Sentul - Gara 1
Nuova Zelanda al primo successo

Prima vittoria nella A1 Grand Prix per la Nuova Zelanda dopo 31 corse. Jonny Reid, partito dalla pole, ha tenuto la testa per tutti i 15 giri della prima gara, sprint, e soltanto negli ultimi due passaggi ha dovuto guardarsi dal minaccioso recupero di Salvador Duran. Il messicano ha compiuto un'ottima partenza dalla seconda fila scavalcando alla prima curva Robbie Kerr, che scattava al fianco di Reid.

Al primo giro, Reid conduceva su Duran, Phil Giebler, Kerr, Nico Hulkenberg e Ryan Briscoe. Alla 2° tornata, Kerr si è liberato dell'americano Giebler, ottima la sua partenza, ma ormai il duo Reid-Duran aveva preso il largo. Sorpasso di Briscoe su Hulkenberg. Enrico Toccacelo, 15° in qualifica, al 3° giro ha superato in colpo solo Jeroen Bleekemolen e Alex Yoong, che si sono ostacolati alla chicane, balzando all'11° posto. Nelle retrovie, al 5° giro errore di Tuka Rocha che ha perso tre posizioni.

Al 10° giro, errore di Ho Pin Tung che ha messo le quattro ruote sull'erba ed è finito in testacoda ritirandosi. Ultima tornata da brivido nella lotta per il quarto posto. Briscoe nel rettifilo lungo opposto a quello di arrivo, ha preso la scia di Giebler e lo ha sopravanzato in staccata. Ma è arrivato leggermente lungo, l'americano ha resistito e nella curva successiva Hulkenberg ne ha approfittato superando Briscoe. Buon nono posto del debuttante Alan Van der Merwe, undicesimo Toccacelo.

English
New Zealand has secured its first-ever A1GP World Cup of Motorsport victory with a dominant lights-to-flag drive from Jonny Reid in the Sprint race at the Sentul circuit, Indonesia. A1 Team Mexico's Salvador Duran put Reid under pressure in the closing laps of the race to finish a fighting second ahead of Great Britain's Robbie Kerr. Reid led the field away from the grid and steadily extended his advantage over the 15-lap Sprint race until Duran's push over the last two laps closed the gap to just under a second. Reid was delighted to score New Zealand's first win in 31 A1GP races.
Duran put in a flying start to jump from fourth to second into the first corner, tucked right under the rear wing of Reid. Duran kept in touch with Reid over the race and pushed hard to close in the final five laps, but Reid held his nerve to score his first A1GP victory. Duran's second position was the Mexican's fourth podium of the year.

Great Britain's Kerr got good traction away from the start but was unable to block Duran. Kerr then fell back into fourth as the USA's Phil Giebler took advantage of the melee to force his way into third. Undeterred, on the second lap Kerr slipstreamed past Giebler in Turn Two to regain his position. The biggest loser at the start however was Germany's Nico Hülkenberg, who dropped from third to fifth, under heavy attack from Australia's Ryan Briscoe in sixth. Briscoe saw his chance when Hülkenberg tried to regain fourth from Giebler and squeezed past. The Australian looked set to hold onto fifth until an attempted move on American Giebler allowed Hülkenberg an opportunity to force his way through.

Home team Indonesia enjoyed a race long battle with Malaysia and Netherlands for 12th position. On lap nine, Malaysia took the Dutch car for 12th, leaving the door open for Indonesian Ananda Mikola to gain position. Mikola seized the opening and forced his way into 13th, much to the delight of the packed grandstands.
Mikola put Malaysian Alex Yoong under heavy pressure and feinted to get past the following lap, but the Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen was determined to get back his lost position. The Dutchman capitalised on the Malaysian-Indonesian battle in front and, seeing a small gap, pushed through to relegate Mikola back to 14th.
Two of the three drivers starting their first-ever A1GP race finished, with South African Alan van der Merwe securing a credible ninth after a race long battle with the winner of last year's Sentul race, Canadian Sean McIntosh. The Czech Republic's newcomer Jarek Janis finished 16th following a hard fight with Brazil's Tuka Rocha, however China's rookie Ho-Pin Tung spun on lap 11 coming out of the fast Turn Two.

Massimo Costa

Nella foto, Jonny Reid.

L'ordine di arrivo di gara 1, domenica 10 dicembre 2006

1 - Nuova Zelanda - Jonny Reid - 15 giri in 19'41"054
2 - Messico - Salvador Duran - 0"738
3 - Gran Bretagna - Robbie Kerr - 3"463
4 - Stati Uniti - Phil Giebler - 9"080
5 - Germania - Nico Hulkenberg - 10"000
6 - Australia - Ryan Briscoe - 10"637
7 - Francia - Nicolas Lapierre - 12"003
8 - Canada - Sean McIntosh - 14"366
9 - Sud Africa - Alan Van der Merwe - 15"989
10 - Svizzera - Neel Jani - 17"633
11 - Italia - Enrico Toccacelo - 18"901
12 - Malesia - Alex Yoong - 23"670
13 - Olanda - Jeroen Bleekemolen - 24"148
14 - Indonesia - Ananda Mikola - 25"978
15 - Brasile - Tuka Rocha - 36"060
16 - Repubblica Ceca - Jaroslav Janis - 36"781
17 - Irlanda - Richard Lyons - 37"195
18 - India - Armaan Ebrahim - 44"582
19 - Libano - Basil Shaaban - 44"997
20 - Pakistan - Nur Ali - 1'21"691
21 - Cina - Ho Pin Tung - 4 giri

Giro più veloce: Robbie Kerr in 1'18"110


Lo schieramento di gara 2 è determinato dall'ordine di arrivo della prima corsa