Sentul - Gara 2
Reid vince una corsa spettacolo

Gran spettacolo a Sentul nella seconda corsa della A1 Grand Prix. Come a Sepang due settimane fa, la pioggia, nei primi giri violenta, ha rimescolato le carte. La vittoria è andata nuovamente a Jonny Reid che ha avuto ragione di Nico Hulkenberg (entrambi i loro team sono diretti dalla Super Nova), strepitoso nella prima frazione quando con la pista bagnatissima ha preso il largo imitando la prestazione di Sepang. Ma dopo aver montato il secondo treno di gomme rain, il tedesco ha commesso un errore finendo in ghiaia e dopo questa divagazione la sua Lola ha iniziato ad accusare sottosterzo e sovrasterzo costringendolo a rallentare. Reid lo ha così raggiunto al 25° giro superandolo con facilità. Hulkenberg ha comunque mantenuto la seconda posizione. Terzo un buon Nicolas Lapierre, emerso alla distanza in questa corsa estremamente difficile.

Toccacelo superlativo, Ghinzani atteso a un salto di qualità
Prestazione maiuscola per Enrico Toccacelo che riesce a sopperire alle mancanze della vettura del Team Italia quando le condizioni dei tracciati (vedi Pechino) o del meteo (vedi Sepang e Sentul) sono pessime. Toccacelo, partito dalla sesta fila, ha tagliato il traguardo in quarta posizione. Negli ultimi minuti della corsa, è entrata la safety-car per il testacoda di Robbie Kerr. Il gruppo si è ricompattato e nei due giri a disposizione dopo il restart, Enrico ha superato Neel Jani, Jaroslav Janis e Jeroen Bleekemolen. Strepitoso. Ora spetta al Team diretto da Piercarlo Ghinzani cambiare il passo in quanto, in condizioni meteo normali, la azzurra Lola è a due secondi dai leader.

Team Olanda e Robbie Kerr, errori pesanti
Quinto era giunto Jeroen Bleekemolen, ma il Team Olanda ha commesso un errore richiamando il pilota per il cambio gomme fuori dalla finestra di giri consentita. E' così arrivata l'inevitabile squalifica. Una doccia freddissima per il bravo Bleekemolen. Kerr ha offerto numeri di alta acrobazia nei duelli con Alex Yoong e Lapierre, ma è finito fuori pista quando era lanciatissimo verso il terzo gradino del podio. Brivido per Sean McIntosh che al 40° giro, all'inizio del rettifilo di arrivo, ha perso la ruota posteriore sinistra, pericolosamente rimbalzata in pista. Errore in regime di safety-car di Phil Giebler, giratosi a tre giri dal traguardo nell'ultima curva quando era in quinta posizione. Da rilevare che nel finale i piloti hanno montato le gomme slick.

English
New Zealand's Jonny Reid has secured a double victory at the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul, Indonesia event. In a rain-affected and incident-filled Feature race, Reid won by just over two seconds from Germany's Nico Hülkenberg and France's Nicolas Lapierre. Polesitter Reid led into the first corner and withstood heavy pressure from Mexico's Salvador Duran and Great Britain's Robbie Kerr for the lead. Hülkenberg, starting from third, pulled level with Duran through turns five and six, but it was Kerr who finally found a way into second, driving round the Mexican on the inside of turn seven. South Africa's Alan van der Merwe had an outstanding start, moving from eighth to fifth by the second sector and past Duran into fourth by the end of the first lap.

Relishing the wet conditions, Hülkenberg put Reid under heavy pressure for the lead over the first lap and drew level with the New Zealander down the pit straight at the end of the lap using the PowerBoost button. Reid however kept his line and jinked to the right down the straight into turn three to defend his lead from the German. Hülkenberg tried the same move the following lap but this time made it stick and powered through into the lead of the field. Willi Weber's protégé then went on to pull out a six second lead over the next five laps.

Hülkenberg held the lead until the first round of pit stops. As the heavy rain that had delayed the start of the race cleared and the track started to dry, it was a gamble for teams on whether to opt for wet or slick rubber. Reid was amongst the first to stop on lap 16, with Hülkenberg pulling in two laps later. The German's stop was slightly slower at 37.8secs, but the advantage the German had built over the preceding laps was enough to put him back out ahead of Reid. Even a brief excursion into the gravel at turn two on lap 19 was not enough to delay the young German.

