Team Pakistan

[Go-Pakistan]

Looks like Adam Khan, driver for team Pakistan proved the critics and predictions wrong!

Outpaced f1 boys Verstappen and Yoong; GP2-red-bull's Scott Speed; 2005 British formula 3 champion Parente.

Finished 7th in race 1 and in race 2 was running in 4th after starting 7th and overtaking 3 cars in 3 laps....only a seized wheelnut in the pits cost him a certain podium position.......definitely one to watch!!

Pakistan have dominated in Cricket, Hockey and Squash. Only lack of opportunity has prevented previous participation in motorsport, but now with A1GP it will be different.

As for the A1GP series....it is excellent! equal cars, level playing field, close racing without the overhype of F1.

[Ian Sowman]

I must admit that I was surprised with the pace Khan showed, although his defence when several laps down was less pleasing.

Does it matter to you that Khan has never visited Pakistan (or so I read somewhere)?

And I don't think Pakistan have ever dominated in world cricket, although they've been near the top for several years. We'll see how they do this winter

[downforce]

Adam Khan? Not a very Pakistani name is that! And what was that about dominating Cricket? Oz>>Eng>>Ind...thats how it reads my friend.

However gr8 drive from the lad!

[x_acto]

indeed a very good surprise!

Let's see what they could do in the other circuits. I really hope they do well..

[Oaksnaf]

Ill just re-iterate Duran's words
"he is crazy"
In a good and bad way at the same time. I wouldn't want to be behind him again when your trying to lap him. Or just generally behind him at all. But give credit where credit is due, he has race pace.

[Go-Pakistan]

ok...maybe not recently, but.....1992 world cup winners! beat england in final

[mbathshah]

Apparently he is of Anglo Mongolian Extraction and has never been to Pakistan. Seems that Pakistan is the only country to have a driver not even remotely related to the country. The original driver Nur Ali has been kicked out unceremoniously.

Adam Khan has limited experience as a racer and I think that at Brands many countries were not as prepared as Super Nova but this will change. Looking at the qualifying times he was still over a second slower than the pole position which in an identical car is like 10 years in motor racing.

[Go-Pakistan]

It's not the first tenuous nationality link in sport, and it won't be the last.

Think allan lamb, greg rusedski, lennox lewis, and kevin pietersen only 2 weeks ago....to name but a few.

Even Ralph Firman, who was shortlisted for the Team GB drive has now gone to Ireland when he wasn't selected for GB.

As long as the rules are met, one can participate for their country.

As far as being a second adrift of pole, yes he was, but Khan was a second faster than scott speed, the red bull backed GP2 driver (who's just got a test drive in F1), outqualified verstappen (i think 6 seasons inf F1) and Alex Yoong, (ex Minardi F1)........so he can't be that bad ...can he?

You can't put his success down to only car setup and preparation, he still had to get in and drive it alongside 24 determined drivers. I think he showed true potential and hope he continues for the rest of the series.

Pakistan don't have the luxury of GB and other european countries i.e. 90+ years of motor racing heritage and 100's of potential drivers available. So to come from nowhere and be in 4th position in a race at such an early stage shows the level playing field, potential and accessibility of this new A1GP series. I think that's good news for every fan of motorsport........well done Sheik Maktoum !

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by mbathshah

Adam Khan has limited experience as a racer and I think that at Brands many countries were not as prepared as Super Nova but this will change. Looking at the qualifying times he was still over a second slower than the pole position which in an identical car is like 10 years in motor racing.

But to be fair he has a lot less experience than the other guys. I was amazed at his performance given that he hardly set the world alight in Formula 3B. Doubtless it will be harder at tracks unknown to him, but when he was handily outracing Parente my thoughts were turning to that thread about how good Parente REALLY was...

[steve nielsen]

of course it helps that the team behind Pakistan is Supernova.

[nkfan]

Khan hasnt really turned heads around in F3..

