KEY POINTS:
Chris van der Drift has been confirmed as New Zealand's driver in this month's A1 Grand Prix at Taupo.
Sharing driving duties with Earl Bamber for the early stages of the 2008/09 season, Hamilton-born van der Drift has won the nod to take the wheel for round four of season four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on January 25.
"Taupo is an important race for the team," he said. "Seeing as I haven't done much racing in New Zealand in my single-seater career, it's so fantastic to have the opportunity to drive Black Beauty at Taupo."
Selection to the A1GP driving seat caps a brilliant 2008 year for the 22-year-old who won the International Formula Master title in style after claiming second overall the year before. He won six races and made the podium four other times.
The former karting prodigy is based in Rotterdam, chasing various motor-racing opportunities around Europe.
Van der Drift raced the A1GP second round at Chengdu in China but the weekend proved to be forgettable, with the bumpy nature of the circuit not matching well with his aggressive and late-braking driving technique.
The New Zealand team took just two points from the poor showing in Chengdu. They are likely to use the rule which allows teams to drop their lowest points score of the season to mitigate Chengdu.
Bamber, who performed strongly for the team in both the opening round at Zandvoort, The Netherlands, and at Sepang in Malaysia, is unable to drive at Taupo due to other racing commitments.
The 18-year-old competes in Bahrain on January 23-24 for the GP2 Asia championship, then heads to Estoril, Spain, the following day for a further testing duty.
The fact that Taupo is a new circuit does not bother van der Drift, as he has spent much of his career learning new circuits during competition in A1GP, as well as Formula BMW, International Formula Master and GP2 racing.
"I haven't driven on the circuit in its current form, but I know the circuit and have walked it when I was helping Earl Bamber in 2006," Van der Drift said. "I'll treat Taupo like another race. I don't feel too much pressure, and won't let that get in the way of my performance."
The eight-week break in A1GP racing between round three at Sepang and Taupo is providing the team's engineers valuable time to analyse data collected from the opening three rounds with the new Ferrari-powered A1GP racer.
Jonny Reid, who drove Black Beauty to victory in the sprint race at Taupo last season, will join the team in Taupo but not in the driver's seat.
He is yet to hop behind the wheel of the new model car, which differs markedly from the previous machine raced by the New Zealand team.
And the tight format of an A1GP weekend would provide a limited number of practice laps for Reid.
Team New Zealand sit third equal on the table with 31 points, still well within reach of leader Ireland, who are on 43. Portugal are second with 35.
- NZPA
