15/12/2007
NEWS STORY
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil endured a difficult qualifying session today for round four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport when Sergio Jimenez suffered from brake problems throughout. In an incredibly competitive session at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China, the issues affected Sergio in terms of performance and, as a result, the team will begin tomorrow's sprint and feature races from 12th and 14th places
respectively.
Following this morning's final one-hour practice session, A1 Team Brasil embarked on the afternoon's qualifying. Sergio set his fastest lap in the first segment for the sprint race, clocking a time of 1:24.141, good enough for a provisional sixth place. However, as the track cleaned up and lap times became more competitive, Sergio saw his position drop to twelfth in the final standings.
For the feature race qualifying, Sergio recorded his fastest time in the fourth segment with a lap of 1:24.328. In a session in which the top eighteen drivers were separated by less than a second, Sergio placed fourteenth at the chequered flag.
During the whole of qualifying the team struggled with the brake pads on a circuit which has proved to be very hard on brakes. Work overnight will focus on solving these problems in preparation for tomorrow's races. The sprint race will get underway at 11am, with the
feature race beginning at 3pm.
Sergio Jimenez: 'I'm really disappointed with the positions because it's not where we should be. We have had a lot of problems with the pads today in practice and then in qualifying and it has really affected us. The only thing to do now is work on the problems for tomorrow and hope we can gain some positions in the races.'
Fernando Paiva, Team Principal: 'This series is becoming more and more competitive and if you have a small issue these days, especially in
qualifying, it can really hurt you. Zhuhai is a difficult circuit on brakes and we tried to prevent that problem from affecting us and we didn't manage it. We are going to get it right tomorrow, but unfortunately we will be starting from positions which do not reflect our practice performance.'
Canada
A1 Team Canada secured 10th and 11th place starting slots for Sunday's Sprint and Feature races respectively as Round 4 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season gets set to play out tomorrow at China's Zhuhai International Circuit.
Fielding Toronto's Robert Wickens for the second-straight event, and following a highly competitive showing in yesterday's free practice with the teenage standout second quickest from the 22 competing nations, the Canadian team was upbeat heading into Saturday's qualifying sessions but frustrations would follow. Down a set of tires compared to its rivals having had to use an extra set the day before, Canada faced the four-run qualifying format armed with just two new sets to attack the 4.30km track.
Straight out on new tires for the first of his two Sprint qualifying laps, Wickens was easily amongst the front-runners with a 1m24.029s lap but out on old tires on the next he had to settle for 10th fastest for the session. Feature qualifying was a similar tale. A fresh set of tires for his second and final lap produced a 1m24.149s run but the Canadian was just edged outside the top-ten placing 11th overall.
"We knew qualifying would be tough," Wickens commented. "Everybody else had three new sets to our two. We went well on our first set with P4 but everyone else slapped on another set for the next run and we couldn't match their pace on old rubber. We did a good job considering but we still have some work ahead of us. The balance of the car is fine, we just have a lack of grip. For sure we can move forward tomorrow, it's just a matter of how far can we go!"
"It's fairly close in the mid-pack, we just struggled for grip and we're not as quick as we were yesterday," stated Team Manager Simon Cayzer. "We have to dig deep to put together a good race car for tomorrow. We don't have any major problems but we need a few tweaks. It would have helped to have the extra set of tires today in qualifying but I'm not going to focus blame on that."
France
A1 Team France will start from seventh and fourth positions in tomorrow's Sprint and Feature races in the fourth round of the 2007-08 A1GP Championship on the Zuhai circuit in China. The team did not do a lot of running yesterday and took advantage of this morning's free practice to make up some of the time lost and fine-tune its settings. It accomplished its mission perfectly as Loïc Duval set the quickest time in the morning session.
Unfortunately, the Frenchman did not have the level of grip he was hoping for in the first part of this afternoon's qualifying when he was on new tyres. He could do no better than seventh despite pushing as hard as he could. A1 Team France reacted by modifying the car's set-up slightly between the sessions. It was the right decision, and Loïc was on the pace straightaway setting the fourth-quickest time in the second part of qualifying.
