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A1GP SENTUL, INDONESIA FULL STEAM AHEAD
01/12/2006 - The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will return to the Sentul International Circuit, Indonesia from 8-10 December 2006 for the fifth round of the 2005/06 season, the series’s third consecutive stop in the Asia Pacific region.

The 4.12km circuit close to the town of Bogor played host to one of last season’s most spectacular Feature races when A1 Team Canada’s Sean McIntosh took the chequered flag after starting at the back of the grid. A1 Team Indonesia however was still the hero of the day, despite the performance of the Canadians as a 46,000-strong crowd packed the grandstands to see their national driver, Ananda Mikola, in action.

For this year’s race, driver Ananda Mikola will be joined by younger brother Moreno Soeprapto, both of whom have prior knowledge of the Sentul track as father Tinton Soeprapto is President-Director of the circuit. Mikola will no doubt be looking to improve on last year’s results, in which he finished 11th in the Sprint race and 14th in the Feature.

“Last season we had a very large crowd at the track,” commented Tinton, “We hope we’ll have the same amount this year, if not more. We’ve learnt a lot from the previous A1GP race and have made improvements to the highway, security and the toll road to make the operations more efficient. It’s the biggest motorsport event we’ve held here in a long time and we want to make sure everything runs smoothly and to plan.”

“We haven’t had so many high-profile races here at Sentul, we have had MotoGP but that was some time ago, so it’s really important that everything goes well as it’s the World Cup of Motorsport and a big event for the circuit and the country,” said Mikola. “I live very close to the track so I hope I will have a lot of supporters, which will make me more confident. I want to be on the podium but I think that anything can happen. All depends on me and the strategy – we will have to see.”

As well as the surrounding infrastructure, the Sentul circuit has also seen some major improvements since A1GP’s last visit. The circuit, built to F1 standards in 1994, has seen parts of the track re-surfaced and work done on the paddock and garage area. A1GP’s chief executive Bruce Holmes and events general manager, Ron Dickson visited the track today to inspect the progress made.

“I’m confident Sentul will be successful for A1GP and most importantly, well received by the many enthusiastic fans in Indonesia,” A1GP chief executive Bruce Holmes said. “Last season’s A1GP race at the circuit was very well attended, and we are sure that a large crowd comes out in full force to support the race and their national team, A1 Team Indonesia. Based on the turnout in the inaugural season last February, I am more than confident we will have a successful race once again in Indonesia.”

The weekend’s racing action kicks off with the rookie driver and developing nations’ session on Friday 8 December from 11.00 to 12.00. All teams can take part in the later practice session from 14.00 to 15.00. Final practice and qualifying for the Sprint race will take place on Saturday 9 December, with the Sprint and Feature races scheduled for Sunday 10 December at 11.00 and 15.00 respectively.

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