Tough weekend for Australia in A1GP

Image and following press release courtesy of A1GP.com and Team Australia

A very difficult weekend for the team here in Shanghai China with a 14th place result in the Feature Race. Not what the team expected after numerous changes to the car throughout the weekend.

John Martin had a good clean start and kept his position until the first pitstop which did not go well, costing him at least two places as he was closing in on Teams Germany, Brazil and Italy.

The second pitstop was better though track placement never improved throughout the entire race for Team Australia. The first set of tyres towards the end were causing more understeer than previous oversteer and the second set were obviously no better.

Martin's track speed was good and his times comparable to the top end of the racing grid. A1GP is so close and the cars identical, endless changes being made to the car over the weekend did not deliver the targeted results expected by the team prior to arriving here in Shanghai.

Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "We tried a lot more setup changes here than we expected to do and still no improvement. John was in a position to improve during his pitstops, unfortunately we lost a bit of time during both stops and that cost him some places. The car was quick during the race on a better second set of tyres, the grip improved as most cars were lapping faster and making overtaking a lot more difficult"

John Martin: "The first set of tyres were no good as I had understeer all of a sudden, after battling oversteer all weekend. The second set were better and where I had very little traction out of a corner during Friday and Qualifying, I ended up with too much. The car was changing every lap and all weekend I havent been able to be consistent anywhere. The team have tried loads of setup variations to help me get the car sorted and I thank them for their perseverance. We'll do better at Brands Hatch"

Rob Arnott: "Everyone experienced similar track changes today, and John was no better off as we did cost him some places during his pitstops. The team are normally perfect on a stop, you have a day when a second costs you places in pitlane. We have already started planning the setup for Brands Hatch and should do better there after a tough Shanghai A1GP"