Shanghai weekend thread

Mystery · 31 Mar 2006, 09:35 (Ref:1565940)

Practice 1 times here
Practice 2 times here
Darren Manning very quick and very consistent early doors - good signs for him. France still the team to beat but Mexico and Australia lurking close by.

strider · 31 Mar 2006, 11:27 (Ref:1566011)

Sorry to be picky, but those times are slightly misleading. They show the best sector times and the best time each driver could have recorded if he had combined his best sectors. The figures in brackets at the far right show where each driver actually finished up.

If that's a confusing explanation, Practice 1 times are here and Practice 2 times here. Darren Manning has indeed made a very good start.

Mystery · 31 Mar 2006, 11:57 (Ref:1566034)

You're not being picky at all. I had chosen those because of the extra info they provided, but the extra links you provide are of course much clearer.

Ryan_Briscoe1 · 31 Mar 2006, 12:01 (Ref:1566037)

briscoe is doing a great job for team aussie.

Knowlesy · 31 Mar 2006, 13:28 (Ref:1566100)

Go on Darren!

Mystery · 31 Mar 2006, 13:56 (Ref:1566124)

Just looking again there - the top 13 drivers are covered by less than a second over a 110 second lap - and not in that top 13 are the likes of Toccacelo, Rahal and Fittipaldi.

Actually, it's nice to see the names Lauda, Rahal and Fittipaldi on the same time sheet.

Kiwi3 · 31 Mar 2006, 14:16 (Ref:1566142)

I had an interesting day at the circuit today. Well, one part of it anyway, not a very spectator friendly track!

A few shots from the pit exit in case anyone is interested. Sorry they could probably do with some cropping and are mostly plain side on shots.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/608...iday0429is.jpg
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/9...iday0628tz.jpg
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/6...iday0391nk.jpg
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/6...iday0338wm.jpg
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2...iday0317jr.jpg
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/3...iday0291xf.jpg
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/1...iday0019td.jpg

Spent the second session at the entry to the first corner. Very interesting watching the differences between drivers. Lapierre, Manning, Enge, Verstappen and Duran seemed to be very quick in there, while Lauda and Stahl didn't seem to have a clue (different lines every lap, miles from the inside kerb, and wandering all over the place)! Tengyi Jiang looked pretty confident too but inconsistent, and the Portugese driver made noticeable improvement during the session.

Very impressed with Darren Manning being second on his first day in the car, and Tengyi Jiang's position today.

Interesting to note that there is a promotional billboard for Zandvoort - October 1, 2006 over the track.

Hopefully will make it down to the final hairpin tomorrow, plus will have my camera ready for the drivers autograph session. However weather forecast = rain!

**GTRMagic** · 1 Apr 2006, 08:30 (Ref:1566772)

Interesting to see Alex Yoong on pole for the Sprint Race

Team Malaysia is coming on at the end of the season which is good to see...

Rizweed · 1 Apr 2006, 09:12 (Ref:1566791)

its going to be a great next season. teams will have a better understanding of the car and its characteristics which will inevitably make the series more competitive...watch out france!!

im sure there'll be some testing done during the summer break.

Knowlesy · 1 Apr 2006, 09:30 (Ref:1566800)

I didn't see Malaysia coming there! Wow!

I think the sheer class of Darren Manning will shine through tomorrow, however.

luke · 1 Apr 2006, 10:09 (Ref:1566817)

Good to see a British driver quick for once.

Kebab · 1 Apr 2006, 10:26 (Ref:1566827)

'Cos Robbie getting us 3rd overall isn't going quickly?!

Am v. glad GBR will keep 3rd place in the championship - hope Darren can stay out of trouble, he's not raced for ages.

Rizweed · 1 Apr 2006, 10:31 (Ref:1566831)

with a performance that manning put in today, he is sure to confirm 3rd spot overall tomorrow. he should have participated in a lot more races this season. oh well... maybe next time

Knowlesy · 1 Apr 2006, 11:13 (Ref:1566865)

Things would have looked better for Team GBR had Manning been in the car all season. The gap between himself and Kerr is fairly sizeable IMO.

