Brazil

The final round of the 2006/07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport got underway today at the Brands Hatch circuit in the UK. Bruno Junqueira was in action for the team for a one-hour practice session this afternoon.

Bruno's race weekend got off to a positive start yesterday when he took the top step of the podium at the traditional Thursday PR event. The A1GP drivers were taken to stunning Leeds Castle, in Kent, where they enjoyed a very British morning of clay pigeon shooting and apache rally driving, before enjoying a lunch in the castle library. Bruno showed his mettle in the apache rally driving competition, blowing away the competition and taking home the winner's bottle of champagne!

Unfortunately, practice didn't go quite as well as yesterday's rally driving, with Bruno having to settle for 16th place in the standings, two seconds off the time of Robbie Kerr for Team GBR, who finished the session at the top of the timesheets. This afternoon's outing was Bruno's first time driving on the Brands Hatch full Grand Prix track, although he did finish second in the 2003 Champ Car race on the Brands Indy circuit.

Bruno Junqueira: "The car is so loose, it's almost unbelievable. There is just no way to drive properly or to go to fast. We made some changes at the end of the session which improved it slightly, but we still need to make big changes to the car. The track is pretty cool, I love it, it's just a shame that the car is so loose I can't enjoy driving it properly - let's see if we can change that for tomorrow."

Canada

Sean McIntosh cracked the top-ten in Friday practice for A1 Team Canada as the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in Kent, England plays host to the season finale of the 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on Sunday, 29th April. The 21-year-old from Vancouver placed tenth in practice from the 22 competing nations, Sean keen to break Canada back into the top-ten of the A1GP Nations Standings with a strong final outing of the season.

Québec's Kevin Lacroix was first out for Canada on Friday, the 18-year-old participating in the ‘Rookie-Only' session in the morning. Lacroix's first trip to the famed British circuit was unfortunately marred by a stomach virus, the teenager valiantly fighting through his illness to undertake his rookie duties before handing over to McIntosh for the rest of the weekend. A brief spin followed by a fuel shortage led to the day's first red flag being attributed to the Canadian entry but Lacroix would get going again to rack up a total of 19 laps setting a best of 1m17.680s to place 13th fastest.

"I was trying to take in everything as I was learning the track while not feeling at my best today," commented Lacroix. "I was feeling worse towards the end of the session but overall the car was picking up speed and that was then reflected in Sean's times later in the day."

McIntosh, no stranger to the Brands Hatch Circuit from a successful period racing in the Formula Renault UK Championship in 2004-05, was quickly on the pace as he fired the Canadian car into the top-eight early in the afternoon's hour-long practice. His best run, a 1m16.419s set on his 24th lap from a total of 31, ended the day as the tenth quickest with Britain's Robbie Kerr fastest on home soil.

"That wasn't too bad," stated McIntosh. "It was good to get out there and make sure everything was running well with the car and work away on getting a good base set-up. There's one particular corner where I need to improve a little but I'll have a sleep on everything tonight and come back in the morning and see what needs to be done. Hopefully we can push in qualifying as it's crucial to the outcome of the Sprint race. It's great to be back competing at Brands Hatch. I know where everything is and like last time we raced here, the atmosphere feels pretty special."

France