It was a day of mixed fortunes for Team Brazil as it first celebrated Nelson Piquet Jr's podium finish in the sprint race, and then had to endure the disappointment of a retirement in this afternoon's feature race, when the Team Japan car pushed Nelson into a spin, which forced him out of the race.

In the sprint race, Team Brazil started third on the grid behind France and the USA. A mistake at the start by Nelson meant that he set off in the wrong gear and fell to sixth, but a first corner incident between the USA and GBR cars saw Team Brazil reclaim third, behind France's Nicolas Lapierre and Switzerland, with Neel Jani making a good start going into second. Nelson stayed close to Jani's tail for the remainder of the 18-lap race, but was unable to overtake, therefore finishing in third place, and filling the final step of the podium. Team Brazil also recorded the fastest lap of the race.

At the start of the 35-lap feature race, Nelson got a great start, initially moving up to second but then falling to fourth to avoid an incident, settling behind Switzerland, Malaysia and France. A mistake from Malaysia's Alex Yoong on lap 3 saw Brazil retake third. Nelson made his compulsory pitstop on lap 7, but suffered a sticking front-left wheel and the team lost a lot of time, Nelson emerging in 18th position. The team were then penalised for having an extra person in the pitstop to help with the stuck wheel and Nelson was given a drive through penalty. On lap 20, with Nelson in tenth position, the safety car was deployed, which closed up the field. At the restart, he was in the middle of the Czech Republic and Japan, fighting for eighth place, when the Japanese car turned in on Nelson, making contact, and causing the Brazil car to spin off and out of the race. Nelson did score the fastest lap in the feature race as well, although it was his time from the sprint race that earned him the bonus point.

In the championship, Team Brazil has 30 points and remain in the lead by one point from Team France, who picked up two race wins this weekend, and Team New Zealand.

Nelson Piquet Jr: "It was a bit of a difficult weekend, but there are still a lot of positives and at least we know we are quick and still in the lead in the championship. In the first race I did a little mistake at the start and went out with the wrong gear and lost a lot of positions, but the cars that crashed were unlucky and I gained the positions I had lost at the start. Throughout I was quicker than Jani but it's difficult to follow on this track and it's not easy to overtake. I tried sometimes to make some gaps and do a fastest lap which I did, so that's something good. In the second race I made a good start but then the car choked, I don't know why, and I fell back a bit. I was quick and really thought I could do well but then we had the bad pitstop and the drive through. When the safety car went back in I was in the points but the Japanese guy made a silly, inexperienced mistake and put me out. Now we look forward to Estoril and try to increase the lead we have there."

Emerson Fittipaldi: "The best thing is that we are still leading the championship, although this afternoon was
really disappointing. Also, we know that we were the fastest car on the track in both races, and got the fastest lap in both. In the first race Nelson was clever to avoid the incident at the first corner. He was the fastest man but he couldn't get past Switzerland. He still finished a strong third though and I really think with each race he is getting tougher. In the second race we had a difficult pitstop and then we were penalised, so we lost a lot of
ground. Nelson did a fantastic restart after the safety car came in but he got squeezed by two cars and had nowhere to go when the Japan car turned in on him. He is lucky the car didn't end up upside-down."

Sprint Race Result

Feature Race Result

EuroSpeedway Points

A1 Championship Standings

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