The Sepang thread

[strider]

Amazing effort by Neel Jani, who really seems to like the Sepang circuit. I think the only chance the others have is that he sometimes fades away in the races.

What struck me, watching qualifying, is that the overall standard of A1GP is much higher this year than in the past. There are probably a dozen drivers who on a given day could be at the front.

Report and times here.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Neel Jani quick around a GP circuit...who'd have thunk it. (not me if you look at the predictions)

Yea just took a look, no one has the Swiss car for either pole.

What was Jonny thinking 6th and 10th, did he realise how many people bet on him

[SALEEN S7R]

Another good qualifying session for Jarvis, he really is on fire at the minute. Fingers crossed he can grab at least 1 win today, from what he says over at crash.net it certainly seems possible.

[MCWB]

My goodness, Adrian Zaugg should get a bit of a holiday for that. Very dangerous!

[Last2LiftOff]

The feature race summary at A1GP goes on a bit about a pretty good (feature) race. Anyone see it live, was that the case? Not liking what I've read so far on Wickens and Zaugg but what can you do. Strong start, slow finish England, and boom, Switzerland on top in the standings. Sorry I missed it.

[MCWB]

Yep, the feature race was excellent really. A1GP always puts on a good one at Sepang and this was no exception!

[NAC]

LTLO there was some pretty amateurish driving out there particularly from Germany. Germany hit 3 cars RF to LR, all Germany fault. Did make it entertaining for the viewer but I have to say I'm expecting a little more from this field than the same rookie mistake 3 times.

The post race interview with Jonny was interesting. Being as humble as possible Jonny made comment on Alex Yoong, sort of expecting more from and ex F1 driver. I put that move down to racing incident, will have to go back over it and reassess.

Well done to Jani, you deserved that

[Hazard]

Feature race was good.

Zaugg driving back on to the track as he did on an unsighted corner was very stupid.

Ammermuller never got the hang of the third corner, have no idea why he didn't get a penalty again or worse for repeating the exact same manouvre on Janis as he did on Jarvis.

Jani on a different planet today.

As much as I enjoyed it, I'm very confused why Brazil was allowed to 'win' the restart in the pitlane - Jani clearly was ahead coming up to the line.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

wrong thread Oops

[strider]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Feature race was good.

Zaugg driving back on to the track as he did on an unsighted corner was very stupid..

Yes, very unfortunate for Wickens. He did very well to avoid a major collision, but he was out of the race through no fault of his own.

Originally Posted by Hazard

Ammermuller never got the hang of the third corner, have no idea why he didn't get a penalty again or worse for repeating the exact same manouvre on Janis as he did on Jarvis.

The guy should have been blackflagged after punting Janis off as well.

It was exciting racing, but sometimes the driving was a bit amateurish. Still, if it's entertainment you want...

[strider]

I just found these posts on the predictions thread. I can't see what GBR and Brazil were penalized for, but no doubt all will become clear.

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

The Stewards have changed the results of the Sprint Race with Germany being demoted to 16th(avoidable contact), with every one bumping up one. Canada now in 3rd place.

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Feature Race result Changes

Germany DQ'd with Great Britain and Brazil penalised 2 seconds each.

This moves France up to Second.

[Hazard]

GBR and Brazil have the penalties for passing at the red light in the pits.

Not sure on Germany, but I imagine they've revisited Ammermuller's punt on Wickens since he did the same to Jarvis and Janis in race two, and have awarded him a penalty for race 1 in place of his podium, and a DQ in race two - probably the first time the actions of a driver in a different race would have affected an earlier event if true.

Still, a fair penalty - I was surprised he kept 3rd in the first place.

[brands]

A1GP on a wide F1 circuit always produces good entertainment

[Hepatic]

Ammermuller was a joke today, having a stab there once and getting it wrong is one thing, but to ruin 3 others races is inexcusable. Glad to see the stewards saw it the way the TV showed it and penalised him in both races. Zaugg should be ashamed of himself today also, i hope he apologised to Wickens for that incident.

Some very amateur driving today, but some excellent driving also. Jani was onfire today and a great result for Canada in R1 and Brazil in R2.

[SALEEN S7R]

Indeed some very amatuer driving today, personally I would rate the driving standard somewhere between Formula 3 and WSR. Still all the same there was some good close racing today, just a shame Jarvis ran out of luck.

