Official Practice, Round 8 – A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Sentul, Indonesia

Courtesy Stuart Morrison Public Relations

10th February 2006, Indonesia A1 Team Canada’s Indonesian campaigned started on a strong note today as Sean McIntosh posted two promising top-ten positions for the team, sixth and seventh fastest respectively in the two hour-long sessions, as Friday practice heralded the start of Round 8 of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations at the Sentul International Circuit.

As expected the monsoon rains fell throughout both sessions this afternoon with all competing nations running on their Cooper ‘wet’ tires in the first outing. The overhead conditions failed to dampen A1 Team Canada’s progress at the 3.96km track, located in West Java, as McIntosh, learning yet another new circuit, recorded 25 laps in the first session to finish sixth overall with a lap time of 1m29.737s.

The second session saw the rain stop with around 15 minutes remaining. While some team’s attempted to get some ‘slick’ running at the end of the session, conditions were still damp enough to merit ‘wets’ and Sean McIntosh’s lap time of 1m29.203s placed him seventh at the flag behind some of the teams attempting hot laps on fresh rubber.

Sean McIntosh: “I think we’re in good shape, there’s a little fine tuning to be done with the car but a big factor for tomorrow will be the weather. If it rains again we know we’re quick but if it’s dry then everyone has to reset to zero and start again. Sentul’s a fun circuit, it’s a bit stop and go with the turns and the main straights but we carried good exit speed today and maintained our overall competitiveness!”

Official Practice 1 – 1. Ireland 1:28.458; 2. Indonesia 1:29.006 3. Great Britain 1:29.028; 4. Portugal 1:29.372; 5. Australia 1:29.551; 6. CANADA 1:29.737; 7. Switzerland 1:30.166; 8. South Africa 1:30.205;

Official Practice 2 – 1. Malaysia 1:27.557; 2. Australia 1:27.820; 3. Netherlands 1:28.279; 4. France 1:28.680; 5. Indonesia 1:28.776; 6. Ireland 1:28.915; 7. CANADA 1:29.203; 8. Great Britain 1:29.380;

Sunday’s A1GP races can be viewed live in Canada or on demand on www.a1gp.com