SPEED LEADS BOTH DAYS OF TESTING FOR NEW A1 GRAND PRIX SERIES
Californian could become Team USA driver in new winter championship
American Scott Speed continued to enhance his status as one of the top future talents for Formula One by leading both days of testing for the new A1 Grand Prix series.
Speed, from Manteca, Calif., paced testing Aug. 24-25 at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, leading Aug. 24 with a lap of 1 minute, 24.559 seconds and going faster Aug. 25 at 1:24.177.
It was Speed’s first drive ever in an A1 Grand Prix car.
A1 Grand Prix, described as the “World Cup of motorsport,” will open its inaugural 12-race season Sept. 25 at Brands Hatch in England. Up to 25 national teams, most with two cars, will compete around the world in the season, which ends April 3 in Beijing. The series is designed to fill the winter gap in the motorsports schedule, allowing top drivers to compete without interfering with their regular rides in spring- and summer-based series.
Drivers will compete on road circuits in open-wheel Lola chassis with a 520-horsepower Zytek engine. There are no electronic driver aids.
The strong performance by GP2 Series title contender Speed in the Team USA car enabled him to top such notable drivers as GP2 rivals Alex Premat (France), Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brazil) and Nicolas Lapierre (France), former F1 drivers Ralph Firman (Ireland), Alex Yoong (Malaysia) and Jos Verstappen (Netherlands), German DTM touring car star Timo Scheider (Germany) and IndyCar Series standout Tomas Scheckter (South Africa).
“Any time you finish a test, especially at Paul Ricard, and you’re P1, you have to be happy,” said Team USA franchise holder Rick Weidinger. “Scott Speed has a rich heritage of racing results, and today is another indication of his talent.”
Red Bull Driver Search winner Speed is third in the point standings for the GP2 Series, considered to be the final stepping-stone to Formula One. He said he will unveil his 2006 driving plans during the GP2 event Sept. 2-4 at Monza, Italy.
While Speed has not been officially named as a driver for Team USA in A1 Grand Prix, he is expected to be one of the team’s two drivers after his strong performance in testing. Officials from Red Bull Racing, the F1 team for which Speed served as third driver during the United States Grand Prix in June at Indianapolis, have indicated that Speed could race in A1 Grand Prix without interfering with any Red Bull F1 offseason testing commitments.
