Germany - Pole

Having clinched its first ever pole position in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport a fortnight ago in New Zealand, Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany continued its streak of success in the seventh round in Australia: Nominated driver Nico Hülkenberg conquered the top spot on the grid once again, starting from the first row for the third time this season after second spot in Brno in round two and first place in round six.

In the first of four qualifying segments, Nico Hülkenberg achieved the second fastest time of 1m18.584s on the Eastern Creek circuit on new tyres. For the second run, he used the same set of tyres, posting the eighth fastest time of 1m19.683s. In his third run, the up-and-coming German driver lapped the 3.93 kilometre long Australian circuit in 1m18.263s. He set the fastest time of this segment and thus took the virtual lead in the classification of the aggregated times, pipping A1 Team New Zealand by a mere 44 thousandths of a second. In the fourth and final attempt, Nico Hülkenberg stormed to a stunning best time of 1m17.962s, extending his advantage to 0.216s ahead of New Zealander Jonny Reid whose car is engineered by David Sears Motorsport as well. A1 Team Germany was the only team to break the 1m18s lap time barrier.

Nicolas Hülkenberg: "I'm happy to be on the pole position once again. In the first attempt, I didn't go quite to the limit. I spoiled my second attempt on used tyres when I was a bit too ambitious and run wide onto the grass. In the third attempt, we managed to set the best lap time on new tyres. For the final run, I knew where the limits were. The track was getting faster and faster thanks to the rubber on the tarmac, so I managed to improve my time once again. A big thanks to the David Sears motorsport team that improved my car between all the segments im terms of mechanically and aerodynamically induced grip. On Sunday, the four leading teams of the championship will start from the first two rows so the fans can expect a lot of tension."

New Zealand - 2nd

New Zealand has qualified in second position for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race in Round 7 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Sydney.

Kiwi driver Jonny Reid set his two fastest times in the 1st and 4th runs of the four qualifying segments at Eastern Creek, piloting Black Beauty on to the front row of the grid for the fourth time in five drives this season. Championship leaders Germany qualified on pole with Great Britain qualifying 3rd, defending A1GP champions, France, in 4th and Switzerland in 5th.

New Zealand is third in the championship, just three points behind second-placed France, and A1 Team.NZL's head of engineering David Sears said the team was thrilled to have qualified ahead of the French.

"It was an exciting qualifying session and the most important thing is that France is two places behind us," Sears said. "That's the first major hurdle cleared and now we work hard to collect enough points to overtake them in the championship."

Sears said the fresh engine the team debuted in the morning's second Official Practice session, where Reid set the 3rd fastest time behind Germany and Great Britain, performed reliably. "It certainly didn't hinder our performance, so overall it's been another good day at the office and there's lots of smiling, happy people in our camp.

"Jonny drove well once again and if we perform to our potential as a team tomorrow the smiles should remain."

Great Britain - 3rd

Robbie Kerr kept A1 Team Great Britain firmly in the thick of qualifying action Saturday at Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway with the Burbage racer securing third on the grid ahead of Sunday's Sprint race in Round 7 of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

With the British entry dropping to fourth in the A1GP Nations Standings following a point-less weekend last time out in New Zealand, Kerr was determined to keep title rivals, Germany, France and New Zealand in-sight this weekend. Setting the second fastest lap time in Saturday's final practice session, the former British F3 Champion was enjoying his outing at the 2.4-mile Sydney track where he scored a second-place Feature podium in last season's inaugural A1GP championship.