A1 Team Korea endured an unlucky start to the A1GP Chengdu, China today.  Taking part in free practice around the dusty and bumpy Chengdu circuit, A1 Team Korea driver Jin- Woo Hwang was behind the wheel for his country’s second A1GP event, and competed on track along side drivers from 19 other nations from around the globe.   As the teams readied themselves for Sunday’s racing action, A1 Team Korea saw its morning practice session cut short by a technical issue.   Taking to the Chengdu circuit for the first time, 25 year old Jin-Woo Hwang completed just seven laps before the car suffered a problem with the drive shaft, forcing him to return to the pits.  

Completing the necessary repairs, the A1 Team Korea mechanics fixed the car in time for the second practice session of the day.  With little running time in the morning, Hwang had only one hour on track to get to grips with the challenging 3.3 km circuit.  Several of the front running A1GP drivers had incidents throughout the session, including those from China, New Zealand and Malaysia.  The team’s testing was brought to an early conclusion however, when Hwang went off track and ended his session in the gravel.  

A1 Team Korea COO Harry Lee said, “It was a difficult day for us and we were very unlucky this morning to suffer a problem with the drive shaft.  The track here is very difficult and Jin unfortunately went off in the afternoon which also limited our track time, but I’m confident we’ll have a more positive day tomorrow.”  

Reflecting on his first experience of the circuit A1 Team Korea driver Jin-Woo Hwang said, “We didn’t make the progress I’d hoped today.  We had a problem in the morning so I only completed seven laps.  After the team fixed the car we were able to take part in second practice session.  The track is very bumpy and dusty and it’s easy to go off here.  Unfortunately I made a mistake in the afternoon but I will make up for it tomorrow.”

Team Manager Martin Stone added, “This morning’s technical issue meant we had limited time work on our set-up and with little time to replace the part, we missed the second half of the session.  Jin made a small mistake this afternoon, but with only 10 minutes of the session remaining and relatively little damage done, it hasn’t been too much of an issue.  We will be working with Jin now to see where he can make improvements ahead of qualifying tomorrow.” The team will have the benefit of one further test session tomorrow morning, before qualifying commences at 1415 local time.   -Ends- Media Release