15/03/2008
NEWS STORY
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil will line up for tomorrow's Sprint and Feature races in Mexico City in eighth and 18th positions respectively after this afternoon's qualifying. Bruno Junqueira, who was in action for the Brazilian squad, had his feature race qualifying ruined when Team Mexico crashed ahead of him, causing him to back off on his hot lap.
The day kicked off with a final hour of free practice, and Bruno took to the track in what turned out to be a very close session, with the top 18 teams separated by just a second at the end. Bruno completed 26 laps of practice on the challenging Mexican circuit, setting a fastest time of 1:22.162, 0.477s behind Italy's Edoardo Piscopo, who topped this morning's session.
In qualifying for the sprint race, Bruno headed out with five minutes of the first session remaining and set a lap time of 1:21.457, putting him in provisional 11th position. He waited until later in the second segment, heading out with just two minutes to go, and improved his lap by six tenths of a second with a time of 1:20.842. His time moved him up to eighth position, securing him a fourth row grid slot for tomorrow's sprint event.
In feature race qualifying, Brasil used old tyres for the first segment. Bruno set a lap time of 1:21.675, which put the team in provisional 14th position. Using the final set of new tyres in the second segment, Bruno headed out late into the session with the majority of the field. He was on the final sector of his hot lap when the home entry of Team Mexico crashed into the wall ahead. Bruno backed off due to the accident and therefore did not set a competitive time. His grid position was then determined from his first lap, set on old tyres, and Brasil will begin on the ninth row of the grid in 18th position.
Bruno Junqueira: "Qualifying for the sprint was okay, I was four tenths from pole and the car was getting better. For the feature race it was really bad. I was on a very good lap, and the yellow flag came out. I thought we needed to slow down like the rest of the weekend so I did, but now they are saying you don't have to slow down in qualifying. So I'm very disappointed but we will try our hardest tomorrow to see what is possible."
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "Bruno did well in the sprint race qualifying but for the feature race he had a yellow flag at the last corner. He thought the rules were the same for qualifying as the rest of the weekend so he backed off and we didn't get a good lap in. He should be around P7 or P8 so it's disappointing. But it's a long race tomorrow so we'll see how it goes."
Canada
Robert Wickens captured A1 Team Canada's second pole position of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season today as the Toronto-born racer topped the timesheets in Feature qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez in Mexico City, home to Sunday's eighth round of the nation versus nation championship.
Wickens, who became the youngest ever A1GP pole winner at the previous round in South Africa, collected his third front-row start in four races courtesy of a flying lap of 1m20.278s in this afternoon's Feature race qualifying session. The 19-year-old, whose pole came with the top twelve nations separated by less than a second, hopes to convert P1 into victory tomorrow as he did in Durban last month in the Sprint race – Canada then climbing to eighth overall in the A1GP Nations Standings.
The earlier Sprint qualifying session proved to be an even tighter affair at the 4.42km track with the top fifteen entries split by less than a second – Wickens powering Canada to a third row grid slot with the sixth fastest time, a 1m20.621s. South Africa's Adrian Zaugg claimed the Sprint pole ahead of fellow A1GP race winner, New Zealand's Jonny Reid.
Robert fired himself into immediate pole contention with his first tour in Feature qualifying, a 1m20.812s, second fastest for the session. Going quicker still on his final run, Robert set the fastest third sector time on his way to a 1m20.278s lap. Wickens duly trumped the field to claim both his and A1 Team Canada's second-ever A1GP pole position.
"Getting my first Feature pole is definitely a great accomplishment," said Wickens. "Everyone wants to win the Feature race as it's longer with pit stops and more variables. The team did a great job; the car was phenomenal in qualifying. We struggled a bit in practice but overcame those difficulties in time for a competitive qualifying showing!"
"Another great performance from the team and particularly Robert," reflected Mark Gallagher whose Status Grand Prix operation runs A1 Team Canada. "After the win in South Africa, another pole here, this time in the Feature, is very satisfying and a further indication of the team's strength in depth. Daniel Morad played his part this weekend by performing well in the rookie session yesterday so all in all it's a very satisfying team effort."
