Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Middle East beckons McIntosh


Vancouver, Canada (December 06, 2005) – Having sampled tests in GP2 and World Series by Renault cars in the past two weeks, Sean McIntosh returns to his Team Canada racer this weekend, 9th-11th December, as the inaugural A1 Grand Prix of Nations hits the halfway stage with Round 6 hosted at the 5.39km Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates.

A1 Grand Prix’s first visit to the Middle East also marks something of a homecoming for the championship as it was in Dubai in March 2004, at the opening of the state-of-the-art Autodrome, that series founder Sheikh Maktoum first unveiled his plans for an international motorsport formula pitting nation against nation throughout the traditional ‘off-season’. That dream is now a reality with the series already visiting the UK, Germany, Portugal, Malaysia and Australia before Sunday’s spectacular in Dubai.

For Team Canada’s Sean McIntosh this weekend’s Sprint and Feature races offer an opportunity for the 20-year-old from Vancouver to learn yet another new circuit while adding to his record of five top-ten starts and five top-ten finishes, including Canada’s first A1GP podium in the Feature race at the EuroSpeedway in Germany.

"I can’t wait to get back into the Team Canada car in Dubai," McIntosh enthused. "Our last race in Malaysia feels like a long time ago and I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to get back behind the wheel and continue to demonstrate the pace we were showing last month. It was great to come back to Europe and test the GP2 and World Series by Renault cars but my focus is set firmly on improving Team Canada’s standing in the A1 series."

He continued, "I’m looking forward to learning the track during Friday’s practice sessions. The conditions will no doubt change as the weekend progresses and the sand, I’m sure, will be an ever-present factor. That will be the same for everyone though; our goal this weekend simply has to be to put together a complete package with two quick qualifying runs on Saturday and two points scoring races on Sunday. I’m confident we can achieve this and put Team Canada back into the top-ten heading into the second half of the season."

Team Canada currently sits just outside the top-ten in the Nations Standings in 11th place on 20 points. Team France leads the 25-strong field of nations with 92 points courtesy of eight consecutive victories. Sunday’s races can be viewed live or on-demand in Canada by logging on to: www.a1gp.com

By Stuart Morrison Public Relations

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