05/11/2005
NEWS STORY
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil will line up on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia, sprint race, after Nelson Piquet Jr qualified in fourth place for the team in today's four-part qualifying session. It was a frustrating session for the Brazilian squad after Nelson was only able to complete one clean lap on new tyres.
The team suffered some suspension problems on Friday afternoon, the cause of which was discovered after the final practice session. Unfortunately, the same suspension problem was found during this morning's one-hour final official practice. The team worked hard to fix the problem to allow Nelson the opportunity of more testing, and with that completed Nelson rejoined the session fifteen minutes before the end and immediately set the quickest time, with a lap of 1:19.476, which remained unbeaten. He managed to complete a total of 20 laps in the hour.
This afternoon's qualifying proved a little tricky for Team Brasil. The team could only run two of the four sessions on new tyres and therefore it was vital to get perfect laps both times. The first of these laps went well on lap two, with Team Brasil up to third overall behind France and Switzerland. However, the team suffered bad luck on the second of the fast laps, run in the fourth session. Nelson got stuck in bad traffic and was held up for a lengthy period by the Team Austria entry. At the end of the four-part session Team Brasil ended up in fourth position.
Nelson Piquet Jr: "Qualifying today was difficult. It was getting better, I did a good lap on new tyres in the second session and by the third session when we had old tyres again I was actually pleased with our time. Then in the final session, when I was on new tyres and was going for my best time I got stuck in huge traffic. I don't know what Team Austria was doing on the track, but they were so slow and I lost so much time and that was it. We still managed fourth in the end but it's a pity really. It's difficult to overtake on this circuit but I will just try my hardest tomorrow. The races are going to be tough. The tyres will get bad quickly and there will be a lot of drivers going sideways I think."
Emerson Fittipaldi: "It was difficult for Nelson today. He got traffic on his second lap with new tyres and Team Austria disturbed his lap badly, which meant he only had one lap on new tyres. We are still happy to be on the second row in these circumstances though. I think tomorrow if Nelson gets a really good start, he can do exactly what France did in Estoril, and be in front by the first corner."
New Zealand
The New Zealand team will be alongside arch-rival Australia well back in the pack for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race in the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia.
Black Beauty driver Jonny Reid fell progressively off the pace after a strong opening to the weekend's racing at Eastern Creek, Sydney to qualify 14 th, one place behind the Aussies.
Reid, who was 5th and 6th fastest in Friday's two practice sessions, dropped a few spots to 9th fastest in Saturday morning's third and final practice session.
He was a superb 3rd after the first of the four qualifying segments, but slipped down the table to 8th, 9th and finally 14th when his top two times were added together. Amazingly, it is the third time in as many rounds that New Zealand has qualified 14th.
The 22-year-old Reid was distraught with his final position and was at a loss to explain why he couldn't keep pace as other teams improved around him.
"I'm disappointed because this is practically a home circuit, I know it well and yet we're out there looking mediocre," Reid said.
A1 Team.NZL chief executive Bob McMurray said the team is doing a wealth of head scratching because they just don't believe Reid is a second a lap slower than the frontrunners at one of his favourite circuits.
"We've got a problem," McMurray said, "and we're going to work extremely hard tonight to find out what it is."
Reid says it will be difficult for him to repeat his performance in Germany two rounds ago when he shot to 4th in the opening Sprint Race after qualifying 14th.
"It's a narrow little circuit so it's going to be tough to make up that sort of ground without plenty of carnage ahead of me," he said. "But I'll certainly be giving it everything I've got because I'm thriving on the encouragement I'm getting here.
"I have lots of family and good close friends in the crowd, plus there's lots of Kiwi fans waving flags and showing their support. I want to do well for their sake as much as anything."
A1 Series leader France continued their hot form to take pole position and Portugal had their best run of the season to qualify in second place, ahead of Switzerland and Brazil.
Despite racing outside of Europe for the first time European teams were the pacesetters, filling five of the top six places and eight of the first 12 spots.
