Brazil

A1 Team Brasil's new race driver Xandi Negrão and rookie Felipe Guimaraes both drove for the first time today on the 4.6km Shanghai International Circuit in China to begin preparations for this weekend's races, round nine of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

Guimaraes undertook driving duties for this morning's two 25-minute rookie-only practice sessions. The 17-year-old made his debut for Team Brasil last time out in Mexico City, and Shanghai is another new circuit and experience for the South American F3 race winner. As the team had installed a new engine to the A1GP car, Felipe spent the first half of the session completing necessary engine work. Following that he had the opportunity to get to grips with the track and made some changes to the set-up of the car, although he did suffer a problem with the dashboard which reduced his time on track.

Xandi took the reins for the afternoon one-hour session and began his work by learning the circuit. He began on a set-up based on changes made to the car from Felipe's earlier feedback and went onto the track on the compulsory new set of tyres. The team worked on set-up and car development throughout the hour and it was important for Xandi to get as much track time as possible, having only limited experience in the A1GP car. He achieved this by completing 25 laps of practice, finishing 13th fastest with a lap time of 1:36.482, just over a second off session leaders Team Portugal.

Tomorrow will see Xandi complete one final hour of free practice before heading into the afternoon qualifying to determine the team's grid positions for Sunday's sprint and feature races.

Xandi Negrão: "It's been quite a good day and I've learned a lot. The circuit is good but quite technical – the first sector is tricky with a very long first corner and then the blind chicane so it took me a little bit of time to get that right. I was improving on each outing for the whole session and we had a good pace at the end. I had traffic on my last lap or I could have set a more competitive time. Tomorrow morning both the car and I need to improve a little bit and at the moment we have a little problem with oversteer. I'll be aiming for a top eight in qualifying."

Felipe Guimaraes: "Practice was not bad; the first corner of the track is a little difficult but as a whole the track is very good. I didn't run as much as I would have liked as I was doing installation laps for the new engine and then we had a problem with the dashboard which left me in the pits for longer than planned. But we did some useful set-up work and now I will help the team as much as I can for the rest of the weekend."

France

Today, A1 Team France took part in the first practice sessions for the second-last round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Championship on the Shanghai circuit in China. Nicolas Prost drove the car in the 2 rookie sessions, and then handed over to Franck Montagny for the final hour's practice.

Nicolas ran in a new engine and then bedded in brake pads and discs. He set the second- quickest time behind Portugal. Franck got down to the task of understanding the car, and in a series of short runs he went through the various chassis set-ups to evaluate its reactions and balance. He finished seventh overall 0.599s off the quickest time but only 0.222s off second place.

The aim is to take advantage of tomorrow's free session to fine-tune the car's qualifying set-up. The whole team is brimming with confidence and reckons that a good qualifying performance is within its grasp.

Olivier Panis, sporting director: "The whole team did a great job today. Nicolas showed that he now understands the car perfectly and his contribution is very useful. The speed with which Franck got to grips with how the car works is mind-boggling, and he's already among the front runners! We're feeling optimistic for the rest of the weekend, although we know we've got a lot of work to do to achieve the performances we're aiming at."

Franck Montagny, driver: "In my early laps in the A1 Team France car it was important to got down to basics to understand the chassis' reactions. It's very different to what I've been used to driving over the past six or seven years. I had to modify my approach slightly to cope with the low aero grip and the tyres' characteristics, but overall I'm happy. We've still got to fine-tune one or two things between now and tomorrow and I think we'll be on the pace. I already feel at home in the team, which has done everything in its power to make things easy for me."

Nicolas Prost, test driver: "A very positive day. After running in the engine in the first session I began evaluating the set-ups in the second. The car was quick right from the start and I felt very condifent. Finally, I set the second-quickest time on worn rubber 0.3s behind Portugal, which was on new tyres. It bodes well for the rest of the weekend."

Canada

A1 Team Canada's latest rookie recruit, Markham's Daniel Morad, enjoyed a full day of track time at the Shanghai International Circuit in China today with Friday practice kicking off Round 9 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The 17-year-old set the fourth fastest time in the morning's ‘Rookie-Only' session at the 4.6km track before going tenth fastest from the full field of 22 nations in the afternoon's hour-long official practice session.