While Loïc will have problems making it onto the podium in the Sprint race, his chances of doing so in the Feature event look very promising. On the Sepang circuit in Malaysia three weeks ago, A1 Team France started from fourth place and crossed the line in second position.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "We were hoping for better things today. Given our performance yesterday and Loïc's first place this morning, we reckoned that a front row position in qualifying was on the cards. Unfortunately, the grip level was not what he anticipated when he put on new tyres. We're starting from a bit further back on the grid than we expected, but our pace on worn rubber means that we will be lapping quickly in the race. We're confident for tomorrow."
Loïc Duval, driver: "The car's balance was good today although we were unable to get the best out of the new tyres in qualifying. It's rather disappointing, as we could have done better. Nonetheless, we're optimistic. We improved the set-up between the two sessions, and the car's handling was much better by the end of qualifying. What's more, our pace on worn tyres is very good. Our aim will be to score a few points in the first race and then aim for the rostrum in the Feature event. Overtaking will be difficult as the track is very dirty off line. I think there'll be quite a few driver errors and we'll try and take advantage of them."
Germany
Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany scored its fourth pole position in total in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport when Michael Ammermüller recorded the team's best qualifying result of the 2007/2008 season in the fourth round in China. The 21-year old racing driver from Pocking will start the sprint race at Zhuhai from pole position. Claiming fifth position in the second half of the qualifying session, he will start the feature race from thrid row.
Already in the first of four qualifying segments, Michael Ammermüller impressed the team by setting the second fastest time (1m23.790s), a mere 0.115s slower than Ireland's Adam Carroll. In the second outing on the 4.3 kilometre circuit in the south of China, Ammermüller improved his time by more than 5 tenths of a second. His lap of 1m23.203s was 0.222s faster than that of Swiss driver Neel Jani, earning the German driver his first career pole position in A1GP for Sunday's sprint race.
The following two segments in the combined qualifying session determined the grid for the feature race. Already in the first outing, Michael Ammermüller set the best time of 1m24.093s on old tyres, just 0.007s ahead of Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis. In the second outing, the Bavarian improved his time by 0.203s, but his opponents were even better. The teams from Switzerland, Great Britain, India and France claimed the first four places on the grid ahead of A1 Team Germany.
After sixth and second positions at Zandvoort, seventh and ninth at Brno and fourth and third at Sepang, the result obtained in China marks the best average qualifying performance for A1 Team Germany in the current season. In the past season, the team has achieved three pole positions in qualifying.
Michael Ammermüller: "It's good to start the sprint race from pole position. Already the first outing went well. When I came back into the pits, we slightly changed something on the car. The DS Motorsport mechanics did a great job so we improved our lap time considerably in the second session and claimed first place. For both segments, we used new tyres. On old tyres, I finished first again in the third session. For the last attempt, the team bolted on a set of fresh rubber. I pushed too hard, however, so my corner exits were too slow that's why we ended up fifth on the grid for the feature race. But I believe that the most important thing is to start the sprint race from pole position during the rolling start. By contrast, the standing start in the feature race as well as the pit stops might open good opportunities to overtake."
Great Britain
A1 Team GBR driver Oliver Jarvis will make a front row start for tomorrow's Feature Race in round four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Zhuhai International Circuit.
In the first two qualifying sessions of the day, to decide positions for the rolling start in the Sprint Race, Oliver had new tyres for both his flying laps but was unfortunately not able to get the best out of either the car or the tyres in Q1. Despite this, he made big improvements in Q2 to clock a 1:23.850, putting him on the third row for tomorrow morning's opening race.
In the final two qualifying sessions of the day for Sunday's Feature Race, Oliver pushed hard on old tyres in Q3 to set a 1:24.100. He improved with another strong run in Q4 on fresh rubber to produce a 1:23.650, faster than his earlier time and good enough to put him on the front row for the Feature Race, only 0.185s adrift of pole- sitter Switzerland.