I was quite surprised at his pace aswell, Like steve said it might be due to Supernova or he just mysteriously got a lot better....well good luck to him. But i hope india comes back !! ....Ironically Karun was actually Khan's mentor during F3 days

[storyline]

Originally Posted by Go-Pakistan

ok...maybe not recently, but.....1992 world cup winners! beat england in final

But, let's be fair - in the last 15-20 years even the Cocos Island Womens Cricket Team could have beaten England

[Go-Pakistan]

anyone could have beaten england??????

they managed to despatch half the worlds best teams to get to the final!!

[mbathshah]

What happened to Nur Ali?
EVen the newspapers in Pakistan are asking that question

see - http://www.alimotorsports.com/

Also the sporting regulations do not state that the driver has to be a national of the country he is driving for. Apparently anybody theoretically can drive for any team. Seems all the Hype of country against country is just a load of

[Go-Pakistan]

Don't know what happened to Nur Ali.....

where are the sporting regulations, what are the rules regarding driver eligibility to represent a country/team?

[nkfan]

i feel sorry for Nur Ali...he must have had his hopes all high and then comes Adam Khan who stuffed everything for him,...i dont think he will race at all, i dont even see his name on the car and his picture is taken down from their website !...

i think they should have rule that driver has to be the citizen of the country..
right now even Neel Jani can race for india, his dad is indian it seems !

[mbathshah]

Click on this link - Very interesting


http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep20...sports/s15.htm

[mbathshah]

Can be downloaded from here. Unfortunately the official site does not have a link to them

http://www.a1mania.com/images/store/...egulations.pdf

[RSportRacer]

Mod - quote removed for copyright reasons, if people want to read the story click on the link posted by mbathshah above

very interesting read.... anyone know what happened to Ali

[Radius]

Good race from PAK but even better 1 from Team South Africa. He started 24th and finished 6th! True i was there watching him

Heres looking forward to the next race..cheers

[mbathshah]

Beating Alex Yoong is nothing to be proud of. In his F1 days he was regularly 2-3 seconds per lap slower than his team mate and on a number of occasions couldn't even meet the 107% time in qualifying and had to get dispensation from the stewards to race. Clearly a number of top drivers had mechanical problems - Robbie Kerr, Parente, Premat etc. Scott Speed clearly had some problem since he was absolutely ballistic during official free practise.

[speedy2]

there is one small point regarding Adam, he is not from Pakistan and has no blood ties, I quote, 'my friends at Uni tell me it's a great Country'

Apart from that, he has done fantastic job and why should he move over, without the wheel problem, he would have been on the podium!and been the 'star' of the whole meeting....even more than Piquet, after all who was expecting him to shine ?,Super Nova will take the credit but I think his old F3 Team, Performance must take credit also Menu's who he did some long term private test's with.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by Go-Pakistan

It's not the first tenuous nationality link in sport, and it won't be the last.

Think allan lamb, greg rusedski, lennox lewis, and kevin pietersen only 2 weeks ago....to name but a few.

Greg Rusedski was born in England before moving to Canada. The others have at least visited!

I believe Ralph Firman's mother once had a week-end in Dublin... Maybe not.

Anyway, Adam did well. Regardless of car/team etc, Brands is not an easy place to be quick at. You need talent to do that.

[Go-Pakistan]

Originally Posted by speedy2

without the wheel problem, he would have been on the podium!and been the 'star' of the whole meeting....even more than Piquet

Yes, that would have been amazing, the few pakistan supporters that were there at brands including myslef would have gone absolutely crazy!!!!

lets hope he can continue his momentum into the German round, i think he did some F3 racing there so should know the track.

Another good thing about A1.....there is plenty of friday practice sessions, i think 2 x 1 hour or something, so this should give drivers a good chance of familiarisation and give the less experienced more of a level playing field.

[Kiwi3]

Fine Yorkshire accent on that boy!

However I thought his father was from Pakistan? If not where did the name Khan come from and how come he looks Pakistani? I would be fooled if he didn't open his mouth.