Robbie Kerr has vowed to give it his all when the A1GP circus arrives on British turf for its 2007/08 season finale at the beginning of next month, despite enduring a weekend to forget last time out in Shanghai.
The former British F3 Champion has a superb record around the Kent circuit, having triumphed there in the sprint race last year – his maiden World Cup of Motorsport success – and finished second in the feature outing, and having led on his A1GP debut 19 months earlier still. Whilst he suffered a difficult weekend in China – featuring on the outer edges of the top ten throughout, a far cry form Team GB's early and mid-season form – France's even more lowly performance means the outfit has closed the gap on the third-placed series one title-winners to just twelve points – with 32 remaining up for grabs.
After qualifying in tenth spot for the sprint race, Kerr swiftly moved up to seventh when the lights went out – successfully avoiding the start-line collision between New Zealand and the USA – but he would fall back two spots to ninth after coming off worst in a three-abreast battle into turn two with Italy and South Africa. He then remained in the same position to the chequered flag, sandwiched frustratingly between Italy and home nation China.
“We had a good start initially and I thought I was going to get Germany,” the 28-year-old recounted, “but then the incident happened in front and I had to back off allowing Germany to come back at us. Going into turn one, I got bogged down by Germany which allowed Italy and South Africa to come either side boxing me in.
“I did the sensible thing and backed off rather than risk an accident, and from then on chased Italy, but unfortunately wasn't able to get close enough to mount a decent challenge [as] we struggled with the car's handling throughout the race.”