South Africa
South Africa's 'Vulindlela' with Stephen Simpson at the wheel qualified 15th out of 24 for the fourth round of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations series In Australia this afternoon. The 21-year-old emulated his performance in the opening round of the series in the A1 Grand Prix of Nations Great Britain in September, where he went on to finish a fine sixth in the feature race.
After sitting out the last two rounds in Germany and Portugal, when Tomas Scheckter did duty for his country, Simpson and the Absa-backed Vulindlela have improved their performance with every outing, through Friday's two official practice sessions and today's final practice and the four 15-minute qualifying sessions.
His best time of 1m 19,78s, recorded in the fourth and final qualifying session, was a full three seconds better than his best lap in the first practice and put South Africa back in the top 15 of the grid for the first time since Great Britain.
"The team did well, improving throughout the weekend until producing the best performance in the last session this afternoon," said Dana Cooper, CEO of Team South Africa. "Stephen has shown commitment and his and the team's determination to succeed has been reflected in the progress we have made today."
"We're reasonably satisfied with our performance so far," said Mike Carroll, sporting and technical manager. "We have worked hard to raise our game and have tried a lot of different options in the set-up of the car to be more competitive. We're getting there."
Simpson was upbeat and looking forward to tomorrow's races. "This is not an easy track for anybody. It's bumpy, with off-camber turns and requires a lot of commitment and smooth driving. The more laps we completed the easier it got, but the technical nature of the track is going to be a bigger challenge over the two race distances tomorrow.
"I'm sure there is going to be a lot of action, which should please the thousands of spectators expected. We can't be too cautious in the sprint race because we have to secure a good starting position for the feature race, so it'll be a case of keep out of trouble at the start and make up as many places as possible after that."
France's Nicolas Lapierre enjoyed the luxury of not even going out for the final qualifying session after securing pole position with his first and second laps. The aggregate of his two best laps was 0,49s better than a much-improved Portugal's Alvaro Parente's aggregate and 0,60s ahead of Switzerland's Neel Jani. The rest of the top 10 are Brazil (Nelson Piquet Jr), Great Britain (Robbie Kerr), Ireland (Michael Devaney), Canada (Sean McIntosh), the Netherlands (Jos Verstappen), Malaysia (Alex Yoong) and Mexico (Salvador Duran).
Host nation Australia, with Will Davison at the wheel, will start in 13th place, ahead of arch Tri-Nations rugby rivals New Zealand (Jonny Reid) and South Africa. Pakistan (Adam Khan) start 17th, seven places ahead of their great sporting rivals, India (Armaan Ebrahim), who are at the back of the grid.
Germany
A1 Team Germany will start the fourth round of the A1 Grand Prix series at Eastern Creek from the sixth row of the grid after Saturday afternoon's qualifying session. The Willi Weber managed team concluded the session in twelfth position after the fastest two laps from the four single-lap runs had been combined.
Nominated A1 Team Germany driver Adrian Sutil made an encouraging start to Saturday's proceedings after recording fifth fastest time in the morning's free practice session. Thanks to Friday"s inclement weather and the unsettled forecast for tomorrow's race, the A1 Grand Prix organisation withheld one set of slicks from each team's original allocation of five sets. As a result, A1 Team Germany started the opening quarter of qualifying on used tyres and lapped in 1:21.274 minutes. In the second outing on new tyres he slashed his time by almost 1.5 second to 1:19.876 minutes, the 22-year old set a time of 1:20.390 minutes after retaining the same set of tyres for the third lap. In his final outing the young German posted his fastest time in qualifying, lapping the Eastern Creek circuit in 1:19.503 minutes to secure his sixth row start.
