A1GP news

Canada savours sprint win

Robert Wickens powered his way round the streets of Durban, South Africa today to lead A1 Team Canada to its first ever Sprint race victory in Round 7 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The Toronto rookie capitalized on his maiden pole position to lead the 22-strong field of nations from green to checkered, claiming Canada's second ever A1GP victory and the first since Sean McIntosh's Indonesian Feature race triumph in the inaugural 2005-06 season. 

Wickens threatened a second straight race win having hounded Switzerland's Neel Jani throughout the afternoon's 70-minute Feature event. The Canadian's race ended abruptly however on lap 40 taking action to avoid a backmarker. Despite this, Wickens' Sprint victory boosts Canada from tenth to eighth in the A1GP Nations Standings. 

Looking back on the highs and lows of the day Wickens commented, "Well obviously the Sprint win was an awesome result for the whole team and we were hoping for more of the same in the Feature. We've had a strong weekend but we should have had at least second place in the Feature. I was going to run into Lebanon on the exit so I put a lot of steering into the car and I just clipped the inside wall and spun around I apologize to Great Britain. We didn't get the result we wanted, I feel bad for the team as they've been nothing short of outstanding all weekend!"

Mark Gallagher, whose Status Grand Prix operates A1 Team Canada said; "When we took Canada under our wing six months ago we aimed to elevate the team onto the podium and today we took a victory after yesterday's pole position. This weekend showed that the technical crew headed by Simon Cayzer is top notch, that Robert is a special talent which the Canadian motorsport community and his sponsors at Red Bull should be very proud of. Similarly Wade Cherwayko's three years of investment in Canadian motorsport in the A1GP should be recognized for the opportunity it has given to drivers like Robbie, James Hinchcliffe and Daniel Morad. It's a shame that the Feature didn't result in another podium, but we now look forward to Mexico and another strong weekend!"

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