A Taupo, New Zealand Summer Run For A1GP

A1GP Race Start At Taupo Motorsport Park, NZ In 2008 - Now in its fourth season, A1GP takes in a mix of established world-famous venues plus exciting new state-of-the-art facilities and tight twisty street circuits, delivering high-speed adrenalin fuelled action at every turn. Image Credit: A1GP

A Taupo, New Zealand Summer Run For A1GP

A1GP World Cup of Motorsport prepares to hit the track for the first races of 2009 as Round 4 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport takes place at Taupo, on the North Island of New Zealand, from 23rd to 25th January.

For the third visit to the Taupo Motorsport Park, the series will break with tradition and the Sprint race will have a standing and not a rolling start.

The decision was taken on safety grounds, as in the past there have been collisions due to the tight "S" bend close to the start.

This excerpted and edited from Citizen Media -

Taupo Motorsport Park gearing up for first event of New Year
By A1GP, TAUPO, NZ

Current championship leader, A1 Team Ireland, is enjoying being top of the tables heading into the Christmas period. Its star driver, Portadown’s Adam Carroll, was honoured by Ireland's motorsport media with their Manley Award for International Driver of the Year last Tuesday (9 December). Carroll's race performances in A1GP saw his name added to the prestigious trophy, which has been won in the past by Formula One drivers Eddie Irvine and Martin Donnelly in the past.

"It was a nice surprise," said Carroll of his award win. "I wasn't expecting it and it's an honour to see my name included on the trophy alongside so many great names from Ireland's motorsport past. It's been a great start to the season for us and, while the job is far from finished, it's nice to be receiving recognition for our achievements."
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Taupo Motorsport Park is gearing up for the first event of the New Year with Managing Director David Steele saying that everything has been done to make the 2009 A1GP Taupo, New Zealand event the best yet.

The circuit has done a lot of work over the past year to help eradicate the dust problems at the first and second races, but Steele believes they have it under control.

“We have taken measures both inside on the circuit and track boundaries and outside the circuit to minimise dust issues experienced during the last event and, on top of that, the circuit has one more year’s growth and maturity, so that has helped as well,” said Steele. “Even with the extreme and unusual weather we saw in 2007 and 2008, we are confident we are as much in control as we can possibly be.”
Reference Here>>

The balance of the 2008/2009 A1GP racing season is as follows:

4) 25 January 2009 - A1GP Taupo, New Zealand
5) 08 February 2009 - A1GP Jakarta, Indonesia
6) 22 February 2009 - A1GP Gauteng, South Africa
7) 15 March 2009 - A1GP Mexico City, Mexico
8) 29 March 2009 - TBA
9) 12 April 2009 - A1GP Algarve, Portugal
10) 03 May 2009 - A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain

... notes from The EDJE