03/02/2007
NEWS STORY
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A1 Team Germany has taken pole position for tomorrow's A1GP Sydney, Australia Sprint race, putting in the fastest lap time ever round the track during the last of the four qualifying segments. Setting an aggregate time of 2:36.225, A1 Team Germany was just two tenths of a second faster than second placed New Zealand, setting the scene for a closely fought race tomorrow.
Germany's driver, Nico Hulkenberg, who set the blistering time of 1:17.962, commented: 'There is not a lot of grip on the circuit so it is a compromise between pushing very hard and safety, but I think I got a good lap and, of course, a very good car from the team. I knew before qualifying four that this was the main segment and very important if I wanted to be on pole, but I managed to make a very good lap. We saw the cloud coming in for the final session so that is why we decided to exit the pit earlier and it was a perfect lap.'
New Zealand's Jonny Reid was disappointed not to be on pole but is confident of a good result for the team tomorrow: 'It is great to be on the front row as a team, but I am a little bit disappointed that I didn't get the top spot. Being a race driver you are competitive and that is what you aim to achieve. Nico drove well and I made a small mistake and that is the way it is. I was behind South Africa on the last run, so my error was there and the car stepped out slightly. That is just the way it goes and you have to take the good with the bad. I shall be fighting to win tomorrow.'
A1 Team Great Britain maintained its strong performance from morning practice, delivering the second fastest lap time of the weekend but could not match this a second time, putting the car third on the grid. 'I had a problem yesterday when I got into the car and it was not quite set up right, and so we were working up against it and did not get the best out of the tyres. We then managed to work on the car for today and got a good car. We were good on old tyres this morning and were very happy where we were,' said driver, Robbie Kerr. 'Unfortunately the car from practice this morning did not quite swap over to a qualifying car, but we managed to put all that together and did some competitive laps at the end. In the Sprint race it is going to be tight there with us all pushing and someone can easily make a mistake. In the Feature race it is all going to be down to who can keep it consistent and be there at the finish, so it is going to be interesting. I am not going to say out loud where you can overtake here, but I know where I overtook last year and where it is possible to do it. I know I have a good car to do that and we will see what happens tomorrow,' he continued.
A1 Team China saw the biggest improvement from practice by qualifying sixth, with driver Ho-Pin Tung giving the team its best ever qualifying result. A1 Team USA recovered well after spinning off in the first segment, taking seventh place on the grid while good laps in earlier sessions allowed Italy to qualify 13th, despite a spin in the fourth segment.
This morning's strong practice performance could not be repeated for home team Australia who qualified 18th. Mexico, Singapore and South Africa also failed to deliver on this morning's early promise, qualifying towards the back of the grid. However, fortunes changed for Ireland and Malaysia who both improved on their earlier practice performances, qualifying ninth and 10th respectively.
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