Czech Republic
Filip Salaquarda qualified the Czech car to 22nd position for the Sprint and 21st for the Feature race in Mexico.The Czech team had a lot of things to do in the Saturday's practice after they lost basically the whole session on Friday afternoon. The team tried to tune the car for both qualifying and race.
They had to use also a new set of tyres because one tyre was damaged in the yesterday's accident. Salaquarda did 17 laps with best time 1:23.611 and finished 21st.
Salaquarda started the qualifying on used set of tyres and the first run was just to warm up. New tyres were put on for the second run and he did 1:22.373 which means 22nd place on the grid of the sprint.
Another two runs determined the Feature race grid. Salaquarda did his best time of the day in the last one - 1:22.333 and the Czech team will start from 21st place. The field is very close in Mexico comparing to some other round, 22 cars are covered by just 2.1 seconds. Both Sunday's should therefore be very competitive.
Filip Salaquarda: "We have been basically catching up after Friday's accident. We have to use a new set of tyres in the morning today and we have one new set less in the qualifying as a result. When the field is so close, even those small things make difference. It is difficult to imagine a big improvement in the sprint race but the feature race is open. I want to keep my pace and stay out of trouble. All practices and qualifying showed that we will probably see more drama in the races. I am usually stronger in races than in qualifying, so I hope to confirm it also here."
France
After a promising first day's practice A1 Team France tackled the second phase of the weekend on the Mexican circuit today (Saturday). Jonathan Cochet was at the wheel to take part in the third free practice session followed by qualifying.
The team's confidence was boosted in the free session as Jonathan did short runs of 2 or 3 laps. He was constantly among the quickest improving the car's set-up on a regular basis. He lost out on the fastest time only a couple of minutes before the chequered flag to a car on new tyres, and he finished second in a time of 1m 21.738s.
Unfortunately, this promise was not fulfilled in qualifying. He ran into brake problems in the first 2 segments that determine the grid positions for the Sprint Race, which A1 Team France will start from 16th place.
Things did not improve much in the 3rd and 4th segments that decide the positions for the Feature Race. Jonathan was not really used to getting the best out of new tyres. He improved his morning's time by a few tenths, while his rivals went a second quicker. The A1 France Team's driver's best was 1m 21.310s giving him the 14th quickest time in the session.
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "This morning Jonathan was on the pace right from the very start. He did a good job throughout the session so it was looking really good for qualifying. Unfortunately, success didn't crown our efforts. First of all, he was handicapped by brake problems. Then, as he had never had the opportunity to test the car on new tyres, he ran into a few problems getting the best out of them. Our starting positions are far from ideal. But we'll try and find the best strategy to fight our way up through the field to limit damage to our championship hopes. After all, last year South Africa got onto the podium after starting from 14th place!"
Jonathan Cochet: "I'm bitterly disappointed. It was all looking great this morning. The car's balance was good and I only lost the fastest time right at the end. This afternoon, nothing went as planned. During the first part of qualifying I had problems with a set of brake pads: the outside wheels were locking up in some corners. Then I probably didn't get the best out of the new tyres. It was my first time driving on them, and with just one flying lap per segment, it was a tough challenge. I think we can score points tomorrow in the Feature Race as the car's balance is pretty good especially on used rubber."
Germany
In the qualifying practice for the eighth round of the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport, Michael Ammermüller delivered a remarkable performance for Willi Weber's A1 Team Germany: the young driver from Pocking clinched third place on the starting grid for the main race. To the sprint race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, the German will start from position 13.
In the first quarter of the qualifying practice Michael Ammermüller, on new tyres, set a lap time of 1m21.379s which, in the end, amounted to tenth place. In the second trial A1 Team Germany, like the preponderance of the field, only started in the last 90 seconds and, on another new set of tyres, improved by three tenths of a second to 1m21.054s. As some other teams even showed more significant improvements, the German team dropped to grid position 12 for the sprint race.
