The Zhuhai thread

[strider]

Coming up next in just over a week is the first of two rounds in China, this one in Zuhai in the south of the country, not that far from Macau, actually.

More details and an outline programme here.

It's a reasonably well-established facility and should provide a decent meeting. I doubt if any of the drivers know the circuit, unless they have been there with FIA GTs, so it should be a pretty open contest.

[Asa]

It is Zhuhai. "Zhu" means pearl and "Hai" means sea.

Well, Marchy Lee and Franky Cheng raced at Zhuhai before so the local team will have a bit of advantage. Since they finished 4th in Czech Rep and 5th in Malaysia, I think they have a good chance here.

[Last2LiftOff]

Knowing the circuit must be an advantage but the team still has to find a setup and that's still the usual suspects, so far at least. I see Cheng was pipped by Perez in the BF3 National Class at the end there...hmm.

Ammermüller again for Germany? Too many TBA's on the drivers list at A1GP to post it, including Germany and Canada, but expect both Hinchcliffe and Wickens to be there (Wickens must lose his rookie staus soon..?). Have to wait to see who drives but either way's fine by me. With any luck they'll start close with the setup on Friday and go from there. It was great seeing them competitive again last round, almost getting my hopes up.

14 or 15 hrs. behind again this race.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Asa

It is Zhuhai. "Zhu" means pearl and "Hai" means sea.

Sorry, Asa, I did know it's Zhuhai and, unless some kind mod has since corrected it, I did get it right in the thread title, so please put it down to a typo. The meaning of the name is very interesting.

[Asp]

Originally Posted by strider

unless some kind mod has since corrected it,

No such thing as a kind mod

[Last2LiftOff]

What the heck, now's a good time then...Driver Entry List A1GP Zhuhai, China RD 4:

AUS: Dyk (Martin?)
BRA: Jimenez
CAN: TBA
CHN: Cheng / Lee
CZE: TBA
FRA: Duval / Prost
GER: Ammermuller
GBR: Jarvis / Watts
IND: Karthikeyan /
Sureshwaren
INA: Hermanto
IRL: Carroll
ITA: Toccacelo
LEB: TBA
MAL: Yoong / Lim
MEX: TBA
NED: Bleekemolen / Luyendyk
NZL: Reid
PAK: Khan
POR: Urbano / Araujo
RSA: Zaugg / Orr
SUI: TBA
USA: TBA

[cos]

Originally Posted by Last2LiftOff

GBR: Jarvis / Watts

Danny Watts! There's a good choice for GBR, he's no slouch in a single-seater.

[strider]

Brilliant choice! Danny's done some Asia Pacific Porsche races and there's a chance he knows Zhuhai. Oli has used up his allocation of rookie sessions so he can't double up any more.

[kipper]

I don't think that Danny Watts ever raced at Zhuhai in the Asian Porsche series. That said, it will certainly be interesting as to how well he performs. In my view, he'll be rather impressive.

[Kiwi3]

Wasn't Oliver Turvey supposed to be part of team GBR this season?

Where is our NZL rookie? Would like to see Brendon Hartley in the car.

[Last2LiftOff]

Dunno Kiwi. Switzerland and Mexico entries are in though:

MEX: Garza
SUI: Jani / Imperatori

Originally Posted by Autosport.com

"We've taken a very tough decision here today," declared Les Jones. "Michel [Jourdain] has been doing a good job so far, but after what David has shown us these last few days, I think he deserves the opportunity to represent his country in the A1GP.

...but especially he is committed and wants to do it, and that's very important."

The article goes on to say that Garza has signed with Forsythe Pettit for Atlantics next year, for what that's worth in an A1GP thread.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

Wasn't Oliver Turvey supposed to be part of team GBR this season?

Where is our NZL rookie? Would like to see Brendon Hartley in the car.

Yes, Oliver Turvey was supposed to be the GBR Rookie, but I guess that on this occasion the team has decided to go for a driver with more experience, who is likely to help the team more.

Brendon Hartley is busy testing for his BF3 season next year, but he'll be available from January 1st. Is there an F3 support race at Taupo?

[NAC]

Originally Posted by strider

Brendon Hartley is busy testing for his BF3 season next year, but he'll be available from January 1st. Is there an F3 support race at Taupo?

