Only a handful of drivers have ever scored podiums in A1GP. Even less have achieved it on their debut. And only one has ever managed this having been airborne.
But that is exactly what happened in Durban to A1 Team Portugal’s new racer - Filipe Albuquerque.
Albuquerque finished third in the Feature race on Sunday, only his second race in an A1GP car. It was Portugal’s first podium since Laguna Seca in early 2006 – and all on the back of the baptism of fire that was having your first taste of an A1GP car on the tight and unforgiving Durban streets.
‘It’s fantastic,’ he said. ‘We were building up speed over the weekend – I just wasn’t expecting to finish third. I was struggling to be in the top ten at the start but then I was just learning throughout the race.
‘When I was fifth and I couldn’t see anyone behind or ahead of me I was really happy with that. But then when I saw the crash with Canada and Great Britain, I thought ‘yeah, that puts me in P3’.
Having finished seventh in the Sprint race, Albuqueque thought it was all over after just the first corner of the Feature, when a multi-car pile up resulted in the car being launched into the air – all four wheels of it, as the photo above shows.
At first he didn’t know if the car was damaged and there was always the risk that something could break while on a quick lap, sending him into the concrete wall. But he carried on regardless.
‘I was really scared for a bit,’ he admitted. ‘It was crazy. France hit me on one side, another guy hit me the other side and I went up into the air. When I landed I had lost hold of the steering wheel.
‘Then I did a zig zag of the car, and it felt ok. I asked the team to look over the car on the outside on the TV and when I came past the pits. They said it was ok, and that I was to keep pushing and going.
‘I was thinking corner by corner we’re not going to crash. The car was ok, so I continued.’
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