After two very exciting races on the Sepang circuit in Malaysia three weeks ago, the A1GP teams are in Zhuhai this weekend for the first of the two rounds of the World Cup of Motorsport to be held on Chinese soil this season, the fourth of the 2007-08 championship.
A1 Team France is currently in second place in the overall classification eight points behind the leader, Switzerland, thanks to Loïc Duval’s two rostrum finishes in Malaysia. In third place comes New Zealand fifteen points behind while Holland is fourth twenty-two points in arrears. For the French team this weekend’s mission is clear: a top-three finish in both the Sprint and Feature races to close the gap to the leader.
None of the twenty-two teams has raced at Zhuhai before, so everybody will begin tomorrow’s free practice sessions in the same boat. They have no telemetry information and their aim will be to learn the circuit and fine-tune their set-up without wasting any time. Unfortunately, A1 Team France will not be able to take part in the two rookie sessions, as Nicolas Prosy has been retained in Europe to take part in a private test session for the DTM Championship with Audi. Zhuhai should be an interesting challenge for both drivers and engineers. The 4,3-km circuit is on the south coast of the country and is accessible by ferry from Hong Kong.
It was inaugurated in 1996. In 1999, it was revamped by the famous architect Hermann Tilke, who has been responsible for other circuits like Sepang (Malaysia), Shanghai (China) and Istanbul (Turkey). The track provides good overtaking opportunities and has two straights of 900 and 500 metres respectively.
Loïc Duval: “After our excellent weekend at Sepang we’ve arrived in China hugely motivated. We’ve managed two second places on the trot and we’ve just got to go one step further to score a victory. And that’s what we’re out to achieve this week-end. Nobody knows the track and taming it will be a challenge that we’re more than ready to take up.”