Off topic*
Not unless they ship them over (we dont run F3 here)

The next best thing will be TRS (Toyota Racing Series), Tatuus chassis, 1800 Corolla / Celica engine, wings and slicks.

http://www.toyotaracing.co.nz/

Also on track will be NZV8's (Commodore and Falcon) GT3, Production cars, & Mini's (not sure but possibly Formula Fords as well)

Hartley use to race TRS before heading off on his Red Bull campaign. His brother Nelson Hartley is racing TRS this season.. Would be great to see Brendon get some A1 miles.

[cos]

Summerton and Kimball for USA.
http://www.a1teamusatv.com/news_detail.aspx?id=261

[Asa]

Tomas Enge will return for Czech Rep. He knows Zhuhai well because he raced in FIA GTs here before. He has always been quick here.

[Last2LiftOff]

Thanks for the link to the Toyota series NAC, that's pretty cool.

CZE: Enge
USA: Summerton / Kimball

CAN: TBA (that's a little odd)
LEB: TBA (but that, not so much).

Practice in a couple of days. If Wickens is out of rookie status, Daniel Morad's fresh-off a pretty good run in the World Final...nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean...

[cos]

Originally Posted by Last2LiftOff

Thanks for the link to the Toyota series NAC, that's pretty cool.

CZE: Enge
USA: Summerton / Kimball

CAN: TBA (that's a little odd)
LEB: TBA (but that, not so much).

Practice in a couple of days. If Wickens is out of rookie status, Daniel Morad's fresh-off a pretty good run in the World Final...nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean...

Wickens is back...
http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=39813

[Last2LiftOff]

Originally Posted by cos

Wickens is back...

Anyone with the session times on Friday?

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Last2LiftOff

Anyone with the session times on Friday?

What makes you think China is two days ahead of Canada? It is only Wednesday today.

[Last2LiftOff]

LOL. No, sorry Asa: anyone know what time the practice sessions are on (in China) on Friday?

My apologies.

[Kiwi3]

It's usually the Americans that are so far behind everyone else, Canadians seem to keep up...

Rookie session on Friday is 11am-12pm local time, afternoon session is 2pm-3pm.

Saturday practice is 11am-12pm, qualifying 2.15pm-3.30pm

Sunday sprint race is 11am-11.20am, feature is 3pm-4.10pm

[cos]

Ireland on top so far:
http://results.a1gp.com/gp.php?l=0&d...20072107&c=123

[strider]

Combined rookie times, just for interest:
http://results.a1gp.com/gp.php?l=0&d...=20072107&c=25

Danny Watts did a pretty good job considering he'd never driven the car before. In fact he was quicker than Olly Jarvis later in the day, which is strange.

There's a report here that partly explains why Adam Carroll is finally showing the form for Team Ireland that some of us expected from the beginning.

Robert Wickens is doing a top job for Canada and Michael Ammermüller is also right at the front. I hope he's learnt some driving manners since the last meeting.

[Mystery]

Carroll has hardly been a complete bust so far so to now discover he's been in pain throughout is very interesting. Half a second off the front so far and when everyone catches up with more track time I'm sure that will be reduced but will be fascinating to see how much.

Bit early to predict a Carroll benefit weekend but not beyond the realms of possibility

[Kiwi3]

After taking advantage of a moment of confusion by a security guard, I spent the day trackside in the infield. Woohoo!

This circuit should definitely provide overtaking, although in the press conference today Ammermuller reckoned it's dirty offline and therefore a mistake by the guy in front might be necessary (anyone spot the irony?). Comments by John Watson about the funneling nature of the first corner are also interesting.

There were surprisingly little incidents today. The only one I saw was the Portugal car stopping near the end of the afternoon session. Someone must have done something early in the rookie session as red flags were briefly out but it was at a different part of the circuit from where I was.

A couple of things were noticeable from trackside. Erik Janis was locking his inside front on every lap when nobody else was, and Narain Karthikeyan has quite a unique cornering style. He almost puts his outside rear wheel off the circuit before turning in, but then at the last minute darts inside and takes a narrow line to the apex.

The funny thing about actually being there is that often you have no idea of what is really going on. I only found out the times when I got back to my hotel and logged on! Hermanto did well today, although I believe he does have experience of the circuit from Asian F3. Erik Janis did an ok job in the rookie session, perhaps now that Enge is back he realises he needs to pull his finger out!

John Martin was again competitive for Australia, while Ian Dyk wasn't...

Also not sure why NZ was a bit off the pace, South Africa had a shocker (Zandvoort specialists it seems?), and Malaysia have not cured their woes either.

Looks like being a very interesting weekend and perhaps it is Ireland's turn to scramble the championship standings.