A1GP

Sepang: Team Pakistan Sunday notes

Exciting racing for Pakistan at Sepang In hot and humid conditions, A1 Team Pakistan competed in the third round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. Returning to the track where he raced in the first ...

Published: Nov 26, 2007, 6:27 AM

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Exciting racing for Pakistan at Sepang

In hot and humid conditions, A1 Team Pakistan competed in the third round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. Returning to the track where he raced in the first season of A1GP, Adam Khan was once again behind the wheel of the green and white car, representing his nation. In two thrilling races, which saw numerous incidents and crashes, Khan made his way through the field to finish the Sprint race in 17th place and the Feature race in 15th.

With a customary rolling start, the Sprint race got underway at 11.00 local time, with Khan making an excellent start to pass both Mexico and Indonesia by the end of the pit straight. With only 10 laps and no pit stops, Khan had little opportunity to make up any further places and crossed the line 18th. A 42-second penalty for A1 Team Netherlands for jumping the start resulted in A1 Team Pakistan being elevated to 17th place.

Following a vibrant and colourful opening ceremony in front of an enthusiastic crowd, the A1GP cars lined up for the 70 minute Feature race. Khan made a lightening start and taking a tight line into the first corner, Khan made it past a gaggle of cars which ran wide, allowing Pakistan to make up a number of places. As the melee unfolded, Khan stayed out of trouble. Following an incident involving South Africa and Canada, the safety car was brought out on lap eight, just as the pit lane opened for the first pit stops. Following his stop, Khan emerged in 14th place behind the safety car.

As racing recommenced on lap 11, Khan maintained his position. The A1 Team Pakistan driver soon came under pressure from Czech Republic race winner A1 Team New Zealand behind him. Demonstrating his defensive driving skills Khan kept the black car behind him for four laps. New Zealand driver Jonny Reid finally found a way past on lap 15, as did local driver and former F1 driver Alex Yoong, relegating Khan to 16th place.

In an extremely competitive race, A1 Team USA found a way past the A1 Team Pakistan car at the end of lap 17. Refusing to surrender, Khan retook his position on the next lap. With current champions A1 Team Germany served with a drive through penalty, Pakistan made up a further place on lap 22 to take 15th position.

Having lost a place to the A1 Team USA following the team's second pit stop, contact between Germany and the Czech Republic on lap 29 elevated the green and white car of Pakistan back up to 15th place. As temperatures inside the A1GP car soared, Khan stayed out of trouble and maintained his position to the chequered flag on lap 30.

Speaking about his race, Khan said, "I got a very good start in the Feature race and made up a number of places. Unfortunately after the pit stops I lost quite a few positions. Defending against New Zealand was great fun, but they were much quicker and on such a wide track it was very difficult to keep him behind me. Unfortunately I wasted a little bit of time defending the position, but I couldn't just let him by. I think there are a few elements we need to work on before the next race, but we're making progress and we finished a lot higher up than we started which is always a good thing. I'm hopeful we'll be further up the finishing order in China."

A1 Team Pakistan seatholder Arif Husain added, "I'm very pleased with how the team performed today, considering where we started on the grid, I think the 15th place in the Feature race was a good achievement. Conditions were very challenging today, and a lot of experienced drivers made mistakes, but Adam stayed out of trouble to being the car home in one piece. I think the team have made progress throughout the weekend, and we will be aiming to improve this at the next race in China."

A1 Team Pakistan will return to racing action on 16 December, for the A1GP, Zhuhai, China.

-credit: a1teampak.com

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