A1 Team Canada Race Report from Zandvoort (W)

Weather spices up Hinchcliffe's debut for A1 Team Canada

Round 1 - A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Circuit Park Zandvoort, Holland

Qualified: 7th / Sprint Race Finish: 8th / Feature Race Finish: 13th

Zandvoort, Holland (October 1, 2006) - Toronto's James Hinchcliffe 
enjoyed a mixed debut driving for A1 Team Canada in the opening round 
of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Holland today.  An 
encouraging eighth place finish, from a field of 23 competing 
nations, in the 20-minute Sprint race preceded a tumultuous Feature 
race for the 19-year-old, where the weather, and in particular an 
early race thunder storm, ultimately thwarted plans for back-to-back 
top-ten finishes for the Canadian rookie.


Sprint Race, 12 laps (Winner - A1 Team South Africa, Adrian Zaugg)
Hinchcliffe held off a spirited race-long charge from home-favorite 
Jeroen Bleekemolen in the A1 Team Holland entry to score an eighth 
place finish for A1 Team Canada on his A1GP debut.  Gaining a 
position before the race, moving up to seventh following A1 Team 
Switzerland's post-qualifying penalty, James took the start and 
headed for the first of Zandvoort's 11-turns.  He dropped back to 
eighth on the first lap but a feisty performance from the rookie saw 
him withstand the pressure from the Dutch car to hold station for the 
duration of the Sprint.  A late-race sideways 'moment' failed to 
phase the Canadian and he took the checkered in eighth, just two 
places shy of the points.


Feature Race, 41 laps (Winner - A1 Team Germany, Nico Hulkenberg)
Starting eighth on the grid for the Feature race, Hinchcliffe led the 
A1 Team Canada car to sixth by the end of the first lap.  Up to fifth 
just before the mandatory pit window opened, a safety car period 
immediately followed forcing James to pit later than planned and 
unfortunately as mixed overhead conditions complicated proceedings. 
Opting for slick tires, the heavens subsequently opened forcing the 
Canadian entry back to the pits for a set of wets, James losing 
ground to those who made the call for wets on their first stop.

Gingerly racing his way towards the top-ten, Hinchcliffe survived a 
brief run through the gravel at Turn 1 half-way through the race to 
keep the charge going only to see track conditions improve again as 
the sun returned.  Back in the pits for a third visit on lap 30, this 
time for a set of slicks, James resumed his charge and climbed as 
high as 11th before taking 13th at the flag when the race was called 
on time and not the scheduled 45-lap running.


James Hinchcliffe:
  "Well it was a very eventful afternoon!  We got off to a great start 
and I was up to P6 by the end of the first lap and hounding New 
Zealand.  Unfortunately after my pit stop we had to come back for wet 
tires which dropped us back.  The car was great at the start so we 
know we have a good footing, we just got caught out by the weather 
today and effectively threw in an extra pit stop which hurt us."

Round 2 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport takes place next 
weekend, Friday 6th - Sunday 8th October, at Brno in the Czech 
Republic - www.a1gp.com

A1GP Top-5 Standings: 1st GER (13), 2nd MEX (9), 3rd USA (9), 4th AUS 
(8), 5th RSA (7), = NED (7)

ENDS - www.a1teamcan.com

Copyright free A1 Team Canada images are available for download at 
www.a1gp-photo.com/can
A1 Team Canada Media Relations:  Stuart Morrison - PR & Media Manager
Cell: +1 514 945 3253 / Email: stuart@a1teamcan.com