Adrian Sutil: "Twelfth place on the grid isn't really the result we were looking for after posting fifth fastest time in final free-practice session. I'm still not entirely familiar with this single-lap qualifying format. It's the first time in my career that I have to channel all my aggression into a single lap. The reduced number of new tyres made qualifying a little tricky; we used new tyres in the second and fourth outings. In the third run I was only five tenths slower than on new rubber, which means that I didn't get the best from the set when they were new. I was pleased to set my quickest lap on my final run on new tyres. The track here in Eastern Creek is much narrower than my previous race in Estoril, so overtaking will be difficult. However, the surface is very abrasive so tyre management, strategy and the timing of the mandatory pit stop will be very important in the feature race."
Malaysia
Qualifying for the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia took place this afternoon at Eastern Creek Raceway with Alex Yoong, driving for A1 Team Malaysia.
An excellent performance in the third practice session of the weekend earlier in the day saw the Malaysian set the second fastest time and in a strong position for qualifying. Grabbing ninth place on the grid for the Sprint race, A1 Team Malaysia now looks forward to performing well in the races tomorrow.
Yoong hit the track late in the first qualifying segment, watching his rivals' performances and preparing himself to attack for a top qualifying position. Three strong qualifying 'hot laps' put the team in ninth position, but Yoong was hampered by a slowing Mexico car in his final qualifying segment, losing him valuable time and a potential top five grid slot.
Yoong reflected on qualifying saying, "A top ten qualification is an okay result for us. I'm a little bit frustrated because I think it could have been top five or six and looking at the results if we'd found one more tenth we would have been sixth. On the last run I was held up by the Mexican car through two corners which cost me two or three tenths at least, so I'm a bit disappointed. However, I think we've got very good race pace, so we should have a good shot at getting good results in both races."
Team Principal, Jack Cunningham added, "Alex has been improving his performance throughout the weekend and we were fairly sure we could be within the top ten, so our first goal of the weekend has been achieved. We reckon we have a top five-finishing car and will be aiming for that tomorrow; it's definitely achievable. It's unfortunate that Alex was slowed by another car which did not move off-line as it should, otherwise I think we could have qualified a little higher. But it's the race results that count, so we'll start focussing on tomorrow's two races now."
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan delivered a consistent performance today at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations in Australia with Adam Khan qualifying in 17th position for tomorrow's Sprint Race.
A1 Grand Prix of Nations qualifying is divided into four fifteen-minute sessions, during which each team must post a 'flying' lap in at least two of the sessions. An aggregate time is calculated using the two best timed laps to determine the starting position for the first of Sunday's races. At Eastern Creek in Australia Adam's fastest laps came in the first and third qualifying sessions giving a combined time of 2'40.397.
After the qualifying sessions, Adam said: "Of course I am a bit disappointed in the position after qualifying. We were going pretty well and were in 10th fastest in the first session. However, we missed the last qualifying session which was unfortunate as the track temperature had dropped, giving an extra second on the time. However, we are all confident that I can put in a good performance in tomorrow's Sprint Race".
Arif Husain, Seat Holder and Chairman of A1 Team Pakistan commented: "Of course we would like to be higher on the grid but I am satisfied with the performance delivered by Adam across each of the qualifying sessions. Consistency is key as we develop the team and we are looking forward to a good performance in the Sprint and Feature races tomorrow."
Austria
After a more successful final official practice session this morning which saw A1 Team Austria 13th in the standings, the team suffered a bad qualifying session which now sees them starting on the final row of the grid for tomorrow's sprint race.
A1 Team Austria began its day with a one-hour free practice this morning. Mathias improved on his lap times from yesterday by over two seconds and by the end of the hour had completed 25 valuable testing laps, with a fastest lap of 1:21.143, putting him 13th in the standings. Five minutes before the end of the session, Mathias unfortunately spun off the track, colliding with a post which ended his session.
Qualifying did not go well for the team. Mathias set a fastest time of 1:20.945 and a second fastest lap of 1:21.197, which gave him a combined time of 2:42.142. This placed him 5.106 seconds off the pole pace, and he will now begin tomorrow's sprint race from 23rd on the grid.
Mathias Lauda: "I don't know what to say because I don't know what the problem is. We did a lot better this morning and finished practice in 13th. The car was not damaged from when I had the spin at the end so that was not a problem for qualifying. I am really worried about the lap times because we were two seconds off the pace."
