Asian Motor Sports

The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix team is wondering what might have been after a controversial ruling went against them in Round 10 of the World Cup of Motorsport at Laguna Seca in California.

New Zealand driver Matt Halliday had a scorching start in the opening Sprint Race to lead the field in atrocious wet conditions. But when the Italian car spun, bringing out the yellow flags, Halliday slowed and was passed by Mexico.

The New Zealanders’ immediate appeal that the Mexican car had passed them while under a yellow flag was not upheld and Mexico went on to win both the Sprint Race and the Feature Race, reveling in the clean air.

Black Beauty, meanwhile, was swamped from behind and a spin towards the end of both races cost the team places and valuable points.

A1 Team.NZL team manager Mike Ewan said the team was incredulous at the yellow flag decision and is adamant Halliday should have been back at the head of the field when the Sprint Race re-started.

“The local officials were the only ones in pit lane who didn’t see what happened and said, in their opinion, there wasn’t enough evidence to uphold our appeal,” Ewan said.

“We’re still shaking our heads at the decision and obviously very unhappy. There’s no telling what might have happened if Matt had taken his rightful place back at the front, but the clear track and lack of spray in the rain would have been of huge benefit and the fact Mexico went on to win both races has left us feeling deflated and frustrated.”

Halliday said he saw three yellow flags and took his foot off the pedal, slowing appreciably before Mexico whipped past him.

“I can’t believe what has happened, but that’s life,” Halliday said. “We were really quick in practice and the morning’s warm-up and I was ecstatic with the starts to both races. There’s just that feeling of emptiness that we were wrongly deprived of a significant advantage.”

Black Beauty’s 8th in the Sprint Race and 12^th place in the Feature Race saw the Kiwis score just 3 points from the meeting, but maintain 6^th place in the championship.

France clinched the inaugural A1GP title with a second place in the Sprint Race and an additional point for posting the fastest lap and Great Britain all but cemented 3^rd behind Switzerland with an impressive 15-point haul over the weekend.

New Zealand (now on 67 points) has made up ground on 4th placed Brazil (70 points) and the 5 th placed Netherlands (69 points), neither of whom scored any points today, but Portugal (66) and Ireland (61) have closed the gap appreciably on the Kiwis.

A1 Team.NZL chief executive Bob McMurray says the team’s focus has changed ahead of the final round in China early next month.

“Third isn’t realistic any more, but we’d like to maintain our place in the Top Six and see if we can reel in Brazil and the Netherlands. We’ve already surpassed our own pre-Series expectations, but now that we’re in this position it would be nice to finish the season on a high.

“As always, the goal is to win races and we’ll be striving for a podium finish to bookend the Series after being on the podium in the first ever A1GP race.”