“We had a bad start to the weekend, but we had to figure out the problem and work from there. The team did a great job working all last night and also hard today. In the pit-stops they did a great job, and I am glad I am here this weekend and racing to win for us.”
Second place for Albuquerque – making it three podiums in as many meetings for the star rookie – saw to it that Portugal enjoyed their most successful A1GP weekend to-date, but the World Series by Renault ace was insistent he intended on going one step higher still in the series finale.
“This is definitely very good,” he acknowledged, “as three podiums just from six races is a very good average. The starts were really bad, though; this was not my best weekend for them as normally I make good starts, but I will work on that for Brands Hatch and that will make the difference.
“To win in this championship – which is so competitive – just a small mistake can cost a lot. That's racing; it is experience and I hope to do better at
Brands Hatch.
“When I got close to Neel I noticed he had a problem with second gear at the hairpin on the second-last corner. He was pretty fast but I knew I would pass him with an early pit-stop, and then I pushed very hard on my ‘out' lap and after that was just getting away from Ireland.”
“It wasn't too bad,” reflected Carroll, just over five seconds shy of second place at the close, “but I got bumped into turn one and had nowhere really to go. I lost out to India and Malaysia, though I was able to fight off Malaysia and hold onto fifth place.
“Then Portugal and India were having a good battle and I was able to pass Narain as well; he kind of had a bad lap as he had just been overtaken, so I knew it was my time to jump on him and make a move. After that I pushed as hard as I could but I really couldn't go any faster as the guys in front were just a bit quicker. It was hard today and the times were just extremely close.”
![Jonathan Summerton (USA) - A1 Team USA [Pic credit: A1GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/286601.jpg)
