Australia

In the extreme heat of Sepang twenty A1 cars qualified for the Sprint and Feature races tomorrow with a new addition to the rules allowing a driver to use one 'push to pass' button on one only flying lap.

The drivers were lapping in the 1 minute 50 second range for the first session of Q1 Sprint qualifying. John Martin was in 14th place at that stage with a time of 1:50.074 being 0.874 seconds behind the lead car, A1 Team France. Rob Arnott the Team Chief Engineer released Martin early into the Q2 session to see him set a time of 1:49.998 being 2.844 seconds away from the pole sitter A1 Team Switzerland. The competition is better than ever before in A1GP with only four cars ahead of Martin lapping 1:48.930 down to A1 Team Switzerland's time of 1:47.154. At this stage most of the lead cars had used their 'push to pass' during the Sprint Qualifying.

With a 50 degree track temperature the team decided to release John Martin early to set a fast lap on a clear track into the Q1 Feature. He was sitting in first place with a time of 1:48.915 and a top speed of 263.4 kph. This was the perfect lap and the best the team has done in a qualifying session so far this season. There is evidence of Martin's continual improvement with the new car as the session came to a close with two other cars ahead, A1 Team France and A1 Team Ireland on a provisional pole time of 1:48.555 with a top speed of 264.7 kph.

In keeping with the team's qualifying strategy, John Martin was again released early into the Q2 Feature to make good use of a clear track. As he drove down pit lane A1 Team Brazil left their garage and entered pit lane without looking left. To avoid a shunt he moved around the Brazil car in pit lane and was later cleared after investigation by the race stewards for passing another car in pit lane. This incident delayed Martin's entry to the track for his warm up lap allowing A1 Team Monaco to go by on his flying lap and go out to qualify in traffic. As Martin started his own timed flying lap, A1 Team Monaco were on their slow down lap still on the racing line and blocked Martin's fast lap pushing him down the order to finish 13th on the grid 1.462 seconds away from the new pole sitter A1 Team Ireland. A1 Team Brazil later apologised to John Martin in the good spirit of the A1.

Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "Missed opportunities today and the baulking by Team Monaco ruined our Feature qualifying after John had set the 3rd fastest time in Q1 for the Feature. We are trying to fix our 'push to pass' button after it was malfunctioning. It was a real shame as John was improving in each qualifying session, he just needs to be mindful of the rules at times especially in pit lane"

John Martin: "If I hadn't of moved over in pit lane I would have driven into the side of the Brazil car to start with in Q2. With Monaco in front and not slowing or moving over, I lost valuable time especially in the last sector and the last corner onto the main straight. The rules state you must move over on your slow down lap to let the cars on their flying lap go by. He knew we were quicker and ahead of him after the Q1 Feature. My time in Q2 was 1:48.586 and he finished his lap at 1:48.242. I had a 'push to pass' to use and in doing that I had to battle on with a car blocking my racing line"

Rob Arnott Team Chief Engineer: "It was unfair on what Monaco did to John in Q2. John's time in Q1 Feature was a real time, a quick excellent lap. We were P3 in Q1 and the worst we should have done was remaining in Position 3[P3]. I would have been happy if he had of kept the car in the top six, worse case as he still had his 'push to pass' for Q2. We have a good pit stop plan for tomorrow to try and jump some cars during the race"

Brazil

The qualifying session for round three of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport took place today at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. A1 Team Brazil will line up on the eighth row of the grid for the Sprint race and the sixth row for the Feature race after Felipe Guimarães set the 15th and 12th quickest times respectively in qualifying.

This morning's final practice unfortunately followed on in terms of performance as the Friday practice sessions. Despite running similar car set-ups to some of the front running cars, Felipe continued to suffer from a fundamental car problem, which is causing severe oversteer under braking. His lap times reflected this and the team struggled, putting them on the back foot for qualifying.

In the first of two qualifying sessions for the Sprint race, there was an unfortunate red flag incident early on after Korea spun on the final corner. With only two minutes of track time left when the circuit was reopened, all the teams headed out, with Brazil at the back of the pack. Along with four other drivers, he was unable to complete his outlap before the chequered flag, so his time was not counted, leaving his Sprint position all down to the second segment. He headed out half way into that segment on a fairly quiet track, crossing the line with a lap time of 1:50.085. As the track quickly improved through each session, he was down to 15th once all the drivers had set their times, setting himself up on the eighth row for the Sprint.

Felipe headed out five minutes before the end of the first segment of Feature qualifying on a fairly clear track and set a time of 1:50.078, putting him in provisional 13th position. In the final segment he headed out on new rubber and used his PowerBoost for the lap – a new feature for A1GP qualifying which allows a team to select one of the four qualifying laps to utilise the extra 60bhp. He put together a good lap, setting a time of 1:48.323 to move him up to 12th position, putting him on the sixth row for the Feature.