Over the next two laps Reid however put in a series of times over a second quicker than Hülkenberg to close the gap to just under a second by lap 24. As the track started to dry, drivers returned to the pits for a set of slick Cooper tyres; Hülkenberg stopping on lap 30. With clean air in front, Reid put the hammer down to record a quick series of laps and when he stopped on lap 33, he came out in front of the German in the lead.

Great Britain's Kerr was looking good for another podium spot behind the Kiwi and the German until France's Lapierre caught and passed him down the straight on lap 34. With strategic use of the PowerBoost, the Frenchman pulled level down the pit straight, taking the inside line through turn one. Kerr tried to fight back, but with no PowerBoosts remaining, Kerr struggled to find defend his line. A solid fourth position for the Englishman looked assured until he ran wide at turn four on lap 39, spun and stalled. A five minute safety car period was called to recover the car and when it withdrew it was a sprint to the finish, with only three minutes remaining.

Italy finished a remarkable fourth after starting 15th on the grid. Malaysia was a solid fifth, despite Yoong reporting tyre pressure problems on his second set of rubber. The USA's Phil Giebler had another consistent performance, running with the top three throughout the first part of the race and battling wheel-to-wheel with Kerr for third on lap 24, but his efforts were ultimately not rewarded when he lost time with a spin and stall on lap 43. Marshals got the American back on the road, but the damage was done and Giebler slipped back to 9th.
A1 Team Netherlands, fifth, has been excluded from the results of the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul, Indonesia Feature race. Following an A1GP Stewards' enquiry, it was ruled that the team did not respect the pit stop procedure and made its mandatory pit stop outside the pit stop window, which was between laps eight and 20. The team was found to be in breach of article 219 of the A1GP Sporting Regulations.
Last season's Feature race winner Sean McIntosh had an eventful race after he almost crashed into the South African pit garage after a routine tyre change. The team had chosen slick tyres, but McIntosh hit a puddle and slewed into the South Africans. He then failed to finish after a wheel came loose and flew off his car on lap 38.
A1GP


Massimo Costa

L'ordine di arrivo di gara 2, domenica 10 dicembre 2006

1 - Nuova Zelanda - Jonny Reid - 47 giri in 1.10'36"607
2 - Germania - Nico Hulkenberg - 1"178
3 - Francia - Nicolas Lapierre - 4"262
4 - Italia - Enrico Toccacelo - 8"661
5 - Malesia - Alex Yoong - 14"618
6 - Messico - Salvador Duran - 15"370
7 - Repubblica Ceca - Jaroslav Janis - 20"067
8 - Svizzera - Neel Jani - 23"123
9 - Stati Uniti - Phil Giebler - 27"238
10 - Australia - Ryan Briscoe - 1 giro
11 - Indonesia - Ananda Mikola - 1 giro
12 - Irlanda - Richard Lyons - 1 giro
13 - Cina - Ho Pin Tung - 1 giro
14 - Brasile - Tuka Rocha - 1 giro

Escluso: Jeroen Bleekemolen (5°) per avere effettuato il pit-stop oltre la finestra di giri permessa.

Giro più veloce: Jonny Reid in 1'20"351

Ritirati
7° giro - Jeroen Bleekemolen
11° giro - Armaan Ebrahim
29° giro - Alan Van der Merwe
38° giro - Sean McIntosh
39° giro - Robbie Kerr
43° giro - Nur Ali

Il campionato
1.Germania punti 48; 2.Gran Bretagna 36; 3.Messico 34; 4.Francia 32; 5.Nuova Zelanda 31; 6.Malesia 30; 7.Italia 26; 8.Canada 22; 9.Svizzera, Stati Uniti e Repubblica Ceca 20; 12.Australia 18; 13.Olanda 17; 14.Sud Africa 13; 15.Cina 8; 16.Brasile 5; 17.Singapore 3; 18.Indonesia e Irlanda 1.