Arno Zensen, Managing Director: "In the morning I thought we were there. I expected in qualifying to be in the
top fifteen at least, and possibly in the top ten but then he spun at the end of practice and destroyed a set of tyres, which we did not realise until the first qualifying session. I don't know what happened in the other sessions but there was no improvement. I don't understand what is going on, we have to analyse the data now."
India
A1 Team India arrived at the Eastern Creek International raceway in Sydney, Australia this morning after an encouraging day yesterday. Armaan Ebrahim, the designated driver for A1 Team India in the Australian A1 Grand Prix of Nations had consistently improved his lap-times over the two practice sessions on Friday.
A1 team India continued its weekend plan of steadily finding speed with the car as the driver found his way around the circuit, learning more and more about the car and the track. The morning practice session was encouraging with Armaan consistently improving his performance. A1 Team India finished the session in 17th place after 26 laps of running.
The official qualifying session started at 2:15 pm local time (8:45 am IST). The qualifying session was split up into four sessions of 15 minutes each, with 10 minute intervals between each session. During each 15 minute session each driver is permitted to do only one flying lap. The aggregate of the best two laps decides the starting order for the sprint race on Sunday.
Due to a flat tyre during the Friday practice session which was caused by a nail out on the circuit, A1 Team India lost the use of one entire set of new tyres out of their five new sets designated for the weekend. Furthermore, A1 Team India was expecting the organizers to release the designated fifth new set of tyres for the qualifying session, but due to the variable weather conditions, they did not do so. This last set of new tyres will only be released for the race tomorrow. This left the team with a total of only four sets of tyres to use over the entire weekend, one set short of the stipulated amount. This handicap forced A1 Team India to run all the four qualifying runs with only one set of new tyres. This severely hampered A1 Team India's strategy. It meant that A1 Team India was the only team in the pit-lane who had only one set of new tyres for all the four qualifying runs, where other teams had a minimum of two and some even three sets of brand new tyres for their qualifying runs. Due to this disadvantage A1 Team India tried some setup options which proved to be non-productive, and the times set during the qualifying sessions were not accurately representative of the performance potential of the team. The team has consistently performed in the top 15 over all three of the practice sessions, two on Friday and one this morning. Despite this, A1 Team India feels that they have learned something and are positive for the races tomorrow.
Commented Armaan, "I am really disappointed as in practice I was getting the measure of the top runners and was for the first time only 1.2 secs off A1 Team Brazil, who have tested at this circuit extensively last week. We were not able to get the right balance for our qualifying which was more due to the fact that I had to use only one set of tyres for all the 4 qualifying runs and most had 3 sets and some had 2 sets. Nevertheless I am confident of my ability and pace and will strive hard to bring India home in the top 10."
The sprint race will have a rolling start and will be 20 laps. It will start at 1:30 pm local time (8:00 am IST). The grid positions for the feature race will be decided by the finishing positions of the sprint race and will be a 40 lap race starting at 3:00 pm local time (9:30 am IST). There will also be a 15 minute warm-up session at 10:00 am local time (4:30 am IST).
The team is quite positive to make up a few places in the sprint race on Sunday which will then put the team in a better position for the feature race. Despite the 24th place on the grid, the morale of the team is very high after a weekend of constant improvement.
Mr. Atul Gupta, Chairman, A1 Team India said, "I am very gratified by the constant improvement and motivation of our team. A1 Team India is working well together and our driver Armaan has shown tremendous promise despite being the youngest driver in the field at the tender age of sixteen. The learning curve ahead for the team and driver is very steep, but I am very confident that this team has the potential for excellent results as the championship progresses. I look forward to the teams' performance in the races tomorrow and I wish them all success."
Canada
A1 Team Canada elected to skip the morning practice session to conserve tyres following A1 Grand Prix's decision to hold back a set of slicks per team following yesterday's wet running. The decision was debatable when Sean McIntosh felt the lack of track time and struggled down in 17th until the final session when a blistering time – fourth fastest of the day - shot him up to 7th.
