Duval leaves France for the rest of the season

Loic Duval announced this weekend that he would have difficulty completing his season in A1 Grand Prix with A1 Team France.

The 25-year-old Frenchman has propelled France to the top of the rankings, allowing the country to lead the third A1 championship today thanks to his victory in the first race this weekend.

Unfortunately for both parties, Duval will likely not be able to continue the season with Eric Bouiller’s team. He will indeed have to start his season in Formula Nippon and take care of the Super GT, both still in Japan. These are contracts he had signed well before the A1 Grand Prix.

“I signed my contract in Japan before the A1GP started,” Duval said. “It is therefore unlikely that I will be present in South Africa, and I certainly won’t be able to be in the last three races.”

The French will conduct tests a few days before the next round in South Africa. The Team manager of the French team, Eric Bouiller, is not even certain of having a driver for the first tests on Friday.

« We have a scheduling problem because we were supposed to start running again with Loic [Duval] on Friday, which could be very complicated. »

To replace Duval, Alexandre Premat and Nicolas Lapierre are the favorites, with both drivers having managed to win the title with France in 2005-2006.

« We will first see the riders we have already had. But we will also look elsewhere, knowing that we need to make a decision very, very quickly! ».

Premat achieved 7 victories in his 10 starts with the team but hasn’t raced with the team since 2006. For his part, Lapierre is the most experienced with 23 starts. Nicolas Prost remains another possible contender for the last four races of the 2007/08 season.