A1 Team Netherlands has moved up to a joint seventh position in the Championship after two strong races today during the A1 Grand Prix of Nations Australia, at Eastern Creek. Jos Verstappen finished the Sprint race in seventh place and drove to a fourth place in the Feature race. With a total of 11 points the team scores its best result in a race weekend of the season so far.
The day started well for A1 Team Netherlands with a third time in the warm up. During the Sprint race, which was shortened by one lap because of a number of safety car situations, Verstappen managed to gain one spot from his grid position. Overtaking proved very hard on the narrow track of Eastern Creek and regrettably a higher finish was not possible. With that seventh place the team did secure the first four points of the weekend.
In the feature race Verstappen did not have a very good start. A perfect call from engineer Graham Taylor, who called Verstappen in at the right time during a safety car situation, and a very fast executed pitstop, again the fastest of all teams, took Verstappen into the front of the field, just behind Switzerland. The Feature race was shortened by 5 laps, because of a number of neutralisations. With 15 laps remaining a very heavy crash of Japanese driver Shimoda caused the longest neutralisation of the race. In turn 1 the Japanese driver went off at full speed and hit the tyre wall awfully hard. The car was written off completely, but the Japan driver luckily stayed unharmed. In the remaining two laps Verstappen put Jani of Switzerland under some pressure, but he did not manage to overtake the Swiss driver. However, the fourth place and the resulting seven points are the best result for A1 Team Netherlands in a Feature race so far.
Jos Verstappen; “I had a bad start in the second race, but at the pitstop all the mechanics made up for that completely. With that stop we overtook three men and I’m very happy with that. It’s a circuit where overtaking is next to impossible, otherwise we could have had even more. I’m more than satisfied with the weekend. Sometimes it was hard finding the balance. To finish off with a seventh and fourth place, I think we have got little to complain about, especially with that fourth place”.
Jan Lammers; “We have gained ground in the Championship, that’s very good. Again we had the fastest pitstop of everybody. With that we managed to move Jos more in front. When we are racing we are just as fast as Switzerland and we have the same pace as the teams driving second and third. We only have to improve on our qualifying, that will be our next task. We just have to finish up in the top four in qualifying. In the Championship we have moved up from a joint ninth to a joint seventh position, so we are still moving forward. And, for the first time we have finished both races in one weekend”.
With 25 points in the bag A1 Team Netherlands sets of for the fifth race in the A1 Grand Prix Championship. That will take place on November 20 at the circuit of Sepang in Malaysia, a track that A1 Team Netherlands driver Jos Verstappen knows very well from his Formula 1 period.
Press release
A1 Team Netherlands
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