Brazil

As A1 Team Brasil is away from home during the country's carnival celebrations, the team brought the carnival to A1GP for round six of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Eastern Creek in Australia. A traditional Brazilian band and dancers were on hand to cheer for the team on the grid for the feature race, as was 2002 FIFA World Cup winning Brazilian midfielder Juninho, who is currently playing for Sydney FC. There were definitely celebrations for the team after Sergio Jimenez brought the Brasil car home fourth in the feature race, the team's second-best result of the season. He scored points in both races and, as a result, Team Brasil move up to ninth in the championship.

In this morning's action-packed 14-lap sprint race, Sergio began from 11th on the grid. He lost positions to Ireland and the Czech Republic following the rolling start, but there was all to play for when heavy rainfall began six laps into the race. On lap eight Canada's Robbie Wickens passed Sergio, putting Team Brasil down to 14th, but Sergio was soon back up to 11th as several cars made the gamble to switch to wet tyres. On lap ten Sergio moved up to tenth after Team Ireland spun, and following another spin from Team Switzerland, Brasil was sitting in ninth. On the final lap of the race Sergio passed the Netherlands and crossed the line on slick tyres in the rain in eighth position, collecting three championship points.

Heavy rainfall began just moments before the start of the feature race, and carried on throughout the entire 45 laps, causing huge spray and limited visibility. Despite the car being on an intermediate rather than full wet set-up, Sergio made a fantastic start from ninth and, by the second corner, had moved up to fourth place behind Switzerland, GBR and South Africa. The team made their compulsory pitstops on laps 9 and 28, and remained in a strong fourth place after the final pitstop round. After a steady final stint, Sergio crossed the line in fourth, collecting eight points and recording the team's second best result of the season.

A1 Team Brasil has now moved up to ninth in the championship with 38 points. The A1GP action will continue in a fortnight's time when round seven of the championship takes place at the Durban street track in South Africa.

Sergio Jimenez: "It was a very hard feature race but we're really happy with the result. It rained a lot a couple of hours before the start but then it stopped and started to warm up. We started with wet tyres as the track was still damp, but we decided to switch to an intermediate rather than wet set-up. Then it started to rain heavily so to get fourth on a dry set-up is not bad at all. I made a very good start, moving from ninth right to fighting at the front on the first corner. The pace was good and it was a good result for us. Again, we need to work on qualifying because I'm pretty sure we could be on the podium at all races. We scored points in both races again and we need to be consistently scoring points to head for the top six or seven in championship."

Canada

A1 Team Canada celebrated its strongest showing of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season today in Round 6 with Toronto's Robert Wickens scoring a sublime third place Sprint podium having started the race down in 15th. A second points scoring finish followed with sixth place in the Feature race as a downpour down-under greeted the 22-strong field of nations at Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway.

Taking just seven race starts to become the first Canadian driver to score three A1GP podiums, 18-year-old Wickens conquered tricky conditions to give the team a second consecutive top-three finish following his runner-up podium last time out in New Zealand. Sixth in the afternoon's Feature race also gifted Canada its first double points score at an A1GP round in over a year, the team meeting its objectives heading into the weekend scoring in both races and breaking into the top-ten of the A1GP Nations Standings – Canada now placed tenth overall, on 37 points, with four rounds remaining.

Wickens was an early candidate for ‘Driver of the Day' in the morning's 14-lap Sprint race. A mid-race downpour unleashed the Canadian entry with Robert emerging from a static dry pace, starting 15th, to one of the fastest entries in the wet. While his rivals struggled, the 2006 Formula BMW USA Champion streaked around the 3.39km Sydney circuit – the highlight a stunning sweep past Germany's Michael Ammermüller for fourth. Climbing to third at the checkered, Robert joined race-winner Loic Duval from France and New Zealand's Jonny Reid in second on the podium.

Ironically the Sprint's top-three drivers would all start the afternoon's 70-minute Feature race from either the rear of the grid or the pit-lane – Wickens' lining up 21st courtesy of a qualifying penalty awarded the day before. As if to prove the morning's mastering of the wet was no fluke, the teenage rookie subsequently blitzed the opening lap crossing the start-finish line for his second tour in an incredible tenth place, half the field passed in the process!

A solid race followed with Robert keeping the Canadian car out of trouble and a constant presence in the top-ten. At ease despite the treacherous track conditions, Wickens steered his way to sixth at the checkered with the race called on time just three laps shy of the 45 scheduled laps. South Africa's Adrian Zaugg celebrated the win followed by Switzerland's Neel Jani and Great Britain's Robbie Kerr.

"I'm ecstatic with today's performances as it shows we're getting better and better every weekend," enthused Wickens. "I was confident of our performance in the wet and I really can't thank the team enough. They gave me two great pit stops in the Feature race and together we scored two solid points finishes today which is outstanding, it was simply a great team effort!"