After this, the race team from David Sears Motorsport decided to make some minor changes to the set-up. As a result, A1 Team Germany managed to set a lap time of 1m21.203s on used tyres in the first trial of the qualifying practice for the main race, which equated to seventh place. In the final outing Michael Ammermüller, on the last fresh set of tyres, improved by nearly six tenths of a second to 1m20.646s, thus moving up to position three on the grid for the main race.
Michael Ammermüller: "Had we been as quick in the beginning as we were at the end, I'd have secured two very promising grid positions! For the first time, we weren't allowed to have any rookie practice and in the subsequent Free Practice sessions we lost valuable time due to tyre problems. That's why the car wasn't perfect yet at the beginning of the qualifying practice and had too much understeer. Between the second and third qualifying segment the team improved the car by making minor mechanical and aerodynamic changes so significantly that I set the seventh-best time on used tyres. Subsequently, on the new set of tyres, I was as the limit in my last trial – third place was simply the maximum. The basic problem is that the set-up on this bumpy track is completely different than on any of the other circuits, and this requires some adjustments in thinking."
Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain and Oliver Jarvis will begin tomorrow's Sprint and Feature races from fifth and fourth positions after today's qualifying sessions .
In hot and sunny weather conditions, Oliver Jarvis for A1 Team Great Britain qualified in fifth position ahead of tomorrow's Sprint race and fourth for the Feature race in Mexico City for round eight of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
After setting the standard in yesterday's practice, topping the afternoon session, Jarvis returned to the circuit this morning for one final hour of practice ahead of the afternoon's qualifying. The session was hampered by red flags throughout, which caused a 40-minute delay in the chequered flag but, at the end of the session, the times were incredibly close, preparing drivers for a nail-biting qualifying. Oliver completed 31 laps of practice and used the session to fine-tune the car set-up ahead of qualifying and tomorrow's races. After initially topping the session, he set a fastest lap of 1:21.930 around the 4.08km circuit, putting him eighth fastest, 0.245 seconds behind session leader Italy.
In the first segment of qualifying for the Sprint race, Oliver headed out onto the track on new tyres, with three minutes remaining of the session, and set a lap time of 1:21.112, putting GBR in provisional seventh. The team left it even later in the second segment to try to take advantage of a cleaner track, leaving the pits with just two minutes to go, once again on fresh rubber. Oliver improved his time by over half a second, despite backing off after orders from the team following a yellow flag indicator on the data screens, recording a lap of 1:20.556. In a very competitive session, this moved GBR up to fifth, putting the British entry on the third row of the grid for tomorrow's Sprint, behind South Africa, New Zealand, USA and Switzerland.
Using the one set of old tyres for the first segment of the Feature race qualifying session, GBR once again waited until late on in the session to head out onto track. Oliver set a time of 1:21.188, which put the team in provisional sixth place. Back on new tyres, Oliver went out onto a very busy track for his final qualifying segment. He set his second best lap of the day with a time of 1:20.705, which moved him up to fourth on the grid. He will begin on the second row behind Canada, Switzerland and Germany.
Oliver Jarvis: "It's been quite a disappointing qualifying as we had good pace in yesterday's practice and we weren't too worried about being seventh fastest in this mornings' practice since we were very confident that come qualifying we would be quick. However, we struggled a bit in the first Sprint race qualifying, then the second Sprint race qualifying was better, but unfortunately we lost out as a yellow flag was shown on the screen and the team radioed, but when I arrived at the corner there wasn't an incident, which I think cost us a potential front row start. The first Feature race qualifying was okay on used tyres, and then the second Feature race qualifying was looking very good but I made a small mistake at the chicane, otherwise we could have been third behind Canada and Switzerland who were both on the pace."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "After our practice performance, we had hoped for a better qualifying position. We will begin fifth in the Sprint and fourth in the Feature. However, Oliver performed very well here last year and there is everything to play for tomorrow. Several teams have shown today their strength on this circuit but we have the pace and the talent in the team and Oliver, who is a proven race winner on this circuit, so it will be our job tomorrow to show just how strong we can be."
Ireland
Adam Carroll scores Belmayne A1 Team Ireland its best Feature start of the season lining up fifth for tomorrow afternoon's race and seventh for the Sprint race in round eight of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Mexico City.
