A1 Team France finish in fourth

A1 Team France finished the 2007-2008 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in 4th place overall.

Franck Montagny bagged an additional 7 points yesterday at Brands Hatch (England) in the last 2 rounds of the season with 8 th and 5 th places.

This was not enough to fend off Great Britain’s late charge, and the British team scored 27 points on home turf snatching 3 rd place overall in the championship.

The 2007-2008 title goes to Switzerland (128 points), ahead of New Zealand (127 points) and Great Britain (126 points).

A1 Team France scored 118 points this season. It finished in the top 10 on 15 occasions out of 20 starts with 7 podium placings including a victory. The team used 3 experienced drivers: Loïc Duval, Jonathan Cochet and Franck Montagny. Nicolas Prost was the test driver throughout the year.

The team is now getting down to preparing for the next championship, which will have an entirely new car. Following an agreement signed between A1GP and Ferrari, the engine of the new machine will be designed and built in Maranello, while the chassis will be constructed on the recommendations of the prestigious Italian make. It’s already tomorrow!

Olivier Panis, sporting director:

“We finished the championship in fourth place. It’s a goodresult in the circumstances, as the A1GP single-seater needs a lot of experience to get thebest out of it. Both Jonathan Cochet and Franck Montagny, who came after Loïc Duval at theend of the season, needed more time to be 100% competitive. We had a tough second partof the championship. After scoring ninety-six points up to the Australian round, we were onlyable to increase our total by twenty-two in the next nine races, and we slipped back. Despitethat we were in contention for the title up to the second-last event. Our team remained unitedand was competitive right up till the end and I’d like to congratulate them for that.Congratulations too to A1 Team Switzerland on their 2007-2008 title. We’ll be back inSeptember to take our revenge!”

Franck Montagny: “We knew we could score points twice this weekend – and we did!Unfortunately, we weren’t able to topple New Zealand, and Great Britain’s exceptionalperformance robbed us of a place in the top three. We can return home satisfied knowingthat we did everything possible. I’d like to thank the team for its support and professionalism.Taking part in the A1 Team France challenge has been a unique experience that I’ll neverforget.”


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