very little about most of them but do know there are some very good shoes in the series. Also unless AGR have put together a team of mechanics/engineers with European and this series experience they will be way behind other teams. They have not tested so have no experience with the car.
If Danica makes it into the top half of the field on her first try I will be very surprised.
Don't let your infatuation with her run away!