The new ’Powered by Ferrari’ A1GP racer hits the track less than five months after work started on the design.

The second-generation A1GP one-make car, which is powered by a Ferrari V8 based on the 430 GT engine, ran for the first time at Fiorano on May 25. That was just 135 days after the design was started by new A1GP technical director John Travis and his team in Sussex at the beginning of January.

This ensured that series bosses hit their target of having a car which is styled after the Ferrari F2004 Formula 1 chassis out in May. A month of intensive testing was scheduled before the national teams receive their cars in time for the first group test at Silverstone in the middle of August.

Initial testing of the new car was undertaken by Ferrari-contracted Andrea Bertolini, who races for sister marque Maserati in the FIA GT Championship. He completed five days and approximately 400 miles of running at Ferrari’s test track over a two-week period.

A1GP Operations Director, John Wickham, described the initial runs as a success.  “We had some software glitches early on, so there was quite a bit of downtime.  We got more and more running as we sorted them, and it seems that the chassis is really good.”

The test program moved on to Imola in early June (above), again with Bertolini driving. Ferrari F1 tester Marc Gené was due to drive in tests at Guadix and Jerez in Spain.

The first tests have been undertaken on Michelin tires as opposed to the Cooper-badged Avons used on the original Lola-Zytek. An announcement that the series will switch to the French company can be regarded as a formality.

Early test for A1GP racer August 2008 – Motor Sport Magazine

Ferrari test driver Marc Gene was impressed by the new A1GP car after sampling it during testing in Spain last week

He believes the car, which is based around Ferrari’s F2004 Formula One chassis and powered by a 600bhp V8 Ferrari engine, will suit the series’ desire to produce action-packed racing as well as significantly improved lap times.

“It’s an interesting car and I had a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s not an F1 car, but it’s not intended to be one. It will produce exciting racing, allows overtaking, and is an extreme drive.”

A1GP’s main test driver Andrea Bertolini and another ex-F1 driver, Patrick Friesacher, have carried out the rest of the development work on the new car with five days at Guadix and three days at Jerez in the last two weeks.

The car has now covered half a season’s worth of mileage and A1GP general manager John Wickham has been satisfied by its performance so far.

“The car has now completed about 3500km of testing and is looking reliable,” he said. “We have spent the majority of time working on the engine and control systems, but there’s also been work on the tires and chassis, so there has been no down time.

“There have been a number of small issues, which are to be expected from a completely new package, but there is nothing we can’t resolve in the coming tests so we are happy with how things are progressing.”

The car will continue its testing program at Jerez in a fortnight before moving on to test in France later this month. The teams are expected to test the car for the first time at Silverstone in August ahead of the first race of the season at Mugello on September 21.

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