With such close times in qualifying, tomorrow's races are set to be equally as competitive and the Chinese circuit does offer plenty of overtaking opportunities. A1 Team GBR is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this as they look to end the final round of 2007 with a victory.
Oliver Jarvis: "A fairly difficult Q1 meant we were on the back foot for Q2, but I pushed hard and managed to qualify fifth despite the car not being quite right. There are some passing opportunities on the track so I will be doing my best to get a podium finish in the Sprint Race".
"We were much more confident going into Q3 and did a good job on old tyres which put us in a good spot. I managed to push a lot harder in Q4 getting a good lap out on new tyres to maintain our front row slot. The Feature race is a long race – tyre degradation and brake wear could be a factor, but we're at the front and I'll be doing my best to make amends from a non-scoring Feature race in Sepang last time out."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "Despite the slight challenges in the Sprint race qualifying, Olly put in an extremely strong qualifying lap to start second for tomorrow's Feature race. The team is confident that our race pace will be competitive in both races and we're aiming for two strong results to boost us up the Championship table."
Ireland
Adam Carroll will start tomorrow's Sprint Race from third for Belmayne A1 Team Ireland in round four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Zhuhai International Circuit.
Off the back of topping the timesheets on Friday, the Irish squad were in positive mood heading into qualifying for Sunday's races. After a fantastic run on new tyres in the first qualifying session of the day, Ireland were still on top but after problems with grip on the second new set of tyres in Q2 were just beaten by Germany and Switzerland in the dying minutes. However, with a rolling start for the first of two races tomorrow, Adam is in a great position to take another strong podium finish for A1 Team Ireland.
In the final two sessions of the day, problems arose with neither of the final sets of old and new tyres allowing Adam to get the performance out the car that both he and the team knew was there. After two frustrating runs, the team will start 13th on the grid for tomorrow's Feature Race, but with a standing start, two pit stops and 69-minutes of racing action, there is plenty of ground to be made up that Adam has proved he is more than capable of doing following his amazing drive from 18th to 6th at Brno.
Adam Carroll: "Its really strange. We went out and were P1 in qualifying one and the car felt great so I pushed hard and got a good lap time. We then put on the second set of new tyres and I felt I could improve but the grip just wasn't there. It was incredible, the car felt good but the lap time just wasn't there, I've never had that before. The third and fourth sets were the same. I thought I'd done a good lap but the time was terrible and none of the sets of tyres felt anything like the first ones. We now need to go through all the data and try to figure out why when everyone else went faster, we went slower but I honestly can't answer that one yet. P3 is pretty good for Sprint race though and we can get a good result from there."
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "I think in the Sprint Race qualifying we could have even been on pole, we felt there was more time to come in the second run but the set of tyres didn't really give us the grip we were looking for, but overall we are quite happy with third. The Feature Race qualifying is a complete mystery at the moment. We just lost time; we lost nearly a second to our Sprint Race qualifying without making any major changes to the car so we've really got to understand why that happened and make sure it doesn't happen in tomorrow's race. We had a slight fuel pressure problem during the session but we overcame that and the team worked well today. I think the team's very disappointed with the overall results so we've got a lot of work to do for tomorrow. I'm confident we wont be finishing the Feature Race where we're starting it and I'm sure Adam will put on a great show for everyone again, but we need to make sure Adam is starting the races up the front not having to fight his way up from the back like sadly he had to do at Brno, and he's got to do again here."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "Sprint qualifying went well and it is very satisfying to be in the top three- matching our best ever qualifying. There was a clear lack of speed in the Feature qualifying which is going to be investigated as Adam felt sure he was much quicker."
Lebanon
A1 Team Lebanon completed final preparations for the first Zhuhai race of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today. Khalil Beschir drove in the first official practice session yesterday, handing over to his team mate, Chris Alajajian, who ran the Lebanese car in the final practice session and in afternoon qualifying. After the four segments of A1GP qualifying were completed the 21-year-old Australian-Lebanese driver produced his best qualifying performance in A1GP, with a 15th place start for the Feature race and 20th place for the Sprint race.