As the sun continued to shine around the 4.08km Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Adam went out late in the first session to record a 1m 20.769s good enough for P5 by the end of the Q1. In the second Sprint qualifying session Adam failed to beat his earlier lap but with Great Britain and the USA improving their times, Team Ireland will start seventh for the rolling start Sprint race tomorrow morning, 0.454s off South Africa on pole.
In Q3, the first qualifying session for the Feature, Adam struggled with the tyres to get a good lap but in Q4 made amends with a 1m 20.708s. The time was good enough to take 5th for the standing start Feature race tomorrow afternoon, 0.430s off Canada. The thirs row start being Ireland's best Feature grid spot of the season.
The result also rounded out a great day for Status Grand Prix, who alongside running the Irish squad ran A1 Team Canada to 6th in the Sprint and the fantastic pole position with Robert Wickens in the Feature.
Adam Carroll: "It's my best Feature race qualifying which is great. I would have liked to have been further up in qualifying but we'll take those two positions and as we've shown we have good race pace, we'll hopefully go and score some good points and go for a podium. That would be good for the weekend!"
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "Mixed emotions really. We're pleased that we have put ourselves in a good position for both races as that's the first time we've done that for a while. I think we all thought we could have been on the front row but the main objective for this weekend was to recover our footing on the championship ladder and this is a fantastic start for that. We know we have a quick race car so we've just got to go out there and do it now. We should be in for an exciting race tomorrow!"
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "This was a very solid performance from the Team, and from these grid positions Ireland can be right in the leading battle tomorrow. After the top 3 placings in practice, both from Niall and Adam, we all hoped for the front two rows today - but missed out by a whisker. The other car we run, for Team Canada, is on pole for the main race - so we certainly have the technical capability across the team."
Lebanon
The Mexico City circuit, close to the capital city of this North American outpost, presented new challenges for A1 Team Lebanon with the technically demanding track, the heat and altitude testing the driver and car on qualifying day of the A1GP World Cup of Nations event which is being held this weekend. Jimmy Auby, a 21-year-old South African Lebanese racing driver is representing the nation for the first time here.
In the morning practice session Auby finished 20th fastest. He followed the planned programme of conserving tyres and continuing to gain track experience, using as much track time as possible to keep improving his pace and overall performance. The hour long session was also used b to refine the car set up for the track conditions today.
In afternoon qualifying Auby was keen to improve his performance, despite his lack of experience. A1GP qualifying with 15 minute ‘flying lap' segments is new to A1 Team Lebanon's new recruit but he quickly adapted to this style of grid setting, and put in four flying lap runs. He was the first car on track in the first of the four runs, and improved on his morning time to record 19th fastest lap, he backed this up with a similar lap time, to start in 19th position for the Sprint race.
The final two runs were used to set the Feature race and Auby used his remaining new tyres to put in two strong laps. The first segment produced eighth quickest time, but with many other cars improving on their second runs, the Lebanon team dropped down the order to finish 16th fastest, the team's grid position for the main race of the weekend.
Auby said after qualifying, "I'm still learning in so many areas with A1 Team Lebanon and particularly working with the engineers, but I'm enjoying the challenge. The car feels very different on new tyres than the old ones, so I'm having to learn how to quickly adapt my driving to get the best from them with only a warm up ‘out' lap before my flying one.
"I'm pleased with my Feature race qualifying position, but would have liked to have been a little higher up the order for the Sprint. But my focus now moves to the two races tomorrow and we'll be hoping to perform well tomorrow for all the Arabs around the world."
Marcus Koch, A1 Team Lebanon Chief Engineer, commented, "Jimmy is working with, and learning from the engineers each track session. He is continuing to show improvement and today it was only his first A1GP qualifying, so we're satisfied with our performance so far this weekend. We're very close to the French and Australian team's times, so we should be able to challenge those nation tomorrow, and to be ahead of team's such as Brazil and India is good. It's our second best qualifying result of the season, and that's a good effort from Jimmy on his debut."
Malaysia
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Mexico is hotting up for A1 Team Malaysia, with Alex Yoong lining up in 14th place for the Sprint race and in 11th place for the Feature race tomorrow, after a highly competitive qualifying session this afternoon.
