For round five of the A1 Grand Prix series A1 Team Netherlands travels to the Sepang F1 circuit in Malaysia. The team, currently lying joint seventh in the Championship with 26 points, will as always be aiming at a strong performance on a track that A1 Team Netherlands driver Jos Verstappen knows well from his days in Formula 1.
Jos Verstappen; “I know this circuit very well and I have always performed well here, that’s not the issue. We have to see how we are going to set up the car. Our main focus has to be the qualifying. I think that this is the most important thing for us. And as far as the race is concerned, normally that always goes well. I hope that the weather will play along with us this weekend, because the predictions call for some rain in the afternoon on raceday. This is a true racetrack though, with plenty of overtaking possibilities, I like that”.
The A1 Grand Prix of Nations at Sepang will however not be the only race with A1 Team Netherlands interest this weekend. Seat Holder Jan Lammers will be competing in a Proton Satria support race this weekend. Amongst others he will be up against former F1 World Champions Emerson Fittipaldi and Alan Jones. A1GP founder, President and Chairman Sheikh Maktoum and General Manager Stephen Watson are also down to compete, along with Group N World Rally Champion Karamjit Singh and Pippa Yoong, sister of A1 Team Malaysia driver Alex Yoong.
Lammers was up against Fittipaldi and Jones only last weekend, during the Grand Prix Masters at Kyalami in South Africa, where he finished ninth.
Jan Lammers; “If you think of Malaysia and of Holland and Verstappen as a driver, your thoughts immediately go to the good times we’ve had here in Formula 1. Verstappen fighting with Hakkinen for second. As far as that’s concerned we have got the mental picture. The confidence is there and it would be great if we can get onto the podium, which has been talked about lots of times, in this beautiful country and on this great track. It will be very much fun driving myself this weekend. I still have to get used to going to circuits not as a racing driver. This is just big fun and very good for pr. The Sheikh will be racing, as is Fittipaldi and Stephen Watson, who used to be a test driver for Arrows. We are just going to have a lot of fun together and I don’t think that all the cars will come out completely unscarred”.
The Sepang International Circuit is situated some 50 kilometres outside the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The track has a length of 5,542 meters and was designed by Hermann Tilke who also designed the F1 circuits at Dubai and China, where A1 Grand Prix will be competing later in the season. Weather conditions can play a big part here, with sudden downpours, high temperatures and humidity.
Press release
A1 Team Netherlands
