A1 Team.France

A1 Team France careful in wet conditions

2006-02-10 Sentul (Indonesia), Friday, 10 February 2006 A1 Team France driver Nicolas Lapierre set about a careful first day back behind the wheel of his 520-hp car as heavy rain made conditions in Sentul very difficult. Friday practice was disrupted by rain and many interruptions due to other cars spinning. A1 Team France finished ninth in the first practice session and fifteenth in the second session.

"The track is very interesting, but the driving conditions were changing all the time which made it very difficult," said Lapierre. "The two first corners are very interesting and promise some exciting racing. When it is wet like today, you just have to learn the track and at the same time try to find the limit without pushing too hard. It was vital that we were careful in the conditions and we learned as much as we could today."

Jean-Paul Driot, team principal, A1 Team France commented: "Our goal as always is to do our best and fight for the win. Given the wet conditions we had to be very careful not to make any costly mistakes. As this is the home race for A1 Team Indonesia we hope to see a huge crowd this weekend
whatever the weather conditions."

A1 Team France is one of 25 teams contesting the new A1 Grand Prix Series, the "World Cup of Motorsport". A1 Team France has a strong lead in the championship with 119 points. The team has scored nine wins this season.

A1 Grand Prix continues to make huge strides in attracting worldwide audiences in its inaugural season. After its first five races A1GP is reaching an average audience of more than 8 million viewers per race in more than 120 countries.

Do not miss the race Sunday on Eurosport (France), Premiere (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Supersport (Greece and Cyprus), Sky Italia (Italy), RTP (Portugal), BSKYB Ltd (UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel), SportTV (Russia), Sogecable (Spain),RTL7 (NL- achieving nearly 800,000 viewers per
race with an even more impressive market share of 16 per cent, 365 Media), (Iceland) or RTE 2 Eire, SABC South Africa is also achieving impressive market share with nearly 10 per cent of all viewers tuning into A1GP.

A1 Team France aims to extend advantage in Indonesia

2006-02-06 Sentul, Monday 06 February 2006 A1 Team France heads to the eighth round of the new A1 Grand Prix Series in Sentul Indonesia aiming to increase its lead in the championship.The team claimed 13 points in the last race in South Africa, consolidating its lead in the championship on 119 points.Nicolas Lapierre will be back behind the wheel of the French car in Indonesia aiming to take the team's eleventh and twelfth wins of the season.

"It looks like Sentul will be very physically demanding because of the heat and humidity,"Lapierre said. "I've been studying the track and its 11 turns and seen that there are a lot of high-speed corners. I'm feeling very fit and ready to race. We will continue to do our best and put on a great show for the Indonesian public. I wish I could see more of the country,but a race weekend is always too short to do much sightseeing."

Jean-Paul Driot, team principal, A1 Team France commented: "There's still quite a way to go in the championship and even though we're leading we must not be complacent. To have taken ten wins already may have made it look easy, but it isn't.We will remain completely focussed and work as hard as ever to extend our advantage in the championship. It won't be easy in Sentul as the track will be tough on the cars and drivers but we are determined to continue our winning streak."

A1 Team France is one of 25 teams contesting the new A1 Grand Prix Series, the "World Cup of
Motorsport". After the seventh round of the new A1 Grand Prix Series, Team A1 France leads the Championship with 109 points.

To date the team has scored ten consecutive wins. Drivers Nicolas Lapierre and Alexandre Prémat are two highly talented youngsters taking turns at the wheel.A1 Grand Prix continues to make huge strides in attracting worldwide audiences in its inaugural season. After its first five races A1GP is reaching an average audience of more than 8 million viewers per race in more than 120 countries

Do not miss the race Sunday on Eurosport (France), Premiere Germany,ustria,Switzerland),Supersport (Greece and Cyprus), Sky Italia (Italy), RTP (Portugal), BSKYB Ltd (UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel), SportTV (Russia), Sogecable (Spain),RTL7 (NL- achieving nearly 800,000 viewers per race with an even more impressive market share of 16 per cent, 365 Media), (Iceland) or RTE 2 Eire, SABC South
Africa is also achieving impressive market share with nearly 10 per cent of all viewers tuning into A1GP.

