A1GP Brno Race Report - by Denis Lian

[Rastaman]

Hi guys,
Hope u fella driving maniacs are following up on A1 GP race as well as F1 which is ending soon, anyway i've taken the liberty to append below Denis's review on his race which he mailed to members of TCC..Anyone up for attending the A1 race when its at Sepang ? hope u guys give him/S'pore the support so here goes....

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A1GP Brno Race Report.

Hi Gang,

Thanks for the kind support via sms and emails while I was in Europe over the last 3 weeks. Sorry we couldn't bring back any silverware from the opening rounds, but we are doing our best rest assured, it will take a little time, so we ask for your patience. As to the question of what it's like to drive the A1GP car. Well, it's like going for a ride in Star Trek Enterprise and pressing the Warp 5 button (",) It's F@#KING FAST!! Here is a race report for those interested:


Friday, Czech Republic, Brno Circuit:


I was nominated by the team to do both 25min rookie sessions in the morning as well as the 1hr practice session in the afternoon. However, my lack of pace in both rookie sessions and my continued coughing bouts prompted the team to put Christian Murchison in the car for the main practice session instead. This wasn't an ideal situation for me as i needed all the seat time I could get, but I could understand their decision. The team wasn't sure I was fully recovered from last weeks torncelitis attack, even though i felt that I was fit enough to do the job. My initial lap times of 1:55.20 were somewhat off the pace admittedly, but I knew the reason for it. I was deliberately being a bit conservative under braking, so that I didn't spit the car off into the scenery. Christian did a fantastic job though. He jumped into the car, and on fresh tires, immediately banged in a fastest lap of 1:50.82. Christian already had one race weekend under his belt at this point, and he knew the car far better than my 20 laps in total. I was under a lot of pressure to perform if I wanted to race. I had to better his lap time or at least be within 102% of it. If I couldn't, the regulations wouldn't allow me to race over the weekend, simple as that. Saturday, would be my only chance to get in the car and prove myself. I accumulated all the data from the engineers and went over it in depth before calling it an early night.


Saturday, Czech Republic, Brno Circuit:


As I got strapped into the car for the final practice session before qualifying, the pressure was really on. You could see it in the eyes of the entire crew. Could I deliver the goods or were they just wasting their time on the wrong nut behind the wheel. As the session started, I went out on old tires and immediately clocked in a 1:53.71. Improvement for sure, but still not quick enough to be in the 102% bracket. Unfortunately, my progress would be hampered by a gearbox problem which would cut short my practice session by half. I therefore couldn't improvement on my times. The team were faced with a dilemma. To take a chance on me for qualifying or put Christian in the car. In the end, they decided to take a chance on me and send me out for qualifying. The task was real simple. I had to better 1:50.82 in qualifying or I would be spectating come race day. Qualifying in A1 is different to F1, you just get one lap to set a time, but you have 4 separate sessions unlike F1. Your best 2 laps are automatically chosen and then added up as your aggregate qualifying lap. You have to be really on it from the moment you leave the pits. To cut a long story short, everything came together for us in qualifying. It was one of my most focused laps I've ever driven, and the end result was our first sub 50 lap at 1:49.30. The team was pleased to say the least and I was extremely relieved and elated at the same time, having gone a total of 6 sec faster from the day before. It was the fastest the car had gone so far, but we were still somewhat off the pace from the front runners who were in the 1:45+ bracket. Our lap time put us second last on the grid ahead of Pakistan. It's still early days for us and we are all learning a great deal with every lap that we complete. There is much scope for engineering improvement to be done on the car, and I can only improve as a driver with more laps under my belt. I'm really looking forward to Sundays race.


Sunday, Czech Republic, Brno:


Race day is finally upon us. I'm in the car with strict instructions to finish the 10 lap sprint race and bring it back in one piece. From 22 position in the rolling start, I managed to get a jump on Greece the moment the lights turned green. However as we were shooting down the start finish line, all hell broke loose in the front when team NZ clipped team Germany, with Germany coming worse off as their car speared into the barrier at over 200km/h, disintegrating into many small pieces. Fortunately both drivers walked away from this incident unscathed. After slicing through the mayhem to reach turn one, the race was pretty uneventful after that. Greece closed in on my tail after a few laps but over cooked it trying to over take me and ran wide loosing valuable time. We managed to maintain a gap over Greece all the way until the finish line, but they were closing in rapidly towards the last lap but we kept them at bay. We eventually placed 18. Sprint race over, now to prepare for the 38 lap feature race.


There was a 2 hour break in between the feature race. Siting on the grid in 22 position yet again (position is based on you fastest lap time in the sprint race, not your finishing position unlike last year). The feature race is a standing start and I was focusing on getting a good launch off the line. Once the start lights went off, I got a pretty good start and managed to pass Greece again. Infact, by turn 3, I was already along side Australia and about to out brake him into turn 3. Unfortunately, right at that moment, Indonesia swerved across my nose and i had to stand on by brakes to avoid collecting him. This put me in a spin and I was fortunate not to be hit by the cars behind me. The engine had stalled and I thought that was the end of my race. However, the track marshals came to my rescue and bump started my car in double quick time. I had lost about 30 sec from the pack, but it also gave me a clear track to try and catch up. I was pretty furious about the situation, so I just put my head down and focused at setting some quick laps. The race was progressing very rapidly, and the pit stop window came by at the half way point in the race. The team radioed me in and I dived in the following lap. We had a good clean pit stop and I was out without incident in about 15 sec (a good time for A1 stops). As I hit the track again, I came out in the mid field pack. What was heartening, was the fact that my speed was fast enough to keep pace with them Brazil, South Africa and . I eventually had to let them through as i was a lap down and I was shown the blue flagged by the marshals. Thats why I let them pass easily, as it was pointless for me to race them a lap down. Once they were through, I stuck onto their tails for most of the race. I obviously was loosing out on some of the fast corners, because it's a confidence thing and i was not sure how much speed the car could carry into the bends. That confidence will undoubtedly come with more race miles. We eventually finished in 19 position despite the spin. Not last and the car is in one piece. That is satisfactory for now, but we have to get higher up the grid for the next race in Beijing, as it's a street circuit and being at the back is where all the mayhem happens. Team Malaysia won the race in great style and my congratulations to Alex Yoong on a job well done.


Cheers
Denis Lian
A1GP Team Singapore
Mob (65) 91476755

[TripleM]

nice one Jem....
Saw the race on TV...Alex led all the way...

[Shaun]

I wonder what all the local "hotshoe" trash talkers (NOT Denis) have to say now about Alex Yoong, now that he has been driving LMES and 24LM, and now A1 GP, doing well.

To think that the trash talkers have never even entered any series remotely as spec as A1 GP, where technology advantage is very small, racing a lot more intense than say MME.

I'm sure Denis will do a lot better in the future, just like he says he will. Happy that he has this A1GP opportunity.

[axl]

So among A'sian countries, what is the current standing like?

[TripleM]

lazy bum, go google and check la, I also want to know hehe...thanks Axl

[jaskin]

Last I saw Malaysia is actually doing quite well. Axl you should be proud.

[Rastaman]

Yeah, i think Denis will do better as the race progress on. Thats y im so excited when it comes to Sepang. Just imagine Denis and Alex hopefully sittingon the front grid..hehe.

Jack - yeah, last weeks race was damn exciting, better than f1, now thats racing, especially the last few laps when Alex locked on to the Canadian and took first . Simply awesome and that guy really really lost his rhythm after that !