Sean McIntosh: "I think we got hurt a bit this morning with not being able to run with the tyre situation. I had to use the first two sessions to learn how to go and with the new tyres I was starting to pick up bits and pieces. We picked up a second from the third to fourth runs which is quite big. It's too bad that we couldn't have done two of those laps because we'd have been right up there in the top three so I'm happy with that last lap but next time we need to focus on being able to do that twice because with the aggregate qualifying you have to be up there in both. The traffic situation's got better. I think we're all getting used to it and not going out together and being good at getting out of the way when they're needed to.
"For tomorrow seventh is a good place to start – it's going to be my fourth race that I've started in that slot so hopefully we can move ourselves up in the Sprint race and get a good starting position for the Feature race."
Australia
A1 Team Australia are optimistic of securing a good result in tomorrow's fourth round of The World Cup of Motorsport at Sydney's Eastern Creek International Raceway, after a qualifying session that left the team slightly frustrated.
With new tyres bolted to the Foster's liveried Australian car, Davison was confident of a top result, however he rued the change they made from this morning's first practice session – where Davison sat atop the time sheets for much of the one hour session.
"It was a missed opportunity, I guess you could say. We changed something on the car before going out in the first session and it was just hopeless," Davison said.
Having changed back to the setup used in morning practice, Davison was able to set his quickest time in segment three, a 1:19.445.
"Had we left the car from this morning, I'm confident that we could have been well into the top ten on aggregate. I believe we could have ended up around eighth on aggregate judging by the pace of the car."
Davison will start from mid-pack – 13th – in tomorrow's first race.
Seat Holder Alan Jones is optimistic about the team's chances tomorrow.
"We proved in Portugal that we can turn a poor qualifying position into a decent swag of points. Unlike qualifying in Portugal, we're a little further up the order so hopefully will not get caught up in the inevitable opening lap fracas'," the 1980 Formula One World Champion said.
"We've worked hard on getting a setup on the car and Will's pace this morning would indicate that we've found something that works, the key for us is to keep our nose clean in the early stages and push through the middle stages of the race.
"Practice has indicated that the fans are in for an awesome race that I believe will be punctuated with a number of Safety Cars and I predict that we will see the lap record lowered even further – possibly into the 17s," Jones said, reflecting on (A1 Team France's) Nicolas Lapierre's fastest lap in qualifying of 1:18.150.
"Above all, I'm confident we can put on a good show for Foster's and the fans of A1 Team Australia on our home track and come away with some points towards our World Cup of Motorsport tally."
Netherlands
A podium finish will require a big effort from A1 Team Netherlands after the team finished the qualifying for the A1 Grand Prix of Nations Australia at Eastern Creek in eighth place today. After the encouraging start on Friday, the team were not able to improve from that and are working hard to find more grip and find the right set up. Jos Verstappen set an aggregate time of 2'38.669 in qualifying today ( 1'19.239 and 1'19.430). Though Verstappen was off course a bit disappointed, the A1 Team Netherlands driver was also realistic.
Jos Verstappen; "This is just the maximum that we can get out of the car right now. We have to struggle quite a bit in order to drive into the low 1'19 lap times, this is all we can manage. This is the result, we cannot go any faster. The car just has not got enough grip. We were fourth on Friday, but I think that was also because I adapt to new circuits quite easily. Then we have got things under control quite quickly, but we do not improve our set up any further from there and that's is a bit disappointing. In turn 9 you see that we don't have enough grip. When you see that France is setting an aggregate of 2'37 for the two laps and we are at 2'38.7, we are 1,7 seconds behind in two laps time and that's way too much. I would not know how we can solve this right now. We're trying our best, but this is all we are able to do at the moment".
Team Principal Jan Lammers had expected the team to qualify in the top six, but Lammers also had to conclude that the eighth grid position was the maximum result for A1 Team Netherlands today.
