(Zhuhai, China – October 12, 2005) Racing against some of the top drivers in the world, FRD Driver Jiang Tengyi again finished in the top 20 during the last A1 Grand Prix, also known as the “World Cup of Motorsports” bringing honor and pride to China.Jiang had an exciting weekend as he fought a tough race to finish 18th and 17th at the last event in Germany

The A1 Grand Prix of Nations is a brand new type of racing series.Positioned at a level right below Formula 1, this series will place countries around the world competing against each other.The idea is that each country will have one team.All races will take part during the winter season, so as not to interfere with the normal racing calendars of Formula 1 and such.

The first event A1 GP Event took place last month at Brands Hatch, England.Out of the two drivers for the Chinese A1 GP Team, Jiang Tengyi and Ma Qing Hua, Jiang was nominated to do both the qualifying session and races for this first event.Unlike Formula One, the A1 GP Qualifying procedure actually uses 4 different sessions, taking the sum of the two fastest laps.Aiming to get the fastest time possible, the team elected to put Jiang on the track during only the last few minutes of the session, when the track had heated up the most offering the highest level of grip.The team did this for all 4 sessions, which helped Jiang qualify 24th out of 25 on the grid, only 7.9 seconds behind the Pole time set by Team Brazil’s Nelson Piquet Jr.At the end of Qualifying, both Jiang and the team were satisfied with the car and prepared for the race.

The Qualifying session determined the starting grid for the 1st Sprint Race, which lasts around 30 minutes and over 50 miles.This race then determines the starting order for the Feature Race, which lasts up to 1 hour, over 100 miles and at least one mandatory pit stop.To add in the variation, the Sprint Race uses a rolling start while the Feature Race utilizes a standing start.

For his first A1 GP Sprint Race, Jiang moved up the field to finish 21st after starting 24th.During the next Feature Race, he proved to the world his skills in avoiding accidents and mechanical problems to finish a very high 12th out of 25 drivers representing 25 different countries.It was with the Shangsai FRD Team where he learned these skills that allowed him to beat some of the best drivers in the world, some even ex-F1 Drivers!

EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Germany was the location for the following A1 GP.This time again, FRD driver Jiang Tengyi was nominated to drive in all the events of the weekend.He qualified much faster this time to take 20th spot on the grid for the Sprint Race; only 5 seconds away from Pole man Nicholas Lapierre of Team France.

Jiang again used his skills in avoiding accidents during the Sprint Race to finish 18th, above drivers such as Team USA’s Scott Speed and ex-F-1 driver Jos Verstappen.Nicholas Lapierre of Team France who won the Pole Position also took the Sprint Race win.

During the longer Feature Race, Jiang again avoided all accidents to finish 17th.This was quite an amazement in itself as Jiang reported that his brakes had some problem during the last few laps.And again, some of the world’s top drivers like Scott Speed, Tomas Enge and Nelson Piquet Jr. finished below Jiang bringing pride and glory to China!

Team China is now tied in points with some of the top teams of the world, such as Scott Speed with Team USA, Enrico Toccacelo with Team Italy and Tomas Enge with Team Czech Republic.

The next race will take place at Estoril, Portugal on October 23 later this month.Be sure to check your local TV Schedule to find out when Jiang Tengyi and Team China will bring honor and pride to China by defeating the other countries in the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, the World Cup of Motorsports.With intense race training from FRD Motorsports, the Asian Motorsports Pioneer, Jiang Tengyi will be sure to compete with the best of them.

By Vinay Basavaraja