The morning session was used by the team to make final preparations for afternoon qualifying. Alajajian, driving the A1GP car for the first time at this venue was behind the wheel and worked with the team to develop its performance ahead of the grid-setting session.
The first segment of the qualifying session produced 20th fastest time for Lebanon. Alajajian then improved on his lap time, as did many others, so he remained in 20th, the position he will take for the Sprint race. In the second two segments Alajajian produced the 15th fastest lap of the field, an excellent effort from the young driver. A1 Team Lebanon will line up in this position for the Feature race tomorrow.
Alajajian said after qualifying, "Starting within the top fifteen is a better position for us than at the previous round, so I'm pleased we've made some progress. I was a bit disappointed with my Sprint race qualifying laps, particularly for the start of the race when there are so many cars ahead and the potential to be caught up with other people's incidents is higher. We won't let that change our outlook which will be to get the best start we can and then try to make progress through the field over the course of the race. One lap qualifying is still a relatively new experience for me and I'm still learning each time out. Racing is what counts, so we'll be focusing on this now for tomorrow."
Marcus Koch, Chief Engineer, A1 Team Lebanon concluded of the day's running, "Chris started on the back foot, with most of the other drivers already having run in two sessions of practice, so he had some ground to gain. Under these circumstances he coped extremely well, finishing 18th quickest in the morning and then putting in four consistent lap times and improving as he gained experience. The A1GP races are always highly unpredictable, so we'll be aiming to improve on our grid positions in the two races tomorrow.
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia completed another challenging day at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Zhuhai, China with the team pulling out all the stops to grab a top ten starting position for the Feature race. Driver Alex Yoong and the team of mechanics and engineers representing the nation in this unique country versus country racing championship contested technical problems as well as their competitors today. At the conclusion of the day the Malaysian team's efforts resulted in a 17th place start for the Sprint race and 8th place for the Feature race.
The challenges of running a 550 horse power racing car with state of the art advanced technology were reinforced again today for the team with further technical issues limiting the amount of running that Yoong was able to complete in the morning session. After an initial run, Yoong reported concerns about the car's performance. Once the team had diagnosed the problem they quickly made repairs and Yoong was able to return to the track later in the session, finally completing 22 laps before the chequered flag signalled the end of the hour practice.
In afternoon qualifying the Malaysian team opted to use their used set of tyres in the first segment of qualifying, so were lying in 18th place after the first run. Yoong improved on his lap time in the second run to finish 17th fastest overall of the two segments, the position he will take for tomorrow's Sprint race.
In the final two segments the best lap times are used to set the Feature race grid. Yoong, although struggling with straight line speed despite having little wing, managed to put in his fastest lap of the race and raced into eighth place in the overall times for the Feature race, for a fourth row start.
Yoong said of the day, "I'm happy with the car, the team and our efforts, but it seems that our straight-line speed wasn't matching up to our rivals today. We're not sure why, particularly as we were running very little wing, but we'll be analysing the data, checking through all the various factors that can influence this and hopefully we'll be able to address this before tomorrow. I'm expecting at least two top ten finishes tomorrow. That's a big challenge for the Sprint race from our starting position, and we'll be looking to exceed this expectation in the Feature race."
Jack Cunningham, A1 Team Malaysia Chief Executive, added, "I'm very proud of the team's determination and throughout this weekend they've shown their resolve and really pulled together and this culminated with a strong effort for the Feature race. We're disappointed to be starting so far back on the grid for the Sprint race, but we're not too disheartened. Statistics show that starting position doesn't have to be an obstacle to a top ten finish, so we'll certainly be aiming high for tomorrow. Once again, it's been a few minor technical issues that have shaped our fortunes so far this weekend, but these are now behind us and we'll be looking for points."
Netherlands
On Friday A1 Team Netherlands was still one of the front runners, but during qualifying today at the Zhuhai circuit the team had a real off day and only managed to qualify in eighth for the Sprint race and in eighteenth for the Feature race.