"During qualifying we did not have any major problems, but we were just off the pace. Off course the competition is very though, but I thought that we at least would be able to end up in the top six. There just has to be much more potential, but we were unable to convert that into a result during qualifying. I hope that we will be able to do that in the race. For sure that will not be easy as overtaking is very difficult here. With the power boost you can do something, but to finish on the podium will require a major effort", says Lammers who also sees that the team has not been able to find the perfect balance between car set up and driver yet. "The art of trimming a car off course is being able to find a set up that matches the driving style of the driver. But it also works the other way around. As a driver you will have to find a way to handle the car, which suits the car best. Those things are not in harmony as of yet. With the well known graphs and lap charts and through talking we as a team have to manage that. That's the game and that's what it's all about. We are hoping that we will pull this of for the races, as we have done every race up to now."
Czech Republic
Team Czech Republic struggled with the balance of the car in the qualifying at Eastern Creek and even with late improvement will start the sprint race from 16th position on the grid.
Saturday offered a bit better weather than the first day the most important thing was that rain stayed away. The Czech team had to cope with difficult handling of the car and unfortunately was not able to follow strong showing from Estoril. Enge was 12th in the last free practice while the team was working hard to improve the balance. The handling of the car was improved during the course of the qualifying and it was reflected by ninth time in the last session. Enge was 19th in the first, 16th in the second, 19th in the third session, his best two laps for aggregate time was set in the second and fourth run. The result did not obviously fulfil the expectations but The Czech team had proven in previous events that they are usually stronger in the race trim.
Tomas Enge: "We are not happy with our position it really was not our day. We had some problems with the bumps yesterday but it was not the main problem today. We struggled with the balance of the car, which was oversteering, and it was too late when we improved it. The fact that there was last minute decision from the promoter to prepare just two new sets of tyres instead of the three sets usual for the qualifying did not help either. We hope to move forward in the races but you have to be realistic."
Portugal
The four qualifying sessions have already ended and the starting grid is completed. A1 Team Portugal has managed to achieve a brilliant qualifying result and will start from the second position of the grid. Álvaro Parente and the Portuguese team have improved the handling of the single seater and the set up achieved was far more better than the one used yesterday. Parente drove with all his concentration and skills, permitting him to finishing the qualifying sessions in second place.
Early morning, in the third and last free practice session, the Portuguese driver finished in fourth, proving that he will get a good result in afternoon's qualifying sessions. The competition was hard with all drivers fighting for the best place in the starting grid. Only Nicolas Lapierre, the French driver, was able to beat Álvaro's time, recording the fastest time. The weather forecast failed and we had dry conditions during all the day.
Álvaro Parente: "The team has worked well and managed to achieve a better set up. The car improved a lot with the new set of tyres and for tomorrow we really need to get the best from the used tyres in order to keep the pace that we showed today. I like to drive in this circuit but it will not be easy to overtake, so I'll do my best to impose my rhythm, hoping to take Portugal to his first podium".
Luís Vicente, the A1 Team Portugal's C.E.O., has showed his satisfaction with today's results and he is confident for tomorrow's races: "After the problems felted yesterday, we were able to complete the qualifying sessions with a good result. The car's set up has improved a lot and Álvaro drove aggressively and with determination, proving once more his potential to run in the front line. I think tomorrow we'll keep the pace, achieving finally the result that is running away from us".
Lebanon
Qualifying for the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia took place this afternoon at Eastern Creek Raceway with Basil Shaaban, driving for A1 Team Lebanon and taking 21st place grid position for the Sprint race tomorrow, the team's best qualifying performance to date.
In the first qualifying segment Shaaban acclimatised to the track conditions, running on used tyres. Putting on new tyres for the second run, Shaaban went back out on track and set his best time of the weekend. On the final two runs he consolidated his times.
