A1 Grand Prix 2006-2007 Season to start this weekend (W)

A1 Grand Prix 2006-2007 Season to start this weekend

Hinchcliffe to lead A1 Team Canada in Holland

Montreal, Québec (September 27, 2006) - Toronto's 
James Hinchcliffe, fresh off the back of 
finishing 10th overall and highest ranked 
Canadian in his rookie Champ Car Atlantic 
Championship season, now heads to Circuit Park 
Zandvoort in Holland for the opening round of the 
2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport this 
weekend, Friday 29th September - Sunday 1st 
October.

James (19) will lead A1 Team Canada's challenge 
in Round 1 as 24 nations gather at the start of 
the 13-round A1GP World Cup of Motorsport which 
pitches nation against nation in identical 550bhp 
V8-powered A1GP race cars from October through to 
April visiting the likes of Australia, China, 
South Africa, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and 
Great Britain along the way.

Hinchcliffe's selection to share driving duties 
for A1 Team Canada with Vancouver's Sean 
McIntosh, who helped steer Canada to victory in 
Indonesia and 10th place in the Nations Standings 
in the inaugural season of A1GP, follows an 
impressive rise through the open-wheel ranks in 
North America where he finished runner-up and 
'Rookie of the Year' in the 2004 Formula BMW USA 
Championship before taking third overall in the 
2005 Star Mazda Series with three wins.

This season, competing for Forsythe Racing in the 
Champ Car Atlantic Championship, Hinchcliffe 
again demonstrated his talents finishing on the 
podium on his debut before scoring a win in 
Portland and pole in Montreal to finish 10th 
overall.  Such performances led to a test with A1 
Team Canada in the U.K. back in July followed by 
his inclusion in the official A1GP pre-season 
test at Silverstone last month.  Stunning the 
field with his pace, James led A1 Team Canada to 
the top of the timesheets in only his second 
outing in the car.

James now heads out to the 4.18km, 11-turn 
Circuit Park Zandvoort in Holland faced not only 
with the challenge of learning the historic 
sea-front track but also the layout of an A1GP 
race weekend which includes an aggregate 
qualifying format on Saturday afternoon's 
followed by a 20-minute Sprint race and a 
70-minute Feature race on Sunday's.

Looking ahead to his race debut for A1 Team Canada James commented:

"I can't wait to get to Zandvoort and kick start 
the season for A1 Team Canada!  I'm thrilled to 
have the opportunity to race for my country and 
to have the opportunity to take the first start 
of the season is just amazing.  Zandvoort's quite 
a challenging circuit, the character and 
atmosphere there is just so different to anything 
else but I'm confident in the car, pre-season 
testing went well so hopefully we can translate 
our form at Silverstone into a pair of decent 
results this weekend in Holland."

Friday's running consists of two scheduled 
'Rookie Sessions' before a final hour of practice 
for all competitors.  Another hour of practice is 
set for Saturday morning before the afternoon's 
qualifying runs.  Sunday's Sprint race starts at 
5:00 am EDT with the Feature race starting at 
9:00 am EDT.

Copyright-free A1 Team Canada images are available at www.a1gp-photo.com/can

ENDS - www.a1teamcan.com

For further information please contact:
Stuart Morrison - PR & Media Manager, A1 Team Canada
Cell: +1 514 945 3253 / Email: stuart@a1teamcan.com