A1GP news

Netherlands salvages points despite two shunts

The Durban circuit has again given two races that were packed with spectacle, crashes and some very foolish maneuvers. In all this mayhem A1 Team Netherlands was able to score points with a fifth and fourth place finish, despite being rammed out of a race twice.

Jeroen Bleekemolen commented, "A lot has happened. It is a shame that our first pitstop did not go very well, the car was running quite ok then. We did lose about four places with that stop though. France and Portugal were amongst the teams to pass us. Then I had a complete clear track in front of me, but that second stint did not go well at all. The tyres started acting up quickly, maybe the tyre pressure was a bit too high. After the second stop it went quite well again. I had a good pace going and the times we set were quite good. In the end I thought I was in third, then South Africa slammed into my side and the car caught fire. Then I heard from a marshal that the race had been red flagged and I thought that I had finished in third, but that proved to be fourth. We did not finish twice but did score points twice. That is not bad at all. The Sprintrace crash was insane. He hit me a number of times and the last time it was ridiculously hard. The entire rear wing broke off. He did get his penalty though, I am pleased about that. And in the Sprintrace the same thing happened to him, so that was kind of a revenge."

Jan Lammers added, "The organisation took the right decision to wave the red flag. That way we were able to keep our fourth place. For a moment it looked like we finished third, but that came because of Portugal's transponder being broken. Compared to Friday we had expected to be able to compete more upfront. We are happy though with the points that we have managed to score. About are crashes. Ammermüller is just driving into our rear a number of times. That is not the way to race. You have to be more creative to pass someone. China more than once showed this in the Feature race. The final one is just too insane. Zaugg is at least 50 meters late with his braking, that was a real strike. It made no sense at all. "

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