Date 22 February 2009 Time 1:27.717 | Weather Clear, 27°C | |
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Location Kyalami
Midrand, South Africa Pole Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen) 1st Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen) | ||
The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa was an A1 Grand Prix race which was held at Kyalami, South Africa.
Contents
Pre-race
A1 Team Korea failed to participate the race as the organiser of the series could not supply electrical units and fuel tank due to mistake of the transportation from New Zealand. The team had planned the debut of 2008 Macau Grand Prix winner Keisuke Kunimoto (Lee Gyeong-Woo), a Japanese driver of Korean descent, as rookie driver on the weekend.
Post-race
Following the race, the team principals of both Ireland and Malaysia issued statements regarding the on-track incident on the first lap of the Feature Race, which resulted in Ireland spinning out into retirement, and subsequently losing the championship lead to Switzerland.
Frankly, I'm disgusted. We're pushing to win a championship and it's not the only time that this driver has caused incidents, doing the same thing to New Zealand later in the race. That's cost us the championship points lead that we fought so hard to create. We were on course to consolidate our points lead today but for a piece of poor driving. A1 Team Malaysia is one of the very best in A1GP, but today their driver has cost us dearly.
It's understandable that A1 Team Ireland was feeling emotional and frustrated after this incident, considering also that they lost the lead in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. However, to blame Fairuz for the incident is unfair and we think the Irish team should stick to trying to win races rather than blaming others for their misfortune. A1 Team Ireland is a highly respected team, but on this occasion their comments are ill-judged.