Vancouver, Canada (September 20, 2005) – Vancouver’s Sean McIntosh has been selected to spearhead Team Canada’s entry into the inaugural A1 Grand Prix Series, starting with this weekend’s season-opener at Brands Hatch, England, 23rd-25th September.
The A1 Grand Prix Series, billed as the ‘World Cup of Motorsport’, will see 25 nations and their respective drivers compete on a level playing field with each team fighting for national pride, racing across twelve countries and five continents in a twelve-round calendar starting with this weekend’s double-header in Great Britain and running through to the season finale in China in April 2006.
Canada’s official entry to the series was unveiled yesterday, 19th September, as Formula Renault UK Championship title-contender and five-time 2005 race winner Sean McIntosh put the Team Canada entry through its paces on Silverstone’s National Circuit. Unleashing the 3.4-litre 520bhp V8 engine for the first time, the 20-year-old was quickly up to speed behind the wheel of the brand new Lola A1GP challenger. At day’s end the Canadian had posted the fastest time in the afternoon session and second fastest of the day overall.
Commenting on his first run for Team Canada and his selection ahead of this weekend’s maiden A1 Grand Prix Series event, McIntosh enthused:
“This is a fantastic opportunity to represent my country in what can only be described as a thrilling new international racing series. The notion of countries competing against each other on-track has really captured people’s imaginations and I’m incredibly honoured to be racing for Team Canada at Brands Hatch this weekend.
“My first runs at Silverstone yesterday were very positive and I loved the step-up in power from my Formula Renault car, which puts out around 200bhp, to the V8 engine in the back of the A1 Grand Prix car! For a young emerging driver like myself, the series is especially important as it will be a real driver’s championship with everyone competing with the same chassis, tires and engine.”
Canadian businessman, Wade Cherwayko, is behind Team Canada’s entry into the inaugural A1 Grand Prix Series with British-based John Village Automotive Limited (Team JVA) charged with running all team operations. Team JVA boasts a successful open-wheel record with victories and titles in Formula 3000.
Sean will line-up for Sunday’s races in the Team Canada car alongside entries from the likes of the USA, Great Britain, Brazil, Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, India and China, with drivers including a mix of F1-veterans, such as Jos Verstappen and Pedro Lamy, through to fellow emerging open-wheel talents like Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr.
ENDS – www.seanmcintosh.com / www.a1gp.com
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