Adam Carroll Brings A1 Team Ireland Maiden Title

Adam Carroll came to Brands Hatch with the sole thought of securing A1 Team Ireland a place in the A1 GP hall of fame. Trailing A1 Team Switzerland for the championship lead before the British weekend, Carroll knew exactly what his mission was and did everything right in order to deliver the expected results.

The former DTM driver dominated the Brands Hatch weekend from one end to another, clinching pole position for both Sprint and Feature races and taking back-to-back wins on Sunday for Team Ireland's first ever A1 GP trophy.

The Irishman needed the help of his pit crew to win the sprint race on Sunday morning, as he trailed Mexico's Salvador Duran for the lead most of the time. The mandatory pit stops became the turning point of the Sprint race, as Duran's crew got stuck with a left-front wheelnut and delayed the Mexican back to the track.

It eventually cost Duran the second place also, as he crossed the finish line behind A1 Team India's Na rain Karthikeyan. Carroll, however, cruised to a comfortable win, 7 seconds ahead of the former F1 driver. More, Ireland's rivals for the A1 GP title – Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque and Switzerland's Neel Jani – crossed the finish line on some distant 5th and 8th place respectively, giving Carroll an 8-point lead in the overall classification before the Feature Race.

The A1 Team Ireland driver did not rest on that, however, and pushed hard to secure the title in the Feature Race as well. Starting from pole position for the second time on Sunday, Carroll had no competition whatsoever to clinch the double-header, as he went on to the last chequered flag of the season some 10 seconds ahead of nearest rival Jeroen Bleekemolen.

Carroll's most difficult challenge was trying to lap A1 Team USA's JR Hildebrand mid-way through the race. The fight between the two drivers was finally settled at the second mandatory pit stops, where Carroll again benefited from his team's great coordination and finally cruised to the win.

“It was a perfect weekend for us, it’s what we needed to come here to do, it was the plan so it really did come through. We knew by the pace we set in Portugal that if we came here and everything worked out OK we would be really hard to beat, and that was the way it worked out so it couldn’t have been better,” said Carroll after the race.

“The team is just unbelievable, they are the best team on the face of this earth in motorsport and I believe that fully. Their commitment is second to none and we are the best in this pit lane. These guys left on Friday night after 29 hours in the pit lane, that says it all,” added the Irishman.

In the overall classification, A1 Team Ireland finished the series 17 points ahead of A1 Team Switzerland, with A1 Team Portugal some 3 points behind in 3rd place.