This means that there is an awful lot of work to be done by A1 Team Netherlands in just 24 hours time, before the Sprint race starts tomorrow morning at 11.00 hours local time.
In the final free practice this morning A1 Team Netherlands was still inside the top 10. Like yesterday everyone was very close together.After the first qualifying run for the Sprint race A1 Team Netherlands was in ninth. In the second run Jeroen Bleekemolen managed to improve his time and put a lap of 1'23.965 in the sheets.
But this was only sufficient for eighth on the grid.In the first qualifying for the Feature race Bleekemolen went out on track on used tyres, making the final run the decisive one. Bleekemolen did manage to improve on his time a bit, but this was just marginal and hardly moved up A1 Team Netherlands. Added to this was the fact that the first 18 were inside one second.
Jan Lammers; "This is a result that we as a team should really be ashamed about. We had a very bad day today, so much is clear. Clearly something is very wrong. It looks like we're experiencing our bad weekend this time. How bad and how costly this is going to be we will have to see tomorrow. We do not know the exact cause of this yet. It is also a combination of us getting it wrong and countries like India, China and even Pakistan having a good day. Fortunately all the prizes are divided tomorrow. It is going to be a lot of spectacle on track tomorrow though, a lot of people will go off. A lot will happen during the race. For the moment it is very bad no matter how you look at it. The only way of getting back up again is trying to understand it and improve. But then 24 hours only is a very short amount of time. This is the game though and we will have to figure it out."
Jeroen Bleekemolen; "in the beginning I thought that we could finish inside the top five with some improvements. But we only went backwards. I think I never qualified outside of the top 10 in A1 before. It was close together though. Maybe we have got a problem with the car, in the final run I suffered from massive oversteer. But at the moment we do not know it yet. Now we are only in eighteenth, there must be a reason for this. But this means that we can go for the record of overtaking on the first lap. Overtaking will be difficult here I think, but I have no choice. I think there will be a lot of changes in the running order, because people will make mistakes. It is quite demanding and a small mistake is easily made. You can easily loose two places then. A lot will happen."
New Zealand
The New Zealand A1GP team is well down the pecking order for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race in Round 4 of the World Cup of Motorsport in Zhuhai, China.
European nations dominated this evening's qualifying, snatching seven of the first eight places on the grid, as only 0.938 of a second separated Germany from clinching pole and New Zealand languishing in 13th spot.
Jonny Reid improved slightly to qualify 10th fastest for tomorrow's Feature Race, just 0.649 behind series leader Switzerland, as less than a second separated the first 18 nations in the field of 22.
A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray said the extremely close times proved the thinnest of lines existed between success and failure on the 4.3km circuit.
"But it's still disappointing to be in the middle of the pack for both races and we're simply hopeful Jonny can keep out of trouble early and then pick up places on what is reputed to be an overtaking circuit," McMurray said.
New Zealand is currently 3rd place on the overall points ladder, 15 points behind the Swiss and seven points adrift of the second-placed French.
The 20-minute Sprint Race starts tomorrow afternoon at 4pm with the 70 minute Feature Race taking place from 8pm tomorrow night.
Meanwhile, A1GP commentator John Watson believes there could be high drama on the opening laps of this weekend's races in Zhuhai, because of the extremely tight and narrow first corner.
Watson, a five-time winner in Formula 1, was the first person to lap the circuit in an A1GP car and he highlighted the potential for incidents at the first corner due to its tightness and funnelling nature, and believes it will be entertaining to watch on Sunday afternoon.
'The first corner on the first lap will be a problem,' Watson said. 'It's about 400 to 500m after the start line and cars will already be going to up to 220 – 230 km/h at that corner.
'There could be action especially on the rolling start in the Sprint race when the field will be more compact. Everybody will do the natural thing and funnel to the inside, to try and dive down the inside and get the inside line for the turn.
'There is an option for the driver to go the long way around on the outside but the only proviso is that if you want to do that, you need to be aware the car below you is going to slam up to the top and sideswipe you.
