28/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Team France proved this weekend's RAB Capital A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain won't be an easy run for the home team by topping the timing sheets in this morning's third official practice session. Lapping the Brands Hatch GP circuit in 1.15.296, France's Loic Duval beat GBR's Robbie Kerr by three hundredths of a second although the slightly windier conditions meant they were still off yesterday's pace set by the two British drivers.
A1 Team USA's Jonathan Summerton was third quickest ahead of a strong showing for A1 Team Portugal's Alvaro Parente in fourth. Germany, who secured the 2006/07 season title with their third place in the Feature race in Shanghai last time out, put in the sixth fastest lap with A1 Team New Zealand, currently lying second in the points ahead of the home team, clocked the ninth fastest time.
The entire field was separated by just 3.374 seconds, making it one of the smallest gaps between first and last, and demonstrating the competitiveness of all the teams. For A1 Team Ireland, who are also expecting a strong crowd of supporters to their local race, the tight field means they are still in with a chance of impressing the fans despite their ‘consistent' 17th place finish in the event's three practice sessions
The session was halted with a minute still to run when A1 Team Pakistan's Nur Ali took a trip into the gravel traps bringing out the red flag.
While it has been anticipated that the cars could better the times set at the last A1GP race at Brands Hatch, one thing that is certain is the reliability of the series equipment. In practice on Saturday the A1GP engine passed the 300,000 kilometre mark without a single failure. This distance includes all the testing and racing mileage since the car turned a wheel in its first test in 2004.