Sprint Race Report: Doornbos Takes Sprint Race Victory in Portugal

Robert Doornbos took his maiden victory for A1 Team Netherlands after a red flag prematurely ended the morning Sprint race of Vodafone A1GP Algarve, Portugal.

Ireland’s Adam Carroll brought the Celtic Tiger home a comfortable second and claimed a point for fastest lap to retake the championship lead from Switzerland while home favorite Filipe Albuquerque took the final podium position much to the delight of the Portuguese crowd.

Doornbos made a clean start to take the lead from Italian pole-sitter Vitantonio Liuzzi, while Ireland’s Adam Carroll held on to third as the field headed through turn one for the first time.

Just behind the leaders, New Zealand’s Earl Bamber came across the track in front of Lebanon’s Daniel Morad, with the Kiwi landing himself in the gravel and out of the race. Germany’s Andre Lotterer then also came together with Lebanon while trying to go around the outside of the hairpin, ending his race with significant damage to the left rear of his car. The two incidents resulted in the Safety Car being deployed before the end of lap one.

The order was now the Netherlands leading from Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Monaco, India, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico and USA. The race re-started on lap four with Liuzzi looking to find a way passed Doornbos, while Australia’s John Martin got ahead of USA’s Marco Andretti to take ninth into the first corner.

With the pit stop window now open, race-leader Doornbos was the first man to head in for his first scheduled stop of the day. Monaco, India, Brazil, Great Britain and China followed with the Brazil car clipping a tire held by one of the Chinese mechanics as Felipe Guimaraes’ exited his pit box. The tire flew down the pit lane but was recovered by the team, although the incident delayed the China pit stop dropping them down the field.

A lap later Italy, Ireland and Portugal dived into the pit lane and great stops from the Irish and Portuguese teams saw their cars exit the pit lane ahead of the Italian.

Championship leader Switzerland had a difficult start to the day. After starting from the back of the grid due to not setting a time in qualifying yesterday, Neel Jani stayed out late before pitting right at the end of the pit stop window. The Swiss driver rejoined in a points’ paying position however, the pit stop was deemed too late by the stewards, and the team were awarded a time penalty which dropped them down to an eventual fifteenth.

Doornbos had built up a healthy lead out in front before a crash involving Felipe Guimaraes’ Brazilian car and South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg brought out the red flags with three laps remaining. Doornbos claimed his first victory for the Netherlands while Ireland and Portugal completed the podium. Ireland’s extra point for Carroll’s fastest lap of 1m31.404s helped the team re-established itself at the top of the championship standings.

“From first practice onwards, we were aiming for this,” said the Netherlands’ Doornbos. “The target is the big one though, and that is where we’ve got the pole so we’re in a strong position for this afternoon. To get my first win for the team is great and it keeps us in the championship hunt as well, so it’s good.

“I got a good run on Antonio (Liuzzi). At the safety car restart and I pulled away with a nice gap and then afterwards cruised it home so it was a good morning. I came especially for this race. It is the last one I can do this season for A1 Team Netherlands so I’m very keen on making my mark and to leave with some fireworks this afternoon.”

Ireland’s Adam Carroll said: “That’s just what we needed. We got a good start. I’m sure it was tight down into the first few turns but I got through and was able to settle down.

“The guys did a really good pit stop, which allowed us to jump Italy and then push on. I think I actually got fastest lap as well. It was very, very close. But that’s some more points and it was a great race. It’s going to be a long Feature race this afternoon but hopefully we can do the same.”

Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque said: “This means a lot. I gave my word to the Portuguese that a win or podium would be fantastic. Yesterday qualifying was not great but finally I was able to get a podium. I am very happy and to decrease the distance to Neel Jani in the championship is good.

“I managed to overtake Lebanon which was definitely my goal at the start. I managed to catch Adam Carroll but not by enough in the first lap, however, I think it was a good start.

“The boys did a good job (in the pit stop). When I passed Italy I knew that was the podium because I was faster than him.”

Feature Race Report: Jani Wins Dramatic Portuguese Feature Race

Algarve, Portugal — Switzerland’s Neel Jani emerged victorious from an action-packed Feature race at Vodafone A1GP Algarve, Portugal this afternoon. The result means Jani now has ten A1GP victories to his name — more than any other driver in the history of the sport. Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque drove a fantastic race to come through to second, while Fairuz Fauzy was third for Malaysia. Ireland’s Adam Carroll finished second on the road, but a subsequent penalty dropped him to fifth.

The drama started before the race had even begun as pole-man Robert Doornbos stopped his A1 Team Netherlands car out on track while the field were coming to line up on the grid. The wiring loom chafing ended the Dutchman’s hopes of leaving the team on a high on his last A1GP race of the season.

Effectively on pole now, Carroll also had drama as his crew were last off the grid after trouble getting his car started. Brazil was absent from fifth on the grid after being unable to repair the car after crashing out of the Sprint race earlier in the day. As the race finally got underway, Ireland led the pack into turn one while USA’s Marco Andretti made a fantastic start to move ahead of Malaysia and Portugal into fourth. Albuquerque responded immediately with a great move to re-take fourth from the American driver.

As the cars came around to complete the first racing lap the order was Ireland from Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, USA, New Zealand, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico and Lebanon.

Lebanon and Mexico made contact resulting in a puncture for Lebanon’s Daniel Morad, whose race then ended in the gravel at turn six. Australia’s John Martin had a problem at the first turn which dropped him down the order.

By lap three, Ireland had a 1.8-second advantage over Switzerland with the pair beginning to pull away from the rest of the field.

