A1 Team GBR’s Oliver Jarvis will be joined by new rookie Duncan Tappy in Mexico City

Oliver Jarvis and A1 Team Great Britain will return to the site of their debut A1GP race win next week when the series revisits the Mexico City circuit for round eight of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Oliver will be joined by new rookie Duncan Tappy as the team provides an opportunity to the up-and-coming British driver to show his talent in the A1GP car.

Jarvis put himself in the record books in Mexico City in 2007 by taking A1 Team GBR’s first victory in the afternoon’s feature race. The win set off a string of impressive results for the British outfit, with Robbie Kerr taking two further race victories at the following events in China and Brands Hatch, cementing the team’s third place championship finish.

Jarvis will return to action for the team following his podium finish in Durban a fortnight ago, and the 24-year-old is determined to sign off from his duties with the team this season with a repeat of last year’s win.

Duncan Tappy is one of Britain’s up-and-coming stars and has made good progress up the motorsport ladder through his career. His 2007 successes included claiming the Formula Renault UK Championship, being awarded BRDC British Club Driver of the Year and being a McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist.

His talent was identified by the BRDC and in 2006 he was named as a BRDC Rising Star. He dominated Formula Ford in 2005 with nine consecutive race wins and winning the prestigious Formula Ford Festival. He performed well testing for two days with World Series by Renault teams at the end of 2007.

With three rounds remaining in its 2007/08 campaign, A1 Team GBR is currently sixth in the championship with 70 points. Switzerland heads up the leader board on 118 points, with France ten points adrift and New Zealand a further ten behind.

South Africa is fourth on 83 points, and Germany is fifth, just seven points ahead of GBR on 77. With 32 maximum points available for a team on race day, Team GBR will be aiming for a strong points haul to move ahead of its closest rivals in Mexico.

Oliver Jarvis said: “It will be fantastic to return to the track where I scored GBR’s first win last season. I have a lot of good memories from there and really enjoy the track. Hopefully we can get some strong results after all the bad luck we’ve been having recently.”

Duncan Tappy added: “I feel very honoured and excited to be able to represent my country in the World Cup of Motorsport. It’s a fantastic start to the next phase of my career. I’m looking forward to the challenge of the Mexico track as well as the car.

“The closest car I’ve driven is the World Series by Renault; the A1GP car has more power and slightly less down force so will be different again. I know it’s very physical and I’ve been training hard through the winter in case such an opportunity arose so I think I’m prepared.

“In my 50 minutes of track time I want to contribute to the team as much as I can with a mature, solid performance. I’m very grateful for the chance to show what I can do so a big thanks to Team GBR.”

Katie Clements, Team Principal, said: “We are very excited as we head back to the venue of our first race win a year ago. We have the best possible chance to repeat history here and that is what we are aiming for. We are happy to welcome Duncan as our rookie for this event as we fulfil our promise of offering opportunities to some of Britain’s brightest young stars.”

Saturday’s qualifying starts at 1415 local time (1215 GMT) with Sunday’s 20 minute Sprint race starting at 1100 local time (Sunday 0900 GMT) and the 70 minute Feature race starting at 1500 local time (1300 GMT).

Sky Sports will broadcast all the live action from Mexico City, from 8pm on Saturday 15 March and from 8pm on Sunday 16 March on Sky Sports 3.

A1 Team Great Britain is partnered by AquaSP, Playseats and Visit Britain.

•   Filed under: A1GP
•   Tagged as: A1 Team Great Britain, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oliver Jarvis