Brazil

After a few days of exploring Sydney and taking part in promotional events including a day at Bondi Beach learning how to surf with five-times surfing world champion, Layne Beachley, Nelson Piquet Jr finally got the race weekend off to a start for Team Brasil today at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia.

Nelson drove two one-hour official practice sessions for the team at the Eastern Creek Raceway, and got the weekend off to a great start by recording the fastest time of the day, which was also the lap record, with a time of 1:19.266.

After experiencing very hot weather at the circuit yesterday, teams arrived to much cooler temperatures today, and the first official free practice session began in overcast conditions. It rained a little during the session, meaning the fastest lap times were set at the beginning of the hour. Nelson completed 18 laps during the practice, finishing the session on top with a fastest lap time of 1:19.266, more than a second quicker than second-placed Team Mexico, and three seconds quicker than the previous lap record.

Team Brasil was once again consistenty fast in the second session, completing a further 27 laps and finishing the hour in second position, just two tenths behind the Team France entry of Nicholas Lapierre. Lap times were down from the first hour, and the fastest time set by Team France was two seconds off Nelson’s fastest time in the earlier session.

Nelson Piquet Jr: "It was a good lap. The car seemed very good and I did a good lap with no traffic. We did a qualifying simulation and just went for it and it was good. Eastern Creek is quite a good circuit, and it’s not that easy. It’s quite abrasive on the tyres so we have to make sure we get a good set-up for the races so we can make the tyres last throughout the races. Some of the corners are a bit dangerous as there is not a lot of space and not much run-off so it’s quite tough which is the kind I like."

Emerson Fittipaldi: "It has been a good day for us. Nelson was quick from the beginning and was consistently quick in both sessions. We tried some different things on the car and the team tried to adapt the car to the track. I am very happy with the speed we have and the way the team are working. We have learnt about the car and the track and tomorrow we should be fast again. In the morning we will do some fine tuning on the car in the final free practice ready for qualifying."

Germany

A1 Team Germany arrived at the season's first flyaway race at the 3.93 kilometre Eastern Creek circuit in Australia after the equipment had completed the trip half-way around the world in the back of one of three Boeing 747 cargo planes. Adrian Sutil, nominated to compete the entire race-weekend for A1 Team Germany, made steady progress throughout the two practice sessions to finish his day"s work in 8th place overall, lapping the circuit in 1.21,984 minutes.

In the opening one-hour session, the German driver initially bedded in brake pads for Sunday's race and therefore completed only nine laps in the dry before rain set-in. For the second sixty minute session the gearing was changed to suit the challenging circuit. Together with the A1 Team Germany engineers, the 22-year old improved the car's set-up throughout the second session.

"Learning a new circuit is a challenge I've always relished," said the young A1 Team Germany driver from Graefelfing near Munich. "And this one is no different, particularly as the track is driven anti-clockwise. The tricky combination of both fast and slow corners and elevation changes made the set-up difficult. However, A1 Team Germany and I worked methodically through our test programme, working on tuning the dampers and finding the ideal ride-height to get a good aerodynamic balance."

"The track is really amazing; I would say it's a mini Nürburgring Nordschleife! All the A1 Grand Prix cars get light over one of the crests which makes great spectating. I'm optimistic about our chances here and I'm looking forward to qualifying on new tyres. It should be a real challenge", said the 22-year old German.

New Zealand

The odd spot of rain and red flags caused plenty of frustration in practice at Eastern Creek for Sunday's A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia.

Intermittent drizzle caused hold-ups, but also created plenty of spills as New Zealand driver Jonny Reid retained his place among the frontrunners by having the 5 th quickest time in the first practice session and the 6th fastest in the second session.

A1 Team.NZL chief executive Bob McMurray was left feeling bemused by a day that never seemed to get out of third gear.

"The drizzle meant the first session was a complete waste of time," McMurray said. "It wasn't wet enough for dry tyres, but it wasn't dry enough for the wets. It was a bit frustrating."

Before the drizzle came, the first session did see Brazilian Nelson Piquet jnr record the fastest lap ever on the 3.9km track west of Sydney . He was more than 1.1. seconds ahead of his closest rival today.