Continuing with race preparations the Malaysian team ran 30 laps in the final morning practice session, with the team conserving tyres and concentrating on car setup for qualifying with a number of changes made during the course of the hour of track time, in efforts to improve the overall performance of the team.
In afternoon qualifying after the first two flying runs the Malaysia team's times produced a 14th place start for the Sprint race. Yoong said of this result, "I'm struggling out there. Lots of understeer and a lack of balance in the car didn't help me in my efforts to get a good lap time, but we've a short break now and we'll try and improve for the next two runs."
The final two runs produced a lap time which put the team into 11th position, the grid position for the Feature race.
Yoong said after the qualifying session, "We made some adjustments to the car and I was able to improve. I'm finding it hard to be consistent; I'm losing time particularly through the middle sector, really it's only two corners, but I thought we should have had a better qualifying. As this season draws to a close the competition is getting closer and closer, and the gaps between each team are so close, we're only sixth tenths off pole and if I had found just over two tenths we'd have been fourth, so qualifying is tougher. It will make for good racing though. The race will definitely be very tough. It's a long run down to the first corner, with very hard braking there, so we need to stay out of trouble and work our way through to give us a good points finish tomorrow.
"However, this is a great track for overtaking and we hope to do plenty of it tomorrow. I enjoy races like this and will aim to make up as many positions as possible."
Jack Cunningham, A1 Team Malaysia Chief Executive, added, "We're seeing just how competitive the A1GP series has become now, not only since the first season, but in each race of this season the times are getting tighter with teams having to fight hard to find the competitive edge. We're only just outside the top ten for the Feature race so that should give us a shot at a top ten finish. It's a very physically demanding race, both on the driver and the car, so anything is possible. We'll be out there doing our best for Malaysia tomorrow."
Netherlands
In the official qualifying for the A1GP Mexico City A1 Team Netherlands has not been able to create a good prospect for both races on Sunday. Jeroen Bleekemolen will have to start the Sprint race from 11th and begins the Feature race from 13th on the grid.
This morning A1 Team Netherlands already had to settle for 15th in the final free practice. The gaps were extremely small though, the top 18 was within on second.
In the first qualifying run for the Sprintrace A1 Team Netherlands waited long before going out on track. Bleekemolen put himself into second place with a lap of 1'21.005, but in the end dropped to sixth. As others were able to improve further on their times in the second qualifying session, A1 Team Netherlands did not succeed there and the team will thus have to start the short Sprint race from a disappointing 11th place. The gap with polesitter South Africa was seven tenths of a second.
In the first qualifying run for the Feature race Bleekemolen went out on used tyres and put A1 Team Netherlands in sixteenth. With new tyres A1 Team Netherlands began the deciding final flying lap. With a lap time of 1'21.263 Bleekemolen finished well behind Canada that took pole, the gap being almost a second. It was thought beforehand that there could well be a number of drivers that would cut the chicane during their run, but this only happened with India, which saw it's time from Q3 deleted. Mexico had a dramatic qualifying in front of the home crowd and will have to start both races from the very back of the grid.
A1 Team Netherlands has got a lot of work still to do after this dissapointing qualifying in order to still clinch a good result in the two races. Jeroen Bleekemolen was however not able to pinpoint the cause yet; "This was just very bad. The strange thing was that we actually started quite well with a not perfect lap. With that we were in sixth and when you are able to make some progression in driving and the car you are in a good position. However, we only got slower and that just does not make sense at all. That's where it went wrong. You have to be quicker every time out on new tyres. One, because you learn to drive with new tyres, this you have not done to much over the weekend so far and two, because you can improve the car. We have to find out where the problem is. A advantage for the races tomorrow is the very long straight. There you should be able to do something and try and possibly overtake. You also have to be a bit lucky that you are on the right side of the track at the start and try and make the best possible start. There is also a lot that can go wrong, especially with the chicane. It's getting through everything ok and make up positions, that's the only way."
New Zealand
New Zealand driver Jonny Reid has qualified in second place for tomorrow's opening Sprint Race in Round 8 of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Mexico.