'Drivers will have to be on their toes, be aware and watch for the guys around them. The guy on the inside isn't going to know about the guy on the outside. He's looking in his mirror and thinking, 'who is coming inside me'' All of a sudden he moves up to the outside and he could hit him.
'It's an open opportunity for first corner noses to be knocked off and collisions and stuff like that.' However, Watson stressed, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. 'That's what we are here to see – we want to be entertained! I don't want to see cars being knocked out, but it will be a busy corner on the first lap, particularly in the Sprint race. 'There will be opportunities to pass and the circuit should provide some great races.'
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan took part in final practice and qualifying for the fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China. In an immensely close and competitive session, Adam Khan qualified 21st for the Sprint race and 17th for the Feature race.
Under sunny skies, the team took to the track for the one hour practice session. Following a brake problem on Friday, the team bedded in new brakes this morning in preparation for the all important qualifying sessions. Despite improvements under braking, the team were unable to push in the final stages of practice due to badly worn tyres and a front left puncture.
Taking the opportunity to study data before the qualifying sessions, the team made a few set-up changes to the car. Under the A1GP qualifying system, each team completes one flying lap in four qualifying segments. The fastest lap from the first two segments sets the team's position for the Sprint race, while the fastest lap from the second two segments sets the grid slot for the Feature race.
The third car out on track in the first qualifying segment, Adam Khan was pushing hard to set a quick time on new tyres and ran wide at the final corner. Despite this, Khan's efforts were sufficient to beat the bench mark time of the Australian car. After all 22 cars had set their fastest times, Pakistan lay 17th on the time sheet. Unable to improve in the second segment, Pakistan dropped to 21st – the position the team would take for the 20 minute Sprint race.
Pushing hard to claim a good grid position for the Feature race, Khan put in a stunning lap in the third qualifying segment to improve his time by 1.5 seconds to beat India by just over a tenth of a second. With one more flying lap to go, Pakistan was provisionally sixth on the Feature race grid. Pushing himself and the A1GP car to the limit in an effort to maintain a top six position, Khan again ran wide at the last corner and could not improve his time. After the 22 nations had set their final flying lap, Pakistan lay 17th, the team's starting position for the Feature race.
Reflecting on his qualifying performance, A1 Team Pakistan driver Adam Khan said, "We've managed to resolve some of the problems we've had with the car, I think at one point we were up to sixth. It's so close here, just one mistake can make a huge difference and put you down the order. Unfortunately in the last session I made a mistake at the final corner and ran wide, and up to that point that lap was actually my quickest. I made a mistake and I'll learn from that, but it was the last chance to improve our grid slot and if you don't try and put everything into it, you will never succeed. In all honesty, there was the opportunity to qualify in the top ten today, but at least we know the car has the pace now to be up there challenging for points."
A1 Team Pakistan engineer Andrew Miller added, "We made a few changes before qualifying and again before the second qualifying session, which seemed to help. Adam was pushing very hard out there today and unfortunately made a mistake on the final qualifying lap. He could have been about two tenths quicker, which would have put us in the top ten Adam feels comfortable in the car however, and I think we have a good chance of making up places tomorrow."
South Africa
A1 Team South Africa took 19th place out of 22 in Friday's second official practice session for the fourth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Zhuhai in China.
Adrian Zaugg struggled to get the best out of Vulindlela and found himself 1,75 sec off the pace set by A1 Team Ireland's Adam Carroll, whose best lap around the 4,3-km Zhuhai International Circuit was 1 min 23.27 sec.
A1 Team Canada's rookie Rob Wickens was second fastest (+0,49 sec), with A1 Team Germany's Michael Ammermuller third (+0,56 sec).
Earlier on Friday, Ammermuller was quickest in a closely contested first official practice session for rookies and developing nations. South Africa's Wesleigh Orr completed the rookie session in 14th place out of 19. Ammermuller's best lap was 1 min 24,13 sec. Wickens was second, just 0,07 sec behind, with A1 Team Brazil's Sergio Jiminez only 0,08 sec off the German's time.
