A1GP news

Great Britain struggles with gerabox problems

Mechanical issues continued to blight A1 Team Great Britain's progress in South Africa ahead of Round 8 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Saturday's event-filled qualifying session, run on Durban's 2.04-mile temporary street course, saw Robbie Kerr hustle the British entry to eleventh fastest on the timesheets courtesy of a concentrated effort on his final two runs, gearbox problems preventing Kerr from emulating his front-row start from the previous A1GP round at the stunning beachside track.

With Friday's practice session disrupted by a recurring throttle problem, the British team had hoped to put their mechanical woes behind them having fixed the issue prior to this morning's final practice run. Unfortunately for Kerr, with one problem solved another appeared, this time gearbox issues affecting the downshift on the car.

Forced to miss the first of his four timed qualifying laps as the team worked hard along with Zytek and Xtrac to resolve the issue, Kerr was finally released on-track in time to take the second session. On the back foot from the off, a spin at the chicane meant Robbie's third and fourth runs would have to be trouble-free to set a decent aggregate time to determine his grid slot for Sunday's Sprint race.

Setting the tenth and eleventh fastest laps times in the final two sessions, Kerr's aggregate time of 2m37.095s places A1 Team Great Britain just outside the top-ten starters for the 20-minute Sprint race, Robbie lining up on the sixth row of the grid in eleventh with A1 Team USA alongside. Germany secured pole with title rivals, New Zealand, accompanying them on the front-row.

"Naturally I'm disappointed with today's outcome," reflected Kerr. "We've just been troubled by lots of little issues since we got here and unfortunately we're just not there with the car. When I finally got going in I just wanted to make sure I did a steady job but I'll be aiming for the front tomorrow."

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