Duran hopes to return to the first place in the championship and Perez continues with a good learning curve
A1 Team Mexico drivers are already in New Zealand, ready for the first round in 2007, which is the sixth event of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season. And for the first time the Series will visit the 3.5-Km. (2.17-mile) circuit of Taupo, in New Zealand, which will be raced anti-clockwise. For this race there were built new facilities and this will be the major International motorsports event this venue hosts.
A1 Team Mexico driver Salvador Duran talked about his participation in the New Zealander event: "I'm looking forward racing at Taupo, a new track in the schedule means a new challenge and at the beginning of 2007 this is a good way to start the New Year! It seems to be a tough track. I hope to walk it today. A1 Team Mexico and I want to catch up Germany and Great Britain A1 Teams in the points and we would love to leave New Zealand leading the point standings."
And he added: We have proved that we are championship contenders and we will work hard to get the best out of the two races in terms of points. New Zealand can be our lucky charm to turn the tables around."
On the other hand, A1 Team Mexico test driver Sergio Perez gave his comments about this round: "I am very happy and looking forward to go back to my driving duties. Also, I want to stay at the front in the practice I participate in. Step by step I have been adapting much more to the A1 car even that I did not have a lot of seat time. What I have used to drive was a smaller car, but now I feel more confident in the A1 car and I think I can be again at the front."
"I think this car's breaking is what it has still been difficult for me, since it is totally different to what I have used to drive, but these practices are to adapt to the car and my learning curve has been developing in a good way."
"This is a good opportunity for me in the future, since I am very young and I have to work hard to get even more driving opportunities. I hope to have the chance to participate in an A1 race this year."
Currently, the German team leads the standings with 48 points, followed by Great Britain with 36 and Mexico is third with 34 points.
A DIFFICULT DAY FOR A1 TEAM MEXICO
The Mexican team works on the setup for the A1 car in preparation for qualifying
TAUPO, New Zealand (January 19, 2007) - A1 Team Mexico had a difficult day in their first outing at the 3.5-Km. (2.17-mile) circuit of Taupo. In the practice sessions, Sergio Perez was ranked 14 in the rookie session, while Salvador Duran was 11th fastest.
A1 Team Mexico test driver Sergio Perez was the first driver of the Mexican team to go out to the track to participate in the rookie practice and he said: "In the first segment of the practice session I spun and they could not push me back to the track, with this situation I've lost this part of the practice. It was my mistake, but this is part of my learning (curve). This only motivates me to improve my performance. In the second segment of the session I was not able to complete a good lap -at the limit, as I would like to. However, we were able to get good information to improve the car. I hope this weekend everything will go well."
Salvador Duran participated in the last practice session and he commented: "The session was hard. We did not do a good lap and the top-12 drivers are within one second. We have problems with the set up and we are working on that. We know we can be competitive and I think tomorrow we are going to be all right. We are working hard to improve our performance."
The fastest countries were Czech Republic, India, France, Ireland and Germany rounded out the top-5.
The races will be broadcast this Saturday live on SPEED Channel en Español at 19:00 hrs. (Mexico CST), and will be rebroadcast this Sunday at 9:30 hrs. (Mexico CST). Again international commentator Jorge Koechlin will be joining Tony Rivera in the SPEED Channel en Español broadcasts.
Also, at 13:30 hrs. (Mexico CST) there will be a tape-delayed broadcast on Televisa's Channel 4.
