24/02/2007
NEWS STORY
A1 Team Portugal made a dramatic leap up the timing sheet in this morning's final practice session for the A1GP Durban, recording the third fastest lap behind Germany and France. Having re-joined the Series this weekend, yesterday's sessions provided the team with its first opportunity to shakedown the car and their hard work appears to have paid off so far.
The hour-long session was extended by an additional 10 minutes to compensate for yesterday's shortened practice and with the kerbing fully repaired, the teams headed out to get their final taste of the tricky street circuit before qualifying begins this afternoon.
The track proved to be a difficult one for the drivers to get to grips with as many struggled to negotiate the twists and turns. Mexico brought out the first red flag of the session as driver Salvador Duran knocked the front wing plate off the car going over the chicane. A spin from Australia's Karl Reindler saw him touch the concrete wall, stopping the session for a second time, and when Ireland's Richard Lyons slid into the wall at turn 15 the session was stopped for a third time. With the Irish car recovered and eleven minutes left on the clock, the session was re-started only to see a fourth red flag as Brazil's Bruno Junqueira, who had struggled throughout the session, also touched the wall.
The teams now have to decide on their final set up before qualifying for the Sprint race begins at 14.15 this afternoon. Qualifying consists of four 15 minute sessions with a five minute break between each. Only one driver per A1 Team is allowed to take part in Qualifying and that driver must have completed at least three timed laps in an Official Practice session. Each driver is limited to three laps - effectively one 'flying lap' - per session and must record at least two times, an aggregate of which will determine that A1 Team's position on the grid for Sunday's Sprint race. The grid for the Feature race will be determined by the outcome of the Sprint race.