Nov 2008
Steady improvement for Satrio
A1 Team Indonesia completed the Sprint and Feature
races at Sepang circuit, Kuala Lumpur in the fourth
round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today.
Satrio Hermanto, driving for the team in Malaysia,
finished 13th in both the Sprint and the Feature
races.
The weather for the Sprint race was hot, humid and sunny, resulting in challenging conditions for the field of A1GP drivers. The drama came before the race had even started with three cars ahead of Indonesia piling into each other.
Satrio was lucky to escape the incident although he had to pick his way through the debris and was fortunate not to pick up a puncture from any carbon fibre shards. The race had to be stopped to clear the track and after a few minutes was restarted, although this time the safety car paced the cars for a lap before the cars were let free to race.
Satrio was quickly on the pace and pushing hard. The young Indonesian made up ground as the race progressed, maintaining a good pace and defending well from the attacks of Monaco behind him. The Indonesia team pitcrew gave him a great pitstop to keep Satrio in position. He crossed the finish line in 13th place, a credit to all the team’s efforts.
“The sprint race was quite good, but we didn’t really make as much progress as I would have liked. We gained from other drivers’ misfortunes, but we kept it clean and reached the chequered flag, with the aim of a points finish in the Feature race,” said Satrio.
The period between the two races gave the team an opportunity to review the car setup and prepare for the Feature race. Satrio took part in the traditional A1GP drivers ceremony, and shortly after this was back in the car ready to take the standing start for the Feature race.
The frenetic start of the Feature race saw Satrio having to take evasive action of cars around him, but keeping his cool he was able to hold position. The Indonesian crew gave Satrio two clean pit stops and the team were able to retain their position as the race laps counted down. The Indonesian racked up miles in the new A1GP car, learning and making progress as he raced, although ultimately unable to make headway.
He said after the Feature race. “It was a tough race, I'm a bit disappointed because we missed our target to get a point. It was a good race, but not really good. the car was good in the middle of the race, getting better, after that I had a few understeer problems, which is why I slowed down a little bit and then after the second pitstop I pushed very hard to catch up with Lebanon. With lap times the same and the same PowerBoost, there was no point to be so aggressive because Mexico were just getting closer and closer. I'm just a bit disappointed.”
Bobby Issazadhe, Team Manager, A1 Team Indonesia added, “We’re pleased that Satrio completed the two race distances today, but we didn’t see the improvement in finish positions that we had hoped for. It wasn’t that exciting, not much happened, the pitstops were not fantastic and the race was not fantastic. We qualified 14th and ended 13th. Everything has been 13 this week, even the garage number! Progress has been made and the guys have put together a reliable car and we've had absolutely no problems apart from the filter which was pretty much out of our control. Still, we’re making progress.
The weather for the Sprint race was hot, humid and sunny, resulting in challenging conditions for the field of A1GP drivers. The drama came before the race had even started with three cars ahead of Indonesia piling into each other.
Satrio was lucky to escape the incident although he had to pick his way through the debris and was fortunate not to pick up a puncture from any carbon fibre shards. The race had to be stopped to clear the track and after a few minutes was restarted, although this time the safety car paced the cars for a lap before the cars were let free to race.
Satrio was quickly on the pace and pushing hard. The young Indonesian made up ground as the race progressed, maintaining a good pace and defending well from the attacks of Monaco behind him. The Indonesia team pitcrew gave him a great pitstop to keep Satrio in position. He crossed the finish line in 13th place, a credit to all the team’s efforts.
“The sprint race was quite good, but we didn’t really make as much progress as I would have liked. We gained from other drivers’ misfortunes, but we kept it clean and reached the chequered flag, with the aim of a points finish in the Feature race,” said Satrio.
The period between the two races gave the team an opportunity to review the car setup and prepare for the Feature race. Satrio took part in the traditional A1GP drivers ceremony, and shortly after this was back in the car ready to take the standing start for the Feature race.
The frenetic start of the Feature race saw Satrio having to take evasive action of cars around him, but keeping his cool he was able to hold position. The Indonesian crew gave Satrio two clean pit stops and the team were able to retain their position as the race laps counted down. The Indonesian racked up miles in the new A1GP car, learning and making progress as he raced, although ultimately unable to make headway.
He said after the Feature race. “It was a tough race, I'm a bit disappointed because we missed our target to get a point. It was a good race, but not really good. the car was good in the middle of the race, getting better, after that I had a few understeer problems, which is why I slowed down a little bit and then after the second pitstop I pushed very hard to catch up with Lebanon. With lap times the same and the same PowerBoost, there was no point to be so aggressive because Mexico were just getting closer and closer. I'm just a bit disappointed.”
