A1GP to Canada!
Sean McIntosh had the biggest win of his career on Sunday when he steered Team Canada's entry to its first ever win in the
A1 Grand Prix of Nations victory in Round 8 of the inaugural 'World Cup of Motorsport' season, hosted at the Sentul International Circuit in Indonesia.
McIntosh, who started from the back of the grid for the feature race after a dnf (did not finish) in the sprint race, made the charge forward from the drop of the green flag. The 20-year old Vancouver racer was ecstatic after the win.
"This is unbelievable! It was an honor to be on the top step of the podium singing 'Oh Canada'," said McIntosh. "The team did a great job and I want to thank them and Wade Cherwayko
for the opportunity to race for A1 Team Canada. It certainly wasn't an easy victory but it sure feels good! We made some changes to the car between races as we felt we had nothing to lose starting from the back. With Patrick Carpentier taking over for Canada in the next two rounds I wanted to leave with a strong performance. I've set the standard pretty high and hopefully the team can take this momentum forward to Mexico."
The other North American team, Team USA, didn't fare so well on the weekend. A1 Team USA driver Phil Giebler finished 15th in the sprint race, and managed to miss most of the carnage in the feature race to come home 9th.
Does 'Speed' Have It?
American F1 rookie Scott Speed got his first taste of the new STR-01 at Jerez
last week for his Scuderia Toro Rosso team. He worked on set-up throughout the day.
"The car tended to oversteer but we worked on the problem and by the end of the day, we had it improved," said Speed. "We also did a long run at the end and that went smoothly. It was our best run of the day which shows we are making progress."
The STR-01 is still using a modified V10 spec engine from last year, which has raised some eyebrows from the other teams as to the legality of it, but still, Speed was happy with its performance.
"It definitely has less horsepower and has a different power band," he explained. "It's going to require a different driving style, carrying more speed through the corners as you feel the difference when you drive out of them."
As we get closer to the first Grand Prix of the year, Speed should be in the hunt from the opening session, as even a de-tuned V10 could prove more reliable than the new V8s.
Sean McIntosh had the biggest win of his career on Sunday when he steered Team Canada's entry to its first ever win in the
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| Sean McIntosh had the biggest win of his career on Sunday when hesteered Team Canada's entry to its first ever win in the A1 Grand Prix.(Photo: Jakob Ebrey, Motorsport Photography) |
McIntosh, who started from the back of the grid for the feature race after a dnf (did not finish) in the sprint race, made the charge forward from the drop of the green flag. The 20-year old Vancouver racer was ecstatic after the win.
"This is unbelievable! It was an honor to be on the top step of the podium singing 'Oh Canada'," said McIntosh. "The team did a great job and I want to thank them and Wade Cherwayko
 |
| A1 Team Canada driver Sean McIntosh leads Christian Fittipaldi of Brazil and Neel Jani of Switzerland during Sunday's A1 Grand Prix of Nations Feature Race at Sentul Circuit in Indonesia. McIntosh won his first-ever series race ahead of Alex Yoong of Malaysia and Marcus Marshall of Australia. (Photo: Jakob Ebrey, Motorsport Photography) |
The other North American team, Team USA, didn't fare so well on the weekend. A1 Team USA driver Phil Giebler finished 15th in the sprint race, and managed to miss most of the carnage in the feature race to come home 9th.
Does 'Speed' Have It?
American F1 rookie Scott Speed got his first taste of the new STR-01 at Jerez
 |
| American F1 rookie Scott Speed got his first taste of the new STR-01 at Jerez last week for his Scuderia Toro Rosso team. (Photo: Red Bull F1) |
"The car tended to oversteer but we worked on the problem and by the end of the day, we had it improved," said Speed. "We also did a long run at the end and that went smoothly. It was our best run of the day which shows we are making progress."
The STR-01 is still using a modified V10 spec engine from last year, which has raised some eyebrows from the other teams as to the legality of it, but still, Speed was happy with its performance.
"It definitely has less horsepower and has a different power band," he explained. "It's going to require a different driving style, carrying more speed through the corners as you feel the difference when you drive out of them."
As we get closer to the first Grand Prix of the year, Speed should be in the hunt from the opening session, as even a de-tuned V10 could prove more reliable than the new V8s.