A1 Team Australia the Pit Stop Kings

London, June 22, 2009: One of the key elements of any race strategy is the pit stop and with three of these high pressure mandatory stops across two races in A1GP, a slick pit crew can make all the difference. Getting it right is a pain-staking process, which 2008/09 ‘Pit Stop Kings,’ A1 Team Australia, explain is down to continued hard work that gives them the ability to perform under pressure, whatever the challenge.

While a team of engineers and mechanics will do all they can during practice and qualifying to set-up the car to the driver’s liking, when the lights go out, it is then up to the person behind the wheel to do the best possible job with the machinery. However, this changes when it comes to the pit stop when the driver is just a passenger as he puts his race back in the hands of his trusted crew. Current A1GP champion Ireland’s pit work helped Adam Carroll to the team’s maiden victory in Mexico City in Season Three, while A1 Team Switzerland’s quick work helped Neel Jani re-take the lead from home favourite Filipe Albuquerque in the Algarve last season.

An unofficial pit stop competition this season gave A1 Team Australia the title of 2008/09 ‘Pit Stop Kings’ for the second season in succession. Australia had the quickest pit stop time on six occasions, with New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland and Portugal the only other crews to record such pit ‘wins’.

A1 Team Australia team manager, Adam Gotch, says part of his squad’s renowned success is that the team will carry out 81 practice pit stops over the course of a race weekend. The exact nature of the figure he gives here is as precise as his team’s practice regimen, and every unexpected eventuality is meticulously rehearsed.

“We practice at not just getting it right, but how we react if something goes wrong,” Gotch explains to A1GP. “We simulate a heap of situations, even if the driver stops a bit short of the box, gets it in sideways, or even backwards, which we have seen in A1GP.

“Sometimes things don’t go to plan so I often throw a curve ball in the pit stop practice. We practice air-gun failures, so if one mechanic was to have a problem with a wheel he can wave to someone to pass the gun to him.

“All these things keep the guys on the ball so that we lose the least amount of time if something bad happens for real. We record every single practice on a camcorder and analyse it to look for any improvements. We will even get to the track early on Friday and Saturday, so other teams aren’t there to watch us.”

A1GP is unique in its pit stops rules. There can only be a maximum of eight mechanics working on the stop and all but one member (the lollipop man) must stand behind the white line that separates the garages from the pit lane until the car has come to a complete rest. Only one person can work on each wheel throughout the stop, although a fifth man is now allowed to touch the car and teams can use this however they want. It is a crowded place too – circuits and pit lanes tend to be designed for series where there may be the same amount of cars but there are two per team with the same pit crew services both cars – so there would never be all the cars pitting at the same time. A1GP has 20 national teams, each with its own crew and pit box, so they could all come in at the same time.