A1 Team France and Premat take tenth win in South Africa

2006-01-29 South Africa, Durban, Sunday 29th January - A1 Team France took another victory in the sprint race at Durban (South Africa), its tenth of the season with Alexandre Prémat starting from pole. After winning the spring race, Prémat fought against the odds and ended up eighth in the feature race scoring a grand total of 13 points.

"We were strong in warm up which gave us plenty of confidence for the rest of the day," said Prémat. "The sprint race was trouble-free until the last lap when Jos Verstappen hit my rear-left wheel. Luckily the damage was not too serious and the team could fix it in time for the feature race."

"In the feature race I didn't have such a good start, and Neel Jani took advantage of this
coming side by side with me," Prémat added. "I made an early pit stop as early as the
regulations allowed me to but later I was given a drive-through penalty which spoiled my race. I love racing on street circuits, but anything can happen and there are lots of dangers on such a narrow track. After my penalty in the feature race I was determined to finish in a good position and fought my way back into the top ten, finishing in eighth after a 25 second penalty for taking the drive through penalty during a safety car period."

Jean-Paul Driot, team Principal of A1 Team France, added: "I am disappointed with the
problems we encountered in the pit lane during the feature race. Scoring 14 points and keeping the lead of the championship is the most important thing."

After the seventh round of the new A1 Grand Prix Series, Team A1 France has extended its lead in the championship and has 119 points. The team has notched up ten victories. The next round will be staged at Sentul (Indonesia), where Nicolas Lapierre is the nominated driver.

A1 Grand Prix continues to make huge strides in attracting worldwide audiences in its inaugural season. After its first five races A1GP is reaching an average audience of more than 8 million viewers per race in more than 120 countries.

Prémat scores South African pole for A1 Team France

2006-01-28 Saturday, 28 January 2006 - Finally, clouds and heavy rain lifted and gave way to hot and sunny conditions for qualifying at the Durban street circuit. With air and track temperatures at 28 degrees Centigrade, A1 Team France driver Alexandre Premat put the hammer down and claimed pole position for tomorrow's first race.

So strong were Prémat's first three runs in qualifying that the team did not need to go out in the fourth part of qualifying and instead saved the car and tyres for tomorrow's important races.

Prémat commented: "The session was difficult but I am pleased with the results. We had a hard time finding the right balance on this circuit and it was not helped by all the bad weather yesterday. The set-up needs a lot of fine-tuning here as the cars tend to oversteer a lot on corner exits. It's also very bumpy here and that can upset the car's balance. For qualifying we needed to push because the track had changed a lot since the morning and was improving despite the debris lying around from this morning's accidents. I am very proud to have taken pole for France and we have a great chance now to extend our lead in the championship. I love driving on street circuits and it's great when your strategy pays off. I feel good about our pace for tomorrow's races lets just hope the safety car isn't called on too often."

Jean-Paul Driot, team principal, A1 Team France, added: "Well done to Alex and the team. The cars are not very easy to drive and oversteer easily. Our team worked really well together to fine tune the set-up and find a good balance. It's an excellent result for today as it is important to leave in pole there is no room for mistakes on this track."

A1 Team France is one of 25 teams contesting the new "A1 Grand Prix Series - the World Cup of Motorsport". In the points classification prior to the seventh round of the season, A1 Team France is in first place with 106 points.

Do not miss the race Sunday on Eurosport (France), Premiere (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Supersport (Greece and Cyprus), Sky Italia (Italy), RTP (Portugal), BSKYB Ltd (UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel), SportTV (Russia), Sogecable (Spain),RTL7 (NL- achieving nearly 800,000 viewers per race with an even more impressive market share of 16 per cent, 365 Media), (Iceland) or RTE 2 Eire, SABC
South Africa is also achieving impressive market share with nearly 10 per cent of all viewers tuning into A1GP.