A1GP Hits New Venue in Portugal
Algarve, Portugal -- A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads to Portugal for the second time in its history this weekend, but with a brand new circuit in the Algarve providing the backdrop for what is set to be one of the most memorable events of the season on 10 - 12 April.

The last A1GP meeting held in Portugal took place at the Circuito do Estoril, near Lisbon in 2005 but with a new purpose-built facility completed earlier this year, the 4.69-kilometre Autodromo Internacional do Algarve is a truly unique undulating circuit.

We need to get a good result for the team in Portugal. We don't have many chances left this season, so we need to take advantage of each session. Hopefully, we can hit on something right away and build on it instead of fighting out of a hole and trying to play catch up the rest of the weekend."
MARCO ANDRETTI

GAUTENG, South Africa February 22, 2009: Marco Andretti rallied from a 17th place finish in Sunday's morning's Sprint race to finish eighth in the Go-GP.Org A1GP Gauteng, South Africa Feature race.

Andretti was able to capitalize on the misfortune of several teams during the eventful opening laps of the Feature and was then able to find some welcome speed in the back half of the event, punctuated by a brief hold on the race's quickest lap, 12 laps from the finish.

Switzerland captured the Feature race victory, preceded earlier in the day by The Netherlands' win in the Sprint.

A1 Team USA remains tied for 11th in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport standings with 19 points.

A1GP season four continues April 10-12 with round 6, A1GP Algarve, Portugal.

Marco Andretti, Andretti Green A1, A1 Team USA:
"It was a tough weekend, but at least we scored a few points by the end of it. We were just too far behind at the start of both races to make a run at the front. Like everybody, we just have to find speed right away in the first session of the weekend and that seems to be pretty tough for us right now."

A1GP World Cup of Motorsport made its first ever visit to South Africa’s most famous motor racing circuit, Kyalami, for round five of the series, The 'Go-GP.Org' A1GP Gauteng, South Africa on 20 - 22 February 2009. The Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit is located in Gauteng province, just north of Johannesburg and has a rich history of international motorsport events on four and two wheels. The balanced blend of slow, medium and fast corners and the fact Kyalami is nearly 2,000 metres above sea level presented a challenge to both the race drivers and engineers at this event.

Before the race Marco said "I'm looking forward to the race at Kyalami. It's a new circuit for me, and for the A1GP, but I've been watching some old in car footage from past F1 races as well as studying track maps. I hope this will help speed-up our learning curve this weekend. Every week we're getting more and more confident with the car and we're looking to be competitive in South Africa."

Final practice and qualifying for the Sprint and Feature races will take place on Saturday with the two races scheduled to run on Sunday at 11.00 and 15.00 respectively.

A1 Team USA driver Marco Andretti drove from 17th to 12th in the Sprint race and was then credited with 11th in the Feature after a penalty dropped him from his original finishing position of eighth.
 
Andretti was penalized for crossing the pit blend line after leaving from his second stop and was hit with a 25-second penalty. A1 Teams Italy, Malaysia and South Africa all benefited from the penalty to A1 Team USA.
 
Ireland and Switzerland claimed the top-two spots in both races, with Ireland grabbing a win in the Sprint and Switzerland winning the Feature.
 
The 2008-09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport schedule resumes Feb. 20-22 with Round 5 at Gauteng, South Africa.

"It wasn't the result we were looking for this weekend. We just didn't have any track position to work with in either race and that makes it extremely tough to go anywhere on a circuit this tight. We just have to improve our pace right from the start of the weekend and give ourselves a better opportunity to compete for good points on race day." said Marco.


Race Two: Marco Races to Podium!
Race Gallery (2008 Archive Site)

A1 Team USA driver Marco Andretti was involved in a dramatic race-ending crash at the start of the Sprint race, but rebounded to record a third-place finish in the Feature race during round three of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Sepang, Malaysia.

Marco started 12th in the Sprint, but encountered problems immediately at the start. As the tightly-packed field was preparing for the rolling start, Andretti ran into the back of Narain Karthikeyan’s Indian machine, flying over the top of his car, landing on the other side and tearing off a wheel. Brazil’s Felipe Guimaraes also careered into the damaged Indian car, before nearly getting airborne, as well. The race was immediately red-flagged and Andretti’s race was over.

Taking advantage of the time between the two events and the assistance of Team Korea, which provided a rear wing to Team USA, the necessary repairs were made and Andretti prepared forthe Feature. Andretti, who started eighth, steadily ascended in the standings and ran fourth after the completion of the first pit window. A lap-17 pit miscue by Team Malaysia then allowed Andretti to grab another position and he held that spot to the end, netting his first A1GP podium finish.

A1 Team USA now stands 10th in the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport standings heading into round four. The next event is slated for Jan. 23-25, 2009, in Taupo, New Zealand.

Marco Andretti said: “The start was a bit of survival and I used the PowerBoost when everybody was close together and we needed the track position. The boys did a good job in the pits and then we weren’t threatened from behind, but I had nothing on these guys in front so I was just enjoying the car and Sepang. It’s a lovely circuit.”

Race One: Marco Involved in huge accident: As the cars came in formation towards the rolling start, an incident involving USA, Brazil and India brought out the red flag. The pack appeared to pick up pace as it approached the start line, but then backed off causing a concertina effect towards the back of the field.

The USA car of Marco Andretti and the Brazilian car of Felipe Guimarães took it in turn to climb over the back of Narain Karhtikeyan’s Indian entry scattering debris across the pit straight.

