Team Australia Shanghaid

Team Australia Shanghai

April 15, 2008

IT wouldn't be harsh to say this season hasn't been the best for Team Australia in A1GP.

The national representatives in the World Cup of Motor Sport endured mechanical difficulties, bad luck on the track and off and a change of drivers halfway through the season.

For current lead driver John Martin the frustration is obvious and understandable. Teams in A1GP all drive the same car and so start, in theory, on an equal footing. What does make the difference then is the consistency of the drive and the car itself.

Martin has endured a challenging series, sometimes making costly mistakes but often trying to get the best out of the car on unfamiliar tracks in between long-haul flights almost every other weekend.

In the penultimate round of the season, Martin finished 14th in the main feature race, a disappointing result considering the hard work the team put in during qualifying and the sprint race.

In the end the gap between cars was so close that the smallest mistake proved costly.

“Qualifying is just a one-lap sprint so you’ve got to get the best out of the tyres, the best out of everything on that one lap,” Martin said.

“Considering we were right down at 17th in practice to qualify 13th for the sprint race was not too bad. Then in the sprint race I was 0.15sec up (on practice time) until the last two corners when I lost a couple of tenths. Doesn’t sound much but had I kept that 0.15sec it would have put us fourth or fifth on the grid for the feature race.”

In the feature race, it was Team USA's day, as driver Jonathan Summerton claimed his team's first ever A1GP race win. Current title leader and pole-sitter Switzerland's Neel Jani struggled with technical difficulties, finishing fifth behind title rival New Zealand's Jonny Reid in fourth.

Much of the problem for Team Australia, however, stemmed from the lack of preparation time. With new young driver Nathan Antunes taking the rookie laps, Martin had little chance of getting out on the track to ensure the car was set-up right for the main races.

“The annoying thing was we were one step behind all weekend. Normally we have a real fast race car but don’t do so well in qualifying. Here it was the opposite: we had an OK qualifying car but not a very good race.”

As the cars in A1GP are almost identical, teams make minor changes to their own cars throughout the race weekend to try to manufacture a small winning advantage - and despite having times comparable to the top teams, Australia never got it quite right, which ultimately cost two places.

“You try to make the car as balanced as you can, you try to get the most grip out of the car. You want a balanced run until you have to come in for a pit stop and change tyres. I did as much as I could to try and learn the circuit but nothing beats track time.”

The last race of the season takes place England’s Brands Hatch circuit on May 4 and having raced at the track a number of times previously, Martin is a little more optimistic about Team Australia’s chances to finish the season on a high note.

“(This year) I’ve definitely improved in the one-lap qualifying, but we just need to hook it all together and the next round should be good. I’ve been to the circuit, so has Nathan; I’ve won there before and I’m reasonably quick around the track. Hopefully we can get on top of it and be quick right from the start.”

With Team Australia currently 17th on the ladder, a 15th-place finish is the best they can realistically hope for. Whether that’s enough to keep Martin in his seat next year remains to be seen.