Carroll loses lead in A1 championship
Sunday, 22 February 2009 22:10
Team Ireland have lost their the lead in the A1 Grand Prix series when their driver Adam Carroll failed to finish the feature race in the fifth round of the championship at Kyalami in South Africa, writes John Kenny.
Carroll, who had earlier finished fourth in the opening sprint race, started sixth on the grid for the longer second race. He was past the Malaysian car on lap one when he was tagged from behind, beaching his car in the gravel and thus ending his afternoon.
As a result of their win and Ireland's non-finish, Switzerland now lead the championship by three points on 73 compared to Ireland's 70 with Portugal also moving into contention, now third in the series on 64 points.
Earlier in the day, Carroll was fourth in the opening sprint race in Kyalami and before the calamitous early end to the feature event, held a healthy 12 point lead in the championship after the opening event.
However, the actions of Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy in the follow-up feature race has cost Ireland dear and they now head to the next round of the series in the Algarve in Portugal in April playing catch up to the Swiss.
