The second round of the inaugural A1 Grand Prix of Nations got underway today at the Eurospeedway in Lausitz, when 24 teams took part in two hour-long official practice sessions. Team Brazil arrived at the German circuit confident it could repeat the type of performance that saw the crew take victory in both races at Brands Hatch, and the day got off a positive start when Nelson Piquet Jr finished today's first practice session in 3rd
place.

The first practice went without major incident, and Team Brazil was able to complete a valuable 23 laps. The team was quick and consistent throughout the hour-long session and eventually finished in third position, behind the Team Great Britain and Team France entries of Robbie Kerr and Nicolas Lapierre. In second practice Nelson completed a further 23 laps and ended the session ninth fastest overall.

The teams will have the opportunity of one further hour of practice tomorrow morning before the afternoon's qualifying takes place at 14.15hrs.

Nelson Piquet Jr: "Today has been okay, not ideal, but I'm not too worried. This is my first time driving on the circuit, and it's quite difficult, so I've spent today learning the track and working with the team to find a good set-up for tomorrow. The first session went quite well and we were quick. In the second practice I spent a lot of time bedding in the brakes, and then lost a bit of time with a problem with the battery, so I haven't done as many laps as I would have liked. We've got another hour tomorrow morning though, and I am pretty confident that we will do well in the one-lap qualifying."

Emerson Fittipaldi: "We had a great weekend at Brands Hatch, but this weekend we start again, and have to make improvements and raise our game. All the teams are learning and improving all the time, and we must do the same. Eurospeedway is a new track for Nelson and it is important for him to get as much track time as possible, because a lot of the drivers have raced here before and have more experience - they are the guys that have been faster than us today. We are still learning about the car, which was quite good in the first practice, but a little bit nervous this afternoon while we were trying to set up the brakes. I am confident and optimistic, and we have time in the morning to improve things before qualifying."