Bobby Issazadhe, Team Manager, A1 Team Indonesia added, “We’re pleased that Satrio completed the two race distances today, but we didn’t see the improvement in finish positions that we had hoped for. It wasn’t that exciting, not much happened, the pitstops were not fantastic and the race was not fantastic. We qualified 14th and ended 13th. Everything has been 13 this week, even the garage number! Progress has been made and the guys have put together a reliable car and we've had absolutely no problems apart from the filter which was pretty much out of our control. Still, we’re making progress.
Strong pace for A1.Team.Indonesia in China
1 Team Indonesia completed the two races of the A1GP
World Cup of Motorsport, Chengdu, China, today,
taking 18th place in the Sprint race and improving to
14th place finish in the Feature race.
The opening lap of the Sprint race saw all the nations taking the green flag at racing speed with a rolling start. Satrio was running with the pack but unfortunately spun on the opening lap which dropped him to the back of the pack. He kept pushing and improving his lap times over the course of the race, however as with most of the nations he was not able to make any progress through the field for the majority of the race, finally passing the Korean car on the final lap to finish in 18th place.
Satrio said after the race, “I just put the throttle down too quickly as I was close to the Mexican car and wanted to get a good exit through the corner, but then I spun which was unfortunate, but I was pleased with our pace. I was much quicker than the Korean car so it didn’t take me long to catch up and finally overtake him on the final lap.”
Satrio took his first standing start with the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car, with the first round in Zandvoort last month having started behind a safety car due to the bad weather conditions. A stall on the grid for the Netherlands car brought out the safety car at the end of the first lap with Satrio remaining in 18th position. The young Indonesian stayed out on track while others pitted for the first mandatory tyre change stop, rejoining in 15th position after quick work from the A1 Team Indonesia pit crew.
A spin for France with 12 laps remaining brought out the safety car and promoted the Indonesian team to 14th place. The race resumed with six laps remaining and Satrio held position, defending well and staying on a strong pace, to cross the line in 14th place.
Satrio reviewed his Feature race saying, “It was a tough race, but when I tangled with Mexico on the first lap I spun and that lost me too much time. My pace was quite good, but being so far back made it difficult to make up ground. After the safety car period I had a second spin, because I was pushing too hard. But we finished the race and improved our pace over the weekend, and we’re learning all the time.”
Bobby Issazahde, Team Manager, summed up saying, “When Mexico did a pass on us and touched Satrio they both spun and we lost 13 seconds. From then on it was always going to be difficult to make any progress. We did have a good pace and that is encouraging and we’re confident we’ll be able to make further improvement in Sepang.
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport moves on to Malaysia for the third round of the 2008/09 Series. One of only two venues that has hosted an A1GP event every season, the Sepang circuit close to Kuala Lumpur will welcome the 20 nations for another exciting A1GP race event.
The opening lap of the Sprint race saw all the nations taking the green flag at racing speed with a rolling start. Satrio was running with the pack but unfortunately spun on the opening lap which dropped him to the back of the pack. He kept pushing and improving his lap times over the course of the race, however as with most of the nations he was not able to make any progress through the field for the majority of the race, finally passing the Korean car on the final lap to finish in 18th place.
Satrio said after the race, “I just put the throttle down too quickly as I was close to the Mexican car and wanted to get a good exit through the corner, but then I spun which was unfortunate, but I was pleased with our pace. I was much quicker than the Korean car so it didn’t take me long to catch up and finally overtake him on the final lap.”
Satrio took his first standing start with the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car, with the first round in Zandvoort last month having started behind a safety car due to the bad weather conditions. A stall on the grid for the Netherlands car brought out the safety car at the end of the first lap with Satrio remaining in 18th position. The young Indonesian stayed out on track while others pitted for the first mandatory tyre change stop, rejoining in 15th position after quick work from the A1 Team Indonesia pit crew.
A spin for France with 12 laps remaining brought out the safety car and promoted the Indonesian team to 14th place. The race resumed with six laps remaining and Satrio held position, defending well and staying on a strong pace, to cross the line in 14th place.
Satrio reviewed his Feature race saying, “It was a tough race, but when I tangled with Mexico on the first lap I spun and that lost me too much time. My pace was quite good, but being so far back made it difficult to make up ground. After the safety car period I had a second spin, because I was pushing too hard. But we finished the race and improved our pace over the weekend, and we’re learning all the time.”
Bobby Issazahde, Team Manager, summed up saying, “When Mexico did a pass on us and touched Satrio they both spun and we lost 13 seconds. From then on it was always going to be difficult to make any progress. We did have a good pace and that is encouraging and we’re confident we’ll be able to make further improvement in Sepang.
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport moves on to Malaysia for the third round of the 2008/09 Series. One of only two venues that has hosted an A1GP event every season, the Sepang circuit close to Kuala Lumpur will welcome the 20 nations for another exciting A1GP race event.