A1GP FINALE // CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE DECIDED AT BRANDS HATCH

Today saw the A1GP Series return to the iconic UK venue, Brands Hatch. For the first time in the history of the series, this weekends final round action will be the championship decider following the cancellation of the Mexico race due to health concerns.
 
Warm Spring weather at the UK's unbelievable GP track at Brands, coupled with serious single seater action is a must see and CTD's Neil Tozer is trackside for us to capture all of the unfolding drama.
 
There is something special about the sight and sound of proper single seater cars around the Brands Hatch GP circuit, whether it be the memories of bygone heroes, the distinctive racing smell that lingers through the woods or even thoughts of a glorious age gone before... It never ever fails to move you and stir the passion that first hooked you to the sport. 
 
The GP circuit is still gloriously challenging and bar a few changes, perhaps one of the most unchanged original tracks in the world. The drivers will tell you the same thing thing, one and all, they love it! In this day of sterile far eastern venues, this place gets you by the throat and shakes you, it has bumps, adverse camber, gradients, all manor of corners and above all its probably the one place in the UK that takes you back to the times when you stood in awe of the drivers bravery... [read more]

Anyway I suppose you may have already guessed that this place holds a special place in my heart and it is great that a series as professional and personable as the A1GP thinks of the GP circuit in the same way.
 
Now on to today sessions...
 
Friday opened up as usual with the two half hour sessions for 'Rookie' drivers. Very quickly getting to grips with the circuit was young Nicolas Prost (below) who topped the times for team France with a lap that was 1.3 seconds under the A1GP lap record held by Robbie Kerr in one of the former Lola Zytek cars from 2007.

Switzerland's 'Rookie' Alexandre Imperatori was next up only 0.149 back.
 
Impressive in third spot was J.R. Hildebrand Jr. for Team USA. Hildebrand is stepping up to the main seat this weekend as Marco Andretti is unavailable.
 
No real dramas out on circuit for the 'Rookies,' just beaming smiles upon their return to pitlane along with admiration for the venue.
 
Obviously teams running a rookie driver in the two half hour morning sessions do get an early assessment of track conditions and this also speeds up, to a certian extent, the choice of set-up for the main drivers later in the afternoon.   
 
The main drivers first free practice session got underway late in the afternoon under sunny skies with an ambient temperature a little hotter than the morning sessions.
 
Setting a tremendous initial pace was Hildebrand (below) for Team USA. The 21 year old Indy Lights winner from Long Beach was straight on the pace and topped the times until the session was red flagged when Salvador Duran in the Mexican car came to grief at Sheene Curve. JR reflected afterwards that he thought there was quite a bit left in the car which he hoped to extract on Saturday. This personable young man from Sausalito, California, has driven the short "Indy" circuit here at Brands but is a newcomer to the full layout, making his performance today all the more special.

When the session resumed, Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen (below) began to chip away at the USA lap time and after a few small changes in the pitlane, Joreon dipped into the 1 minute 12 bracket to end the session comfortably quickest by half a second.

Championship protagonists Team Ireland followed the Dutch with ex-GP2 driver Adam Carroll (below) on the pace once again at Brands. Adam drove a storming race here last year and bar a broken front wing could have won the feature.

Again going well at Brands after his fantastic display here last year, was Narain Karthikeyan for Team India who ended the 1 hour session in third place, just hundredths shy of the Ireland time. Narain won here last year and it could be said that he is a Brands specialist given his many years experience in British race series at the Kent venue. Always one to watch and never short of bravery, Team India hopes to challenge for pole on Saturday afternoon.
 
 The other two championship contenders, Portugal and Switzerland, ended the day in sixth and tenth respectively with Filipe Albuquerque and Neel Jani still to dial the car in for a qualifying setup.
 
Jani (below) endured a difficult session for Switzerland with more changes being made to his chassis than normal, but by the end of the hour he felt that they had moved in the right direction and thought that all will be good come Saturday afternoon.



Top Ten // A1GP Free Practice:
01 Netherlands       Jeroen Bleekemolen    1'12.700
02 Ireland              Adam Carroll               1'13.203
03 India                 Narain Karthikeyan      1'13.284
04 Monaco            Clivio Piccione             1'13.284
05 USA                 J.R. Hildebrand           1'13.403
06 Portugal            Filipe Albuquerque      1'13.568
07 France              Nicolas Prost             1'13.592
08 New Zealand      Earl Bamber              1'13.892
09 Australia           John Martin                1'13.892
10 Switzerland       Neel Jani                    1'13.991
 
With the weather set fair for the rest of the weekend and a bumper crowd expected for raceday, this looks to be a tremendous title deciding weekend!
 
Stay tuned to CTD over the weekend for more reports.

Photo/Editorial: Neil Tozer