24/09/2005
NEWS STORY
The action continued both on and off track at Brands Hatch today, as the teams prepared for this afternoon's qualifying session.
As was the case on Friday, there were red flags aplenty, with the Russian and Austrian teams both continuing to have problems, while USA, Netherlands, Canada and Czech Republic all had moments.
Mathias Lauda (Austria) had two spins - both causing red flags - the second of them seeing him hit the barriers at Druids. Meanwhile Nikolay Fomenko went off at Paddock Hill Bend and became embedded in the kitty-litter.
The fastest time was set by France (Alexandre Premat), though it was New Zealand that really stole the show, Matt Halliday finishing just 0.382s off the pace, ahead of Friday's star, Nelson Piquet.
Ahead of the 'bid day' on Sunday, it is already clear that A1 GP has caught the imagination of the public with the amount of families that have turned up to watch the action.
Probably one of the best supported teams is Team Netherlands with large groups of Dutch race fans cheering on their hero, Jos Verstappen.
Attention now focuses on this afternoon's unique qualifying session, which sees the teams take part in four 15-minute sessions, during which they each complete just one flying lap. The aggregate of the two best times decides the team's 'grid' position for Sunday afternoon's sprint race.
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