Robbie was competent, but largely average. Couldn't fault him for effort, however.

nev · 1 Apr 2006, 14:08 (Ref:1566957)

[QUOTE=knowlesy]Things would have looked better for Team GBR had Manning been in the car all season. The gap between himself and Kerr is fairly sizeable IMO.

QUOTE]

Why - does Darren also work in the pits as well !
i think if you want a reason for why team GBR under performed you should look at the whole team not just the driver, your as bad as watson !

I believe that no other driver could have bettered 3rd place in the championship with the same team and hardware.
I can only recall two racing incidents which caused Robbie to lose points.
a cash with Scott speed and Ralph Firman. All of the other DNF's and low scorring rounds were to do with the whole teams performance.

Battery failure
late or no call on pit stop
time lost in pits
hooking air hose under car
these lost him podium positions and a couple of wins

If the people at the top who make the driver choices thought different to me sureley they would have changed the driver part way through the season.

a job well done to Darred for getting second on the grid but as you all like to slate the driver it was by far an underperforming grid IMO.

and as far as darred securing 3rd in the championship i believe that if team GBR had stayed at home they would have still achieved 3rd.

so come on wingers bring it on !!

strider · 1 Apr 2006, 14:30 (Ref:1566959)

Who is this Darred guy?

Knowlesy · 1 Apr 2006, 14:44 (Ref:1566963)

nev, I know of the problems on the team side.

I just don't feel on the driving side that Kerr has excelled. Solid more or less, but hardly pant wettingly exciting.

This is just my opinion, so please untwist your knickers.

SALEEN S7R · 1 Apr 2006, 17:43 (Ref:1567046)

Knowlesy I have to say that I agree, Kerr has done a OK job this season IMO but really has failed to shine in what is a team that is defintely capable of race wins. Blaming the Arden squad for the postition GB is in is ludicrous, they are IMO the best outfit in A1 GP and they have the credentials to prove it, look at their F3000/GP2 record, yes Dams teams have taken 1st and 2nd in the championship but then Dams are running 4 franchises, Arden are only running 2. Just take a look at how well Dams do in series where they only have 2 cars to run, joint 7th in the teams championship in GP2 and 11th in WSBR in 2005. Says it all, IMO.

Had Manning been in the car since the start of the season I think that we would have seen Team GB rack up several race wins by now, Im not saying we would have won the championship neccarcily, mainly due to the Dams situation, but we could defintely have grabbed 2nd. Maybe even 1st. Manning is a quality driver which he has shown time and time again in F3000/Champcar/IRL, he has just been a little unlucky/low on budget. Kerr is a good driver but he has never really achieved anything at a International level prior to A1 GP. IMO.

Knowlesy · 1 Apr 2006, 17:52 (Ref:1567051)

Spot on SALEEN.

Kebab · 1 Apr 2006, 19:50 (Ref:1567103)

Load of biased rubbish in my opinion - hands up if you work for Arden!!!! lol

SALEEN S7R · 1 Apr 2006, 19:58 (Ref:1567108)

If I worked for Arden, or any other GP2 race team I woudnt be driving around in a 1989 Toyota Supra.

Kebab · 1 Apr 2006, 20:22 (Ref:1567125)

Well, perhaps you should charge them a PR fee 'cos based on their performance they certainly have not looked like the GP2/F3000 team people rave about when operating in A1 GP. If they want to win tomorrow they'll have to speed up their pit-stops by 3/4 seconds at least. Perhaps they've not taken it seriously or something?

I also think anyone that wins British F3 deserves a little more respect, no matter how much you want to have Darren Manning's children! I will be watching Kerr and Rossiter with great interest in WSR.

Poor Alex Lloyd, I hope he has a chance next year ...

Knowlesy · 1 Apr 2006, 20:22 (Ref:1567126)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kebab

Load of biased rubbish in my opinion - hands up if you work for Arden!!!! lol

What bias?

Darren Manning is better than Robbie Kerr, end of story.

You may think different, big deal. We can't agree on everything.

Kebab · 1 Apr 2006, 20:29 (Ref:1567132)

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave moments ago - lol!

I hope you and Darren are very happy together

Knowlesy · 1 Apr 2006, 21:47 (Ref:1567188)

*yawn*

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