A1 Team Indonesia kicked off their 2008/2009 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport campaign with two highly challenging races, which were held in pouring rain. These difficult conditions caught out driver Satrio Hermanto with spins into the tyre barriers ending both his Feature and Sprint races.

The torrential weather conditions created one of the most challenging opening round races of the season for A1GP and with the safety of the drivers paramount it was decided to start the Sprint race behind the safety car. After two laps of touring the circuit the grid of A1GP cars were released to run at full speed and there was action right from the start. Ireland spun at the front and with limited visibility there were driver mistakes up and down the field. Unfortunately Hermanto struggled with the lack of grip and in difficult conditions, slid off track and was stranded on the kerbs, forcing him into retirement.

Hermanto took the grid for the Feature race, but the weather was akin to Indonesia with monsoon type conditions forcing organisers to declare a safety car start. The Indonesian team, starting from 14th, had driven well, and while others around them slid off track or slid into each other, Hermanto had moved up to 10th place by the time of the first round of pitstops.

Shortly before the young Indonesian was due to pit he slid on a patch of water, spinning out and into the tyre barrier. The car damage prevented him from continuing, prematurely ending his first race weekend in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car.

Hermanto said at the end of a very hard, very wet, weekend, “It’s been a very hard weekend for us and a disappointing finish, and I guess I can only take comfort from the fact that many other very experienced teams were also victims of the weather, as shown by only seven cars finishing the Feature race. It’s only the first of ten race weekends so we will stay strong for our next outing in China.”

Team Manager, Bobby Issazadhe added, “It was a very difficult weekend, given a very limited time for preparation and the torrential rain, that really challenged the team for preparing the ideal setup. The standing water caught out many drivers including Satrio and ended each of his races, but we’ll move on to Chengdu now and focus on the season ahead. We’ll hope that the weather will be better in China”

The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport continues its ten event global tour next month with the second round taking place at Chengdu, China from 7 - 9 November 2008.