Brazil

It was a disappointing day for A1 Team Brasil as the team failed to score points at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, California, USA after gearbox and electrical problems affected the team for the whole day, eventually forcing the team to retire from the feature race.

After a difficult qualifying day yesterday, in which the team struggled to find a good set-up, Christian Fittipaldi lined up 19th on the grid for today's 30-minute sprint race. The race was held in treacherous conditions with heavy rainfall throughout causing a very slippery track and the subsequent spray severely restricting visibility. Christian worked his way up the grid well, and was lying in 12th position on lap 10. Unfortunately a mistake by Jos Verstappen saw the Team Netherlands car hit the Team Brasil car, and Christian ended the race in 13th position.

Weather conditions had improved by the one-hour sprint race, with a rapidly drying out track. Team Brasil made a good move, choosing to go out on slick tyres, one of only three teams to do so. Unfortunately Christian suffered technical problems throughout the race, and despite a pitstop to try to resolve the problems, he was eventually forced to retire on lap 20.

It was an unfortunate result for Team Brasil, as Team Great Britain scored points in both races today, therefore consolidating third place in the championship. Team France won the championship after the sprint race, and Team Switzerland remain in second. The final round of the 2005/06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations will take place at the Shanghai Circuit in China on 2 April.

Christian Fittipaldi: "Unfortunately we've had problems all weekend, it's definitely been a weekend to forget. We were doing well in the first race, we should have finished in the top eight, but then we had gearbox problems. In the second race we had the perfect strategy by starting on slicks, then we had a slow pitstop and after that we had the gearbox problems again although it was actually an electrical problem that put us out. We just have to move on and think about China now."

Emerson Fittipaldi: "We had an electrical problem in the second race and we had to stop. We started to have gearbox problems in the warm-up when Christian could not go down in gear, and then the same thing happened in the race. It's not been a good day but now we have to work on the car for Shanghai."

Austria

A1 Team Austria had a satisfactory day at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, California, USA, coming away from the weekend with two championship points. Team driver Mathias Lauda put in two mature and consistent drives, working his way up the field well in both races.

Mathias, returning to the cockpit after a one-race break due to testing commitments, started from 20th position for today's 30-minute sprint race. Heavy rainfall caused very difficult driving conditions, causing both a slippery track and reduced visibility. Mathias put in a consistent drive, working his way up the field and eventually finishing in 12th position, securing a better grid slot for the second race.

Weather conditions changed considerably for the one-hour feature race, with the track drying out quickly. Mathias started from the sixth row of the grid and made his mandatory pitstop early on and changed from wet to slick tyres. Over the following laps, Mathias once again made his way up the field, and by two laps from the end Mathias was in a points-scoring tenth place. With a shock retirement of Team France in the closing stages of the race, Mathias moved into ninth place, collecting two championship points, increasing Team Austria's
2005/06 points haul to 14.

The final round of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations will take place on 2 April at the Shanghai Circuit in China.

Mathias Lauda: "It's been a difficult weekend, it's been tricky to drive here in the conditions and again we struggled in practice and qualifying and then in the races we were quicker. I am happy that I scored some points in the second race, but for China it would be great if we had a good start to the weekend."

Canada

A1 Team Canada climbed to ninth in the A1GP Nations Standings today courtesy of a double points- scoring run from Patrick Carpentier in the penultimate round of the ‘World Cup of Motorsport' at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Sixth place in the Sprint followed by fifth in the Feature rewarded the Canadian team with 11 priceless points in a day where A1 Team France clinched the inaugural A1 Grand Prix of Nations Championship while A1 Team Mexico scored back-to-back victories.

Sprint Race

With a sudden downpour greeting the field just minutes before the start of the race the grid became a hive of activity as slick tires were hurriedly swapped for wets. The rain failed to faze Laguna-veteran Patrick Carpentier in the A1 Team Canada car as he gingerly picked off his rivals on the opening lap to climb five places to 13th. When the safety car was summoned for a second tour of duty, this time on lap 8, the charging Carpentier was looking strong in eighth. Taking two more spots at the checkered flag, the race distance determined by the time limit, Patrick bagged a welcome five points, his sixth place effort further safe-guarding A1 Team Canada's top-ten points standing.

Feature Race