Shaaban said after qualifying, "We've made a small step forward with an improvement in our qualifying performance. We definitely made some improvements to the car over the course of the weekend. My last run wasn't as quick as I would have liked. It was looking good in the first two sectors, but in the final sector we lost out a bit, which otherwise could have put us further forward, but I'm pleased that we've posted our best qualifying performance so far this season, and we need to keep improving as the season progresses."
Tony Snook, Team Principal summed up the team's performance so far this weekend, saying, "Each weekend we make steps forward. In Estoril, we improved our performance in the Feature race, and this weekend we've gained places in the qualifying session. Our strategy of running early in each qualifying segment has paid dividends for us here and I hope we can continue the momentum into the races tomorrow."
Britain
Yesterday's rain and wet running prompted the organizers to reduce the sets of slicks available for today giving a high emphasis on tyre usage throughout the four sessions. In the first session Robbie Kerr put in the eighth fastest time and the next session saw him improve by one position. The third attempt moved A1Team.GBR into third but on used tyres for the fourth he couldn't sustain his position and he is set to start tomorrow's race from the third row in fifth.
Robbie Kerr: "We only had two sets of tyres to use because they changed the rules so perhaps we used a set earlier that we shouldn't have done. 'P5' – a good starting spot and we can do something from there so I'm looking forward to it. For qualifying we were consistent but didn't get that couple of tenths of a second that we needed to pip Brazil and Portugal. It's going to be hard work tomorrow and difficult to overtake but we've got a good race set-up and we'll take it from there."
Ireland
Michael Devaney qualified his A1 Team Ireland car in sixth position for tomorrow's A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia, the young Irishman achieving the team's best qualifying performance of the season so far. The team worked well in this morning's third practice session to improve the set-up of the car, Michael working well with engineer Andy Miller and setting the 7th fastest time. In qualifying he used old tyres on his first run, but with new rubber he was able to set a time in the low 1m19s bracket and his final run secured an aggregate time which put him 6th.
Michael Devaney: "I am happy with the work we did today, the car felt a lot better and since Brands Hatch I've learned how to get the most out of these tyres over one lap. On my last run I lost a bit of time when I was blocked in the final sector, but overall it felt good and we made a lot of progress after a difficult day yesterday. Obviously the target now is to convert this into a good result in the Sprint and Feature races."
Andy Miller, Technical Director: "It was a really good outcome today. We made steady improvements over the weekend which has enabled Michael to improve his time over the mid-sector which is where he struggled yesterday. It's nice to have a top six qualifying position. Michael was up against it and he produced a very good performance. I look forward to watching him race from 6th place on the grid as he raced well in Brands Hatch."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Given where we were yesterday it's of great credit to Michael, Andy and the mechanics that we were able to work well throughout today and make a major step forward. In Germany and Portugal our qualifying sessions were ruined by technical issues, so it's great to see the team have a clear run at it and for Michael to demonstrate his ability and produce consistency and speed."
Japan
Hayanari Shimoda improved on his practice times in the third practice session this morning, setting the 19th fastest time, as he continued to learn the circuit. In afternoon qualifying, after the four 'hot lap' segments, Shimoda lines up 19th on the grid for tomorrow's Sprint Race.
Hayanari Shimoda: This is my first experience of the A1 Grand Prix style of qualifying and I enjoyed the challenge it presented. You have to get each lap right to get the best lap time. Each time I have been out in the car I am gaining more experience, not only of the car, but also of this track, which isn't easy to master. It will take me some time to get used to the car, but then I hope to see some more improvements in my lap times. I think we can have a good race tomorrow. I'm proud to be driving for my country and hope that I can bring home some good results for A1 Team Japan tomorrow.
Malcolm Swetnam (Team Manager, A1 Japan): I'm quite pleased with our performance today. Hayanari's lap times have been steadily improving, and he's getting to grips with the car as he gets more and more track time. He seemed to get the best out of the new tyres which we used in the second and third qualifying segments. I think he's got the pace in the race to be just outside the top ten. Considering Hayanari first jumped in the car on Friday, his performance is very creditable. We're looking forward to the races tomorrow and hope he can continue to improve his times and produce some good race results.
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