Black Beauty will share the front row with pole-sitter South Africa, but will start from 6th on the Feature Race grid after the closest qualifying sessions of the season at the fast, flowing Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Swiss driver Neel Jani has put his nation into a good position to defend its championship lead. Switzerland will be right behind New Zealand in the Sprint Race and has qualified alongside Canada on the front row for the main race.
France, second on the overall points table, 10 points behind the Swiss and another 10 points ahead of the Kiwis, were well off the pace and will start 16th in the opening race and 14th in the second.
Reid was rapt to be on the front row for tomorrow's opening dash – a view echoed by team manager John Sears. "We'd rather be on the front row for the Sprint Race because it's the hardest race to make up places," Sears said. "We have a lot of faith in the pit crew – and in Jonny's driving – to make up ground in the longer Feature Race."
Sears says Black Beauty is looking fast and Reid is becoming increasingly familiar with a track that encourages speed, but bares its teeth when drivers make mistakes. "I think there will be quite a lot of carnage tomorrow," Sears said. "There's a lot of interlinking corners and if you go out of shape for one, you're likely to be off-line for another couple. The new chicane at the Peraltada corner is also going to catch people out. You can see drivers giving it a go, but failing to pull it off. It's one of those circuits where there's a fine line between pushing hard…and pushing too hard."
Sears believes the track will be dangerous early before rubber is laid down and offers the cars more grip. And he also reckons tyre wear will be telling. "The circuit is notoriously tough on tyres and we're likely to see mistakes towards the end of the Feature Race on wearing tyres."
Earlier in the day Reid set the 6th fastest time for the second practice session in succession. A1 Team Italy set the pace as the scheduled one hour session overran by 40 minutes because of four red-flag periods involving Lebanon, Portugal and Mexico.
It was another incredibly close session at the challenging high altitude circuit, with just over a second covering the top 18 teams. Seven teams had their lap times deleted for cutting the chicane leading into the final Peraltada corner.
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan was on track today for final practice and qualifying at the A1GP, Mexico City. Taking his place behind the wheel, Adam Khan was one of 22 drivers representing their nation at the eighth round of this 10 round season.
Taking to the track for the final practice session of the weekend, Khan completed 19 laps around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this morning. The A1 Team Pakistan driver made significant improvements around the bumpy circuit, especially in the challenging final sector. The team's efforts were enough to record the 14th fastest time of the session, just half a second off the fastest time of the morning, in one of the most competitive sessions of the season.
In A1GP's unique qualifying system, the fastest lap from the first two segments sets the team's position for the Sprint race, and the fastest lap from the second two segments sets the grid slot for the Feature race.
Taking to the track for the first qualifying segment on old tyres, Khan could only manage 20th quickest. On new tyres for his second qualifying run, the 22 year-old racer pushed hard to improve his position and made a significant improvement to secure 15th on the grid for the Sprint race.
Taking part in the third qualifying segment, Khan continued the positive momentum to take provisional 10th place on the Feature race grid. With just one opportunity left to better his place for the Feature race, Khan was on the limit on his final qualifying lap and ran wide at the final corner, damaging his lap time. With other teams posting improving their times, Pakistan will line up 17th for the 70 minute Feature race.
Reflecting on qualifying, Khan said, "I've got mixed feeling about our performance in qualifying. I was pleased with my second and third qualifying laps, and having been provisionally 10th on the Feature race grid, I was hoping to maintain or improve my position in the final qualifying segment. Unfortunately I think I lost quite a bit of time on the final corner on my last lap, the back of the car seemed to run wide, and it took quite a bit of effort to keep the car pointing in the right direction! I know we are quicker than our grid position suggests, so I'm aiming to make up plenty of places on the first lap. We've got a lot of racing ahead of us tomorrow so anything can happen."
Pakistan team manager John Allen added, "Adam did a very good job in final practice this morning to make a number of improvements and make up a lot of time in the final sector. That put us in good stead for the qualifying session.
"We continued to make good progress in the first two qualifying segments and I was pleased with 15th place for the Sprint race, but I think our performance in the final qualifying segment was a little disappointing. Adam has demonstrated he is very quick on old tyres, so I think he will be able to make up some places in the race."