A great battle was continuing further down the field for the final points paying positions between Malaysia, Monaco, Mexico, Great Britain and India, with Monaco’s Clivio Piccione pushing hard to pass the Malaysian car. On lap seven there was bad news for the Irish squad as Adam Carroll was given a drive-through penalty for a jump start. With the order now Ireland from Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, USA, New Zealand, Italy, Monaco, Malaysia and Mexico, the window opened for the first round of pit stops.

Portugal, Italy and South Africa were among the first to pit while Ireland came through for its penalty. A lap later the Celtic Tiger was back in for its mandatory pit stop but with time lost had dropped right down the field. Switzerland made a clean stop to remain out in front while New Zealand had a fantastic stop boosting Earl Bamber up to an effective third ahead of both Portugal and the USA.

Monaco rejoined ahead of USA but came out on cold tires, Clivio Piccione made an error and lets Marco Andretti through into what was sixth after everyone pitted.

Black Beauty was now flying in the hands of Bamber who was right on the back of South Africa. Zaugg was under immense pressure but defended well coming down the main straight. However, going into turn three Bamber appeared to lock up and crashed into the rear of South Africa. Portugal narrowly avoided the collision up ahead thanks to Albuquerque’s lightening reactions as the incident brought the Safety Car out on lap 15.

As Switzerland’s 15-second lead disappeared, the field closed up with the order behind Jani now Portugal, Italy, USA, Mexico, Monaco, Malaysia, India, Germany and Ireland. As Switzerland’s 15-second lead disappeared, the incident brought Ireland right back into contention.

The race re-started on lap 19 and Filipe Albuquerque made a brilliant maneuver around the outside of Jani at turn one to take the lead in front of the roaring crowds. USA made a move on Italy and as Vitantonio Liuzzi tried to come back on the inside at turn nine, the pair touched, with the Italian car spinning into the innocent car of Monaco leaving all three out of the race.

The Safety Car was straight back out with the order now Portugal leading from Switzerland, Mexico, Malaysia, India, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France and Indonesia.

On lap 23 the race was back underway with Portugal under immense pressure from Switzerland. The second pit stop window opened on lap 27 with Portugal, Malaysia, India and Ireland coming straight in. Ireland jumped both India and Malaysia after a stunning stop from the Irish team getting Adam Carroll out just behind Portugal. A lap later Switzerland pitted and a quick stop from the Swiss team got their man out comfortably in the lead. Mexico’s Salvador Duran was running an impressive third after great pit stop strategy from the Mexican squad.

With 12 laps to go Albuquerque’s mirrors were full of the emerald green car as Jani continued to pull away in the lead. On lap 32 the timing screens flashed with more bad news as Ireland was awarded another drive-through penalty for overtaking behind the Safety Car. The stewards then made the decision to investigate the incident after the race allowing Ireland to continue its race. Germany also had bad news as Andre Lotterer was given a drive-through penalty also for overtaking under Safety Car conditions.

As Mexico came in for its final stop of the day, Ireland finally made a move on Portugal to take second. In the closing stages of the race, India’s Narain Karthikeyan spun into retirement while Australia retired in the pits.

Ireland now had the gap to Switzerland down to 0.6-seconds as Carroll chased the win in the dying stages of the race. Switzerland held on to the win making Jani the driver who has won the most race victories in A1GP history.

Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque drove a fantastic race to come through from seventh on the grid to take the final podium position in front of his home fans. The 23-year-old bowed down and thanked the crowd for their support this weekend to an almost deafening cheer.

The final race order at the flag was Switzerland from Ireland, Portugal, Malaysia, Mexico, France, Great Britain, China, Germany and Indonesia, however, following a stewards’ enquiry, Ireland’s penalty was upheld. The teams had a 25-second time penalty applied for overtaking Australia under the Safety Car just before a re-start which dropped it down to fifth in the order.

Switzerland therefore regained its championship lead with 88 points from Ireland (86) and Portugal (82) however if dropped scores were taken into account at this stage, Ireland would still remain at the top of the championship by two points.

Race-winner Neel Jani said: “There was everything in it (the race). Coming from third, having second, then to the pit stop and getting the lead, losing the lead and having Adam really put me under pressure at the end. We were a bit lucky today and we were very unlucky yesterday so it’s a balance.

“On the restart he (Albuquerque) caught me down the straight and I just thought I can’t hold it, so don’t fight him too much and just try to get him on the second pit stop, which worked well.

“I saw cars going off and I thought ‘oh that’s another position for Adam coming from the back’ I think it was a great race for us. We can be really happy with what we have achieved today. I had to fight quite hard because Adam (Carroll) was really quick and Portugal too, so I think it will be between the three of us in the end.”

“It was very hard at the beginning,” said local hero Filipe Albuquerque. “We then had a really poor pit stop — another car was coming and didn’t let me out. I still pushed with the new tires, but I was really disappointed with the third stint — I think the pressures were too high on the tires.

“I am very proud and coming from P7 I was very lucky and had to fight a lot. I was in the middle of all the battles. I lost my left mirror so I couldn’t see the crash between New Zealand and South Africa. I am pleased to get a podium. It’s good for the standings in the championship. Getting two podiums on home soil is just perfect.”

Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy commented: “Taking our third podium finish of the season today is a good result for us. It has moved us into sixth place of the overall standings, but we’re only three points behind France, so we can fight for this as well. We had a good car and this, combined with our teamwork and a strong race strategy — and a little bit of good fortune – ensured we took a top three spot.”

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