4th
May 2008, Brands Hatch, Great Britain - A1
Team India secured its second win of the season when
Narain Karthikeyan took victory in the Brands
Hatch season finale Feature race this afternoon while GBR's
Robbie Kerr notched up another home race podium after a beautiful
drive, just losing out to India during the second round of pit
stops.

Today's
Feature race marked the end of an era as it was the 64th and
final race outing for the Zytek-powered A1GP Lola cars. From
season four onwards, Ferrari will manufacture and supply the
A1GP engines and consult on the design and manufacture of the
A1GP chassis. The first round of season four will take place
at the Mugello circuit in Italy on 19-21 September 2008.
Narain
Karthikeyan, who took his maiden A1GP race win in Zhuhai,
China in December last year, was delighted to score India's
second race win:
'I
think I made a good start. Robbie tried to go round the outside
but I defended that move. When we came out of the first pit
stop I had a coming together with Adam Carroll - I didn't see
him because I had a moment and he tried to go up the inside
and I hit him. But anyway, a great result for A1 Team India
and after the final pit stop my car was mega. I made a mistake
at Sheen but at the end it was all good!'
Robbie
Kerr, who won this morning's Sprint race from pole and finished
second in the main event this afternoon, was visibly disappointed
to just miss out on doing the double on home soil:
'It
was a fantastic weekend for GBR, it was just a shame we couldn't
pull the second win off. Narain and I were so equal and after
the first pit stop we thought we had done enough. Then unfortunately
the second pit stop didn't quite go our way, but it's a team
sport and we all worked hard. It's just one of those things.'
Commenting
on almost taking second from New Zealand in the championship
for the second year running, Kerr said:
'The guys
told me the situation and of course it was frustrating and I
wanted to push but I had to consolidate third place in the championship
as well. There was no point mucking it up with Narain and tangling
over nothing, so we pushed and made sure we got a good result
and unfortunately again, we were a couple of points off second
place in the championship but we will fight on for next year
and I'm sure it's going to be even tighter and closer with the
new cars.'
Neel Jani,
who secured the title for Switzerland when he finished fourth
in this morning's Sprint race, celebrated the championship honours
with a podium finish in the Feature race this afternoon, the
final race of season three.
'This is
the greatest moment of my career,' said an emotional Jani. 'I
can't put it into words at this moment. A1GP has been getting
tougher every season and this year we got the title. After the
first race, winning the title with fourth place felt a little
empty but after the podium it feels fantastic. I was a little
bit worried by still being sixth after the first pit stop but
we had a great second stop and great pace afterwards. Brands
Hatch gave us a fantastic atmosphere and a great place to win
the title.'
Twenty-four-year-old
Jonny Reid, who did just enough today to fend off GBR and take
silver in the World Cup of Motorsport, reflected on a dramatic
season finale and an incredible year:
'I'm knackered,'
Reid said. 'That was such an intense drive. We put everything
into it and thankfully got everything out of it. We struggled
with rear grip throughout the race, but it didn't matter in
the end. I was pleased with my drive, the pit stops were great
and the result was fantastic. I look back and see a lot of areas
where things got away on us and think we could've won this championship.
At the end of the day, second overall is a great achievement,
especially with our tough finish to the campaign. Life wasn't
easy. Over the three seasons we've been the most consistent
nation in this championship and that's something to be proud
of.'
Photo
courtesy : a1gp.com
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