"We think we may have a problem with the brakes, which could be making corner entry tricky for the drivers," said Mike Carroll, the team's general manager. "Late in the afternoon session the right rear starting locking (or the wheel speed sensor stopped working properly only under braking) regardless of the direction of the upcoming turn. This may have been a developing/intermittent problem that has now fully materialised and become persistent. We have changed both rear calipers for Saturday morning's final practice and are taking a few other corrective actions."
Switzerland
Neel Jani, who was on pole in the last event at Sepang with a pole in each of the past three years, continued his domination in Zhuhai winning the pole for the feature race while he is on front row for the sprint race.
In Zhuhai, early this morning it was another sunny day with a 23-24 degrees (C) temperature. The Swiss driver showed the potential of the car in the third practice session. Neel completed 18 laps and clocked a comfortable and very fast time of 1.24.609 (lap 10). Since he was on a quick lap, however, his car slipped in the last corner and he lost a bit of time in sector 3 in the last blind corner. His overall times brought him to fifth place, 0.268' behind fastest of the session, France' Loic Duval. Neel was confident for the qualifying session. In the afternoon, Neel followed through with a front row start for the sprint race and a pole for the feature race.
Under the 2007-2008 regulations, each A1GP Team is limited to one ‘flying lap' per session and at the end of the first two sessions the grid is determined. The teams' fastest single lap from either of these first two segments counts towards the sprint race grid slot.
In the warm and sunny conditions at Zhuhai for the first time, there was a large crowd here for qualifying. The fans were packed into the main grandstands and up on the hills. A1 Team Switzerland finished the qualifying for the sprint race in front row, and will be leaving next to Ammermueller, Germany. In Q2, the team improved their time and finished with a stunning time making them the fastest of the Q2 session. The combined result gave Neel Jani pole for the feature race.
Neel Jani commented, "By the time of the third practice, our brake problems from yesterday had being cured. I was able to push to find out the potential of the car and that was a lot better. So in order to improve, we tried different solutions during the third session. I was on my last quick lap, but went off in the last corner. These things happen. I was determined to take another good result for the two qualifying sessions. I had to be careful as the track had become slightly dirty in places where cars ran wide and kicked up dust. In the first session of Q1, Ireland, Germany and China were very quick and finished in 1.23'. I was only 0.456' from the fastest. In the second session of A1, there was a lot of traffic on the track as I left for my hot lap together with USA and China. I made no mistake and I clocked my best time. I wanted to retake pole position for the sprint race but I am the second fastest behind Germany. So, I will be starting from the front row for the sprint race."
"In Q2 for the feature race, it was looking good for a hot lap. In the first outing, I went third behind Ammermüeller as Team GB jumped up to second. In the second outing, the battle was between Team Germany and Team India. I managed keeping the top of the sheet. It was a very precise lap, and I was fastest in the three sectors with respectively 27.1, 26.6 and 29.7 thus keeping UK, India, France, Germany and China behind me on the grid. The start will be difficult because of the extremely tight and narrow first corner. It's about 400 to 500m after the start line and cars will already be going to up to 220 – 230 km/h at that corner. So we will have to be on our toes, be aware and watch for the guys around them. But there will be opportunities to pass and the circuit should provide some great races."
During the qualifying press conference Neel Jani summed-up his session: "We had another great qualifying session – second for the Sprint race and first for the Feature race - but it's very tight this time and all very close, every little mistake can put you three spots back. I'm very pleased because yesterday we had a lot of brake problems so the team did a great job to get it solved for today. My aim is to win both races tomorrow"
Max Welti, team principal, A1 Team Switzerland commented: " I am very pleased with the result. Neel Jani impressed me so much today. He is so focused and improved constantly on the track. What an excellent team work. The first step is to be starting with a good advantage on this difficult track. Neel Jani, Alexandre Imperatori, our rookie, our engineers and the mechanics did an excellent team work up to now all weekend. What a great qualifying to set us up well for the two races tomorrow."
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