Marco Andretti commented: "I’m disappointed. You can say it’s unavoidable but at the time I thought everyone was going and I could only see two rows ahead of me. I couldn’t see ahead of the whole field. I was about to grab fourth gear, and as soon as the rear tyres were hooking up that was when I needed to be stopping the car so there was no hope. Once you are committed you are kind of stuck with it. In the States you either go or you don’t. Here, they went, and then stopped. No one was to blame, it was just racing, but ultimately I crashed out two cars."

Switzerland and Ireland took a pole position apiece for tomorrow’s races in Sepang, Malaysia for round three of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. A1 Team USA driver Marco Andretti qualified 12th and eighth, respectively, for the Sprint race and Feature race during round three of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event in Sepang, Malaysia.

"Bringing PowerBoost into qualifying changes the strategy a lot. We lost some ground in qualifying for the Sprint race because some teams chose to use it in the second segment, but then that paid off for us a little bit for the Feature race when we used it. We just have to keep working on the car. We still don't have a lot of time with this car and on these circuits compared to a lot of the teams out here. Hopefully, we'll have a good day tomorrow." - MARCO ANDRETTI

With the weather also a factor in tomorrow’s races and with two very different looking grids, both races look set to be just as thrilling as today’s qualifying sessions.

NOV 9th : CHENGDU-RACE DAY Coming from a starting position of 15th, Marco Andretti moved up seven places to take the checkered in eighth place for Team USA at the Chengdu International Circuit.

Andretti, who finished 15th in the morning's sprint race, quickly made up ground in the feature race. By lap 16, Andretti was into the top 10 in the ninth position. When the leaders came in to pit on lap 16, Team USA moved into the top three. Andretti was back into eighth when the final yellow came out on lap 38 where he remained for the final 12 laps of the race.

Portugal claimed the feature race victory. Ireland, who won the sprint race, was followed by Great Britain, Switzerland and Malaysia rounded out the feature race top five.
Andretti's eighth place finished scored another three points for Team USA, who is now in 12th place in the championship standings.

The next A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event is scheduled for Sepang, Malaysia, Nov. 21-23. Practice is slated for Nov. 21, qualifying for Nov. 22 and race day takes place Nov. 23. For more information, please visit www.a1gp.com.

Marco Andretti, Andretti Green Racing, Team USA:
"The weekend started out with our bad luck in qualifying, which carried over to race day as it turned out to be a track position race. Unfortunately, it was very hard to pass here and making it to the end with no mistakes was what mattered. The results weren't bad considering how new we are to the series and the little experience we have with the car. I am definitely optimistic about the future, we have our work cut out to close the gap but I think it's possible."

CHENGDU-FIRST DAY PRACTICE Third generation racer Marco Andretti had his first experience of A1GP when he was the first driver out onto China’s Chengdu International Circuit in A1 Team USA’s car, and he liked what he saw, apart from the dust…

“They were certainly really difficult circumstances when I first went out. If it wasn’t dusty at any point around the lap, it was wet,” the 21-year-old son of Michael and grandson of 1978 World Champion Mario, told A1GP.com, talking of several points on the circuit where natural springs weep out through the surface.

Andretti finished the day in eighth place for the USA, eight tenths of a second behind pace-setting Neel Jani, driving for Switzerland.

“From my short initial experience of the car, though, I can tell that it will be really nice to drive when we find the sweet spot.

“The steering is heavy because there’s no power steering, but it’s like an Indycar as there is no traction control. Weirdly, the carbon brakes are more like those I’ve used on our American Le Mans Series sportscar.

“The Chengdu circuit is tough and our car is still a bit harsh over the bumps and this, obviously, affects braking for which you need as much grip as you can get. But, compared to some of the street circuits we’re used to racing on in the US, this is fine.

“Actually, my last race was two weeks ago in Australia, at Surfers Paradise, and that’s a rough ride as you have to use the kerbs there for a quick lap and they’re massive.”

Does Marco have a tip as to where the time can be found for a really quick lap here at Chengdu?

“Yes, the place to make up time is the esses after Turn 5. If you can get your car to hold the line there, you should be able to make up time on the others. I’m looking forward to the racing on Sunday, though, because there’s not an enormous amount that you can do to these cars in terms of set-up changes, so we’re sure to get some close racing.”

"Getting to race in China is something I'm really looking forward to. Although the A1GP program is new to Andretti Green, I thought that the crew did a great job with the first race. They had to put in a lot of effort just to get on track and they were able to get the car up to speed rather quickly. I know there is a possibility that the weather could add another element to the race and that should only make the race more challenging for the drivers and more entertaining for the fans." Marco Andretti

"I was very impressed with the efforts of the A1GP organizers and am sure the event at China will be more of the same. We're pleased that Marco is getting the chance to drive a different car than what he is used to. The team has worked hard to make this a successful venture from the very start and I expect Marco to be quick and learn a lot driving the A1GP car." Michael Andretti, co-owner, Andretti Green / Team USA

Acura's battle for the 2008 American Le Mans Series LMP2 class titles in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta ended Saturday in a mass of crash damage after the 1,000-mile endurance classic in the final hour of competition.

The XM Acura, with Montagny, the Detroit winner, at the controls, looked to be in a position to win the LMP2 class. However, Georges Forgeois spun his Lola entering Turn 12, causing a massive crash that took out Montagny and Patrick Pilet. Montagny had charged from fourth to second and led briefly before his final pit stop. Marco said afterwards: "It was unfortunate. The XM Radio Acura was really good. We definitely had the best strategist behind us to put us in a really great position at the end. We had the car to win. It's a bummer."

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