South Africa made a solid start to the fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Taupo, New Zealand today. Cristiano Morgado, making his debut in A1 Team South Africa’s Vulindlela, was a creditable seventh fastest in the opening practice session for rookie and developing nation drivers.
The Former World Champion Rotax Max completed 36 laps in the two-part session on Friday morning with a best lap time of 1 min 20,447 sec, which was 1,195 sec off the best time posted by Switzerland’s Alexandre Imperatori.
Race engineer Humphrey Corbett commented: “I was very impressed with Cristiano’s performance this morning – he did a great job first time out. As you would expect from a 29-year-old, he displayed a very mature approach.”
Morgado expressed himself satisfied with his performance, “But I would have liked some more time in the car. It is great to drive, but I needed more laps around the Taupo circuit. This has been an all-new experience for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The Ferrari-powered A1GP car is awesome. The circuit conditions, apart from being new to me, were very dry and dusty. There are a lot of corners and it’s quite technical.” |
