Eastern Creek: Team Japan preview

The Eastern Creek Raceway located just 40 minutes outside of Sydney in Australia is set to stage the fourth round of the A1 Grand Prix series this weekend. The circuit is the hub of motor sport in the New South Wales area with the world's largest ...

The Eastern Creek Raceway located just 40 minutes outside of Sydney in Australia is set to stage the fourth round of the A1 Grand Prix series this weekend. The circuit is the hub of motor sport in the New South Wales area with the world's largest karting facility and playing host to a number of Australia's biggest motor sport events, including annual rounds of the popular Australian V8 Supercar Championship. The track is set up to welcome an A1 Grand Prix crowd for the first time outside of the European continent.

A1 Team Japan will yet again arrive with a new driver behind the wheel for the Australian A1 Grand Prix round after a no-show at Estoril, Portugal. Facing a steep learning curve will be 21 years old Hayanari Shimoda who, having finished a successful year in the American Le Mans Series will head up the A1 Team Japan car for what is promised by the organisers to be a sell-out race weekend. With points in all rounds contested so far, the team hopes to continue to build upon a strong start to the World Cup of Motorsport.

Hayanari Shimoda:
I'm really looking forward to what is going to be the first A1 Grand Prix event for me. Firstly, it's a great opportunity for me to race for Japan and I'm really excited about being able to represent my nation against other countries. It is a unique opportunity that the A1 Grand Prix series gives us all. Secondly, I'm really looking forward to driving the circuit and testing the A1 car. Like most of the other A1GP drivers, I haven't been around the Eastern Creek circuit before and there's nothing more exciting for a driver than racing on a new track!

Malcolm Swetnam: (Team Manager, A1 Japan):
We have made good progress in the first two A1GP races and have managed to score points in both rounds raced so far which is more than we expected to be honest, having put together the team at the very last minute before the first round at Brands Hatch. To make things even more difficult for the team, we have so far had a new driver in the car at every race weekend, but the boys have been great and just kept their heads down and got on with it. I hope we can continue to improve our performance, set-up and tactics to score more points and perhaps even a podium finish if possible. We have high hopes that Hayanari's experience in single seaters, sprint racing and also having done Le Mans sports car racing, will do a good job for the team this weekend and help us develop an a good strategy and bring home more points.