Today saw a solid start for A1 Team India at the third round of A1GP – World Cup of Motor Sport here at Sepang, Malaysia. While Armaan Ebrahim finished third for his first rookie session in the brand new powered by Ferrari car; Narain also finished third in the lead driver practice session held today.
This was a commendable performance despite non favorable weather conditions of extreme heat and humidity.
Armaan started the day with his first time in the car and finished fourteen laps with his quickest lap time recorded at 1:52.739 behind Nicolas Prost from Team France coming second and Danny Watts from Team Great Britain taking pole position with a fastest lap time of 1:51.096. The first rookie session was far more successful than the second where the temperature of the engine rose sharply and due to precautionary measures the team engineerings called Armaan to the pits for further technical checks.
Speaking on the occasion; Armaan Ebrahim, A1 Team India Rookie Driver said, “I had been looking forward to the rookie session since a long time and was quite confident since I am familiar with the track Sepang. This helped me to focus more on the functioning & performance of the car. I think we had a successful session and I have learnt a lot about the car set-up which will work towards the teams performance in the qualifying session tomorrow. It is definitely an unmatchable high to drive the Powered by Ferrari car.”
Commenting on Armaan’s performance today, Team Principal Piers Hunnisett said, “Armaan did a great job in the Rookie Session setting the third fastest time. We wanted to give him as much track time as possible. The fact that Armaan has lots of experience in Sepang as he has raced in several series, helps in boosting his confidence as it is his first time ever to drive the new powered by Ferrari car. He has given an impressive performance despite the fact that he hasn’t driven in quite a while. Armaan gave valuable feedback to the engineers which allowed speedy progress for the development of the car.
While Armaan sizzled on the overheated track; Narain did considerably well during the practice session as well finished a close third just a tenth off from Team Switzerland with Team Great Britain finishing first here as well. Team India’s fastest lap time during the practice session was recorded at 1:50.187.
The engineering team tried several tests on the car and the performance was good except for the weather conditions leading to an overheated engine. The critical role to be played now is by the engineering team who now have considerable feedback from both lead and rookie drivers and will be working into the night to achieve the perfect set-up for the all important qualifying session tomorrow.
Team India’s hopes are running high and both Narain and Armaan get a good feeling about the cars expected performance for tomorrow.
Watch the action of A1GP at Sepang on ESPN Star Sports on Saturday 6:30 pm for qualifying race and Sunday 9:30 pm for the feature race.
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