South Africa
Adrian Zaugg (21) scored his and South Africa's fourth pole position of the current season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport when he drove the fastest lap in qualifying in Mexico City on Saturday afternoon for Sunday's Sprint race.
Zaugg and South Africa's distinctively-liveried Vulindlela have been at the sharp end of proceedings throughout the first two days of the eighth round of the A1 series at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, so it was appropriate that they took the honours in the first two segments of A1's unique four-segment qualifying format.
It was a bold comeback for the young South African after the disappointment of the South African round of the series in Durban three weeks ago. It was a close-fought affair, though, with second-placed New Zealand (Jonny Reid) just 0,082 sec behind and the top 15 covered by less than a second. USA (Jonathan Summerton) and championship leaders Switzerland (Neel Jani) will share the second row of the grid with Great Britain (Oliver Jarvis) and Canada (Robert Wickens) alongside each other on row three.
"It was a really good lap," Zaugg admitted in the post qualifying interview. "The car worked very well. It's very close and Jonny and I will be under pressure at the start from the guys behind us, who will be assisted by our slip streams."
There was disappointment for the South African team in the third and fourth qualifying segments that determined the start order for the longer Feature race. Aiming for a second successive pole on the day, Zaugg was sent out at the very end of the final 15 minutes of qualifying only to fail to record a time. He had earlier posted the third fastest time in the third qualifying segment and this was good enough for his top 10 position on the grid
"I lost it over the bumpy track surface in the middle sector of the lap and then I had to come off the throttle completely when the yellow flags came out following Mexico's accident in the new chicane," explained a disappointed Zaugg. He felt he could have been on pole again and now faces the prospect of a difficult fight back from mid-field in the Feature race.
Mike Carroll, general manager of A1 Team South Africa, was not disheartened. "Adrian has driven very well so far this weekend and we know we have a quick car. It's a 70-minute race and a lot depends on how well the teams handle their two mandatory pit stops. We've been good in this department this year and we're confident we can improve a lot on our 10th place on the grid. There are just six races remaining (including Sunday's two races) and every point we can score is vitally important in our quest to finish the season in the top three," said Carroll.
Canada's Wickens will start the Feature race from pole position with Switzerland's Jani alongside him. Germany (Michael Ammermuller) and Great Britain's Jarvis will occupy row two, while Ireland (Adam Carroll) and New Zealand's Reid will be on row three.
USA
Jonathan Summerton drove A1 Team USA to third starting position for the Sprint race and was seventh for the Feature in qualifying Saturday for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
"We're really happy to be starting third in the Sprint," Summerton said. "It's a boost for the team in that it validates the progress we've been making in qualifying with the ‘We the People' car. We had a good run, didn't get blocked or red flagged, and we came really close to the pole. We were able to show the speed we had in the car.
"We were unfortunate to be seventh in the Feature qualifying. We were running two-tenths (of a second) faster than our Sprint lap when we arrived at the chicane. A car had gone off seconds before and put dust and dirt onto the track and it caused us to lose grip braking for the chicane. It cost us five-tenths. It's disappointing knowing we would have been on the front row if the track had been clean."
Summerton ran a lap of 1:20.426 in Sprint qualifying, only .111 of a second slower than the pole-winning time of South Africa's Adrian Zaugg. In the Feature session, the 19-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., covered the 2.53-mile circuit in 1:20.778.
A1 Team USA's previous best qualifying performances this season had been sixth twice with Summerton for the Sprint races at New Zealand and Australia. Summerton equaled his top A1GP qualifying run. He also was third last season at Shanghai, China.
"We have put together a terrific effort in Mexico City," A1 Team USA Holdings owner Rick Weidinger said. "We've known we had the capability of qualifying in the top –five and it feels really good to do it for the first time this season. We've made steady improvement, but something has always seemed to get in our way of cracking the top-five. We never lost faith that we were headed upward and have kept working hard.
"We can't celebrate yet, but we're in position to achieve our goal of finishing in the top-five in both races Sunday."