Today saw Duncan Tappy drive for Great Britain for the first time when he took the wheel of the A1 Team Great Britain car at the Mexico City track.

He was chosen to drive the rookie sessions for the team which has identified Duncan as one of Britain’s up-and-coming talents. Duncan’s task was to help the team gather data and prepare the car for regular driver Oliver Jarvis to compete over the weekend culminating in two races on Sunday. The team currently lies sixth in the series just one point ahead of the Netherlands and seven points behind Germany.

Duncan had two 25-minute sessions in which he got to grips with the track and car as well as bedding in brakes and bring back the valuable data. He drove well making no mistakes and finishing sixth in the first session and 12th overall after the second session. His main hindrance was traffic but after the track time both he and the team were pleased with his stints.

Duncan said: “Driving for my country has just been a great honour and a fantastic experience. I’m happy with how I performed.

“The lap times don’t show what I could do and without the yellow flag on the last flying lap of the second session I would have improved as we know the first and last sector times were better but that’s how it is in motor racing!

“It was great driving a different car. With the high altitude the cars were down on power and it was more the brakes and chassis that were the big difference and that I’d like to learn more about with another drive. I think I’ve done the solid job that was my goal and hopefully I’ll get another call- up in the future.”

Paul Bellringer, Team Manager A1 Team GBR, added: “Duncan’s done a good job. His lap times weren’t representative of his pace because of circumstances and traffic and I think he could easily have been in the top eight if not higher.

“He fulfilled everything that was asked of him and did a mature, sensible, professional job which is what you need from a rookie driver.”

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