[Kiwi3]

I think you guys are being a bit harsh regarding the driving standards, Zaugg and Ammermuller are after all GP2 drivers and you see similar funny things in that series too. Ironically some of the less experienced drivers seemed to keep their noses clean.

Not sure why Ammermuller was not black flagged on the spot after punting the Czech Republic off, having already been penalised for the exact some offense. I thought the incident in the Sprint race was ok though, at least on that occasion he was alongside and not behind.

All in all a very entertaining pair of races, bring on Zhuhai (also reasonably wide and with overtaking possibilities)!

[strider]

Originally Posted by Hazard

GBR and Brazil have the penalties for passing at the red light in the pits.

They didn't pass the red light, they were all sitting there, side by side, until the lights changed.

What was bizarre was that there was then a drag race to the first corner and for sure Brazil jumped Swotzerland and GBR must have jumped France, although where they would find a rule to cover the situation, I have no idea. I have never seen that situation in a race before, nor had the commentatators.

Maybe there'sa rule that says you have to line up in single file at the pit exit. That would make sense.

[Last2LiftOff]

May have seen that in DTM this year Strider, unfortunately. Maybe even more than once.

I was all geared up to watch this race on setantanorthamerica.com this morning, until I see it's a pay channel, subscrition-like, dagnabit. Can you spare the 60 seconds on the highlight reels A1GP? What, you got somewhere else to be? Most improved team: Canada.

Marks to the teams for what seems to be a conscious effort to try something different with the paint schemes. Some fairly creative stuff, I think. Brazil, India, Mexico (although Mexico washes-out a bit on TV), NZL (what's not to like?). Pretty cool stuff.

Back to you on the actual racing in a couple of weeks I guess (or a fortnight to you lot).

[sizzle]

Originally Posted by Nivola

hmmm why is dyk in that flamin seat???????????????????????????????????

can someone please explain? who paying the bills i wonder.

There are plenty of aussie young guns that should be faster!!!!!!!

After Alan Jones comments in Auto Action you would have to think that may have been the last one for him in the seat.

[brands]

Originally Posted by strider

They didn't pass the red light, they were all sitting there, side by side, until the lights changed.

What was bizarre was that there was then a drag race to the first corner and for sure Brazil jumped Swotzerland and GBR must have jumped France, although where they would find a rule to cover the situation, I have no idea. I have never seen that situation in a race before, nor had the commentatators.

Maybe there'sa rule that says you have to line up in single file at the pit exit. That would make sense.

I assume they (Brazil and GB) were penalised for overtaking under yellows, as the safety car was still on track.

[brands]

Willie Weber isn't happy "This unusually hard penalty means that we will have to seriously consider how we see our future in this series." although what does he expect when his driver punts off three different cars over two races.

[Hazard]

I agree with Willi's point about the sprint though. The result shouldn't have been judged to be 'more wrong' simply because Ammermuller did it twice again in the feature - he should have had the penalty assessed at the time or not at all.

As for the exclusion - completely fair IMO - he'd already been heavily penalised as Willi says, yet he saw fit to repeat the mistake - making him a menace - a black flag would have been more fitting.

[strider]

Originally Posted by brands

I assume they (Brazil and GB) were penalised for overtaking under yellows, as the safety car was still on track.

Sounds logical, but this is what the report says.

[cos]

Just got round to watching the Sepang rounds - excellent racing from start to finish in both races. Shame to have a good race weekend tainted with all the controversy with exclusions etc., I thought once Germany had been given a drive-through for nerfing off GBR that would be the end of it. What's the setup with the stewards in A1 - same officials for each race? As for driving standards, I've seen worse in pretty much every GP2 race this season. Daftest thing was RSA attempting to get going right as Canada came on to the racing line.

[Kiwi3]

Sizzle - what did Alan Jones say in Auto Action then?

I agree Weber has a valid point about the Sprint race exclusion, however if he wants to threaten by A1GP by leaving the series then I think they should let him go. I havn't seen Germany do anything at all to promote the series, rather it just seems a toy for Weber to use to raise the profile of the drivers he is managing.

A1GP needs teams like NZ, Netherlands, Malaysia etc who actually will help drive it forward. Weber would not be missed.