A1 Team Netherlands has not been able to score points at the A1GP Mexico City. In the Sprintrace the team finished in ninth and in the Feature race an electronics problem with the steering wheel caused the team to end up in seventeenth place.
Renger van der Zande made his A1GP race debut this morning in the 12 lap Sprintrace. From a sixteenth grid position the A1 Team Netherlands Rookie had a good race. He stayed out of trouble at the start crash between Mexico, Brazil and Germany. There Van der Zande even got a piece of bodywork of the Mexican car stuck in the sidepod, but fortunately this did not cause problems. Renger also was able to continue without trouble when some teams were suffering punctures due to debris on the track. He managed to overtake some teams on the track and thus won some places. With that ninth place A1 Team Netherlands then still had points within reach for the Feature race.
From a ninth grid position Jeroen Bleekemolen started the Feature race. The A1 Team Netherlands driver again had a great start and immediately gained some places, but he had to give up some positions soon after. Then bad luck struck for A1 Team Netherlands. Halfway the lap the electrical systems of the steering wheel seized, including the radio contact with the pits, forcing Bleekemolen to finish the lap in third gear and go in for an unannounced and thus unscheduled pitstop. The team reacted quickly and worked hard to get Jeroen out again as quickly as possible. The time loss was huge though and A1 Team Netherlands returned on the track in 22nd. Bleekemolen then showed that the pace was good though and managed to gain some positions with good lap times, but the points stayed out of reach.
Jeroen Bleekemolen commented on his race weekend; "I did notice I drove not nearly enough this weekend. Before I entered the race I had only done 14 laps. I had a great start and was amongst the front-runners, but then was passed because I did not know the track well enough yet. With that came the electrics problem with the steering wheel. That is just plain bad luck. After that we were amongst the fastest, if not the fastest. We did set the fastest lap of the race a couple of times. It is just a shame, because I know for sure that looking at the pace we could have gone for victory here, or at least the podium. Regrettably It did not go our way".
With two races to go A1 Team Netherlands is in seventh in the Championship, with 43 points. The next A1GP race is on April 15, at the Shanghai Circuit in China.
