Firman out of A1 Team Ireland.

Kersh

I have heard that Ralph Firman is not driving again for A1 Team Ireland. Devaney is in the car for China, and from what I have heard (reliably ) is that Firman was booted out (but I think his Super Aguri jap GT race seat might be the real reason)

Running Bing

TBH he hasnt really impressed me throughout the series. Hes looked completely mediocre. Will devaney be taking the seat next season? If not devaney who else would there be?

Kersh

He didnt impress me much either.
John oHara should be considered. Or Emmet Queenan.
I think Eoin Murray is doing WTCC, so he is unlikely.

Curran

Give Eddie a bash - he's not past it yet - miss his humour in F1

SouperComputer

Eoin much prefers saloons, I cant see him jumping at A1 as he is doing quite well at the moment.

Would be interesting to see how Queenan would go, What's Niall Breen doing these days? Matt Griffin could do well, but again hes doing GT's of some description.

@Kersh I think they should put yourself and Ray Wallace on the team

Robbo

Perhaps Greg Murphy has a suitably impressive CV for the job?

Kersh

- ill ask my uncle can I have a go..

nikimere

Robbo wrote:

Perhaps Greg Murphy has a suitably impressive CV for the job?

funny!...

Personally i'm glad firman is gone! He couldn't race to save his life! He just sat behind people all the time. At least Devaney will make some moves and is quick too, i say best of luck to him this weekend.

Nothing "Official" yet www.a1teamireland.ie

Kersh

^^^^ agreed.

*Niki , 500 cash to me and ill put in a good word for you..

nikimere

Kersh wrote:

^^^^ agreed.

*Niki , 500 cash to me and ill put in a good word for you..

Do u accept rubber cheques?

Scober11

I think we should look at the team setup before we critisize a talented driver, R Firmans cv speaks for itself and good drivers don't go bad overnite!

iregk

Ok I know he isn't an open car racer but what about Damien Faulkner?

Anyone who has watched him in a Porsche can clearly see the chaps tallent.

aidan_dunne

iregk wrote:

Ok I know he isn't an open car racer but what about Damien Faulkner?

Anyone who has watched him in a Porsche can clearly see the chaps tallent.

You mustn't have been following his career all that closely then!

Damien is a former European Formula Palmer Audi champion and Indy Lights racer and winner. So he certainly has a single seater pedigree behind him. When he couldn't get a drive in ChampCars after his stint in Indy Lights or an F1 seat, he switched to sportscars and did a few races in them before making his successful move to Porsche racing a couple of years ago.

He's certainly a talented driver, I agree, and one who I've been a big fan of for several years now. However, despite the successful single-seater career he enjoyed some years back, I wonder if he actually would be any good in an A1GP car now. Remember, he's been driving sportscars and Porsches for quite a few years now and I think it might take him quite a while to get back into the swing of single-seaters again. Having said that, though, as the old saying goes, racing drivers just don't become slow overnight. However, he seems to have decided that single-seaters is not the way for him to go now at this stage in his career anyway and that he'd be much happier racing tin-tops so I don't think we'll see him in an A1GP car any time soon anyway.

aidan_dunne

Oh, as for the Ralph Firman debate, I think some of the criticism of him has been a bit unfair. He's done a solid enough job under, at times, some pretty difficult circumstances and has raked up a few points positions. As other's have said, his CV speaks for itself and he's no slow-coach by any means. And he has been hampered a lot by some pretty bad luck and mistakes by the team as well. If it hadn't been for the bad luck and various other things, Team Ireland would probably be a lot higher up the standings than they are.

Personally, I think he did a much better job during his stint as Team Ireland's driver than Devaney did. I don't have Sky Sports 2 or 3 so I didn't get to see this weekend's race but I hear Devaney ended up flipping or barrel-rolling his car this weekend as well. Is that true? If so, I don't seem to recall Firman doing that when he was driving!

Kersh

But at least devaney wasnt content ot sit behind the Indonesian guy, I reckon Firman would have backed down....
There are 3 types of driver in A1 -those on the way up (Kerr? Devaney)... those on the way down (Firman, Fernandes) and those out for the laugh (Verstappen, Fittipaldi).
The ones on the way down have become complacent... too comfortable. Look at who has won races - apart from Jos, who is having a laugh, they were all young guys. Duran, Mcintosh, lapierre etc.
Yes, the team are having poor reliability, but Firman hasnt taken the chances in the races.

Scober11

If he got off the line he wouldn't have been behind the Indoniesian car,but then again if your aunty had balls she would be your uncle.Yesterday was about getting fourth in the championship and Devaney failed, maybe a little bit harsh but that is the reality.

Off topic a bit but i thought that Eoin Murray had won a drive in WTCC or something to that effect,didn't see him on the finishing list but saw Emmet O'Brien finish fourth in Independants cup .

iregk

aidan_dunne wrote:

You mustn't have been following his career all that closely then!

Damien is a former European Formula Palmer Audi champion and Indy Lights racer and winner. So he certainly has a single seater pedigree behind him. When he couldn't get a drive in ChampCars after his stint in Indy Lights or an F1 seat, he switched to sportscars and did a few races in them before making his successful move to Porsche racing a couple of years ago.

Absolutely I will hold my hand up there and say that Damien only came to my attention in the driving seat of a Porsche.

I had no idea that he had such good single seater experience behind him but thats just adds to the weight of my argument really.

Kersh

@ Scober - I was looking out for him too, and didnt see him. Twas great seeing Priaulx and Muller ... ha ha...

nikimere

Scober11 wrote:

Off topic a bit but i thought that Eoin Murray had won a drive in WTCC or something to that effect,didn't see him on the finishing list but saw Emmet O'Brien finish fourth in Independants cup .

Eoin didn't get a drive in the WTCC, he won a WTCC car thats all. So you'd be looking for a while to find him in the finishing list. www.eoinmurray.com for more info on his plans this year. Did Emmet not finish 5th?

Back On Topic:
Devaney did an excellent job in the sprint race. And if the indonesian driver hadn't have hit him i think we would have gotten 4th in the championship. If you watch the replay the Indonesian driver lost the back of his car in the middle of the corner and when he corrected it he drove into Devaney.
He did mess up off the line but at least he had the places he lost back by the end of the lap. All he had to do was finish ahead of Portugal, New Zealand, Holland and Brazil. Which he was when the incident happened.
I'd much rather see a 'racer' in that seat than a 'steady eddie' to be honest.
Look at firman in USA, the amount of moves he could have made and he didn't.

Lets hope Devaney is back next season and he gets some real time in the car. I'm sure we can win races then.

Kersh

Ye, thats waht I thought about the Indonesian driver too, just when he corrected it Devaney was there.
That Indonesian guy is going nowhere in motorsport with his attitude - did you hear his interview " you cannot overtake around the outside" - sounds like he has Firmans attitude..