03/05/2008
NEWS STORY
Australia
Team Australia delivered a fast car to John Martin today who met the traffic head on during Qualifying 3 and Qualifying 4.
During his flying lap in Qualifying 1 John Martin missed a gear and lost three tenths of a second with his best time in Qualifying 2 leaving him in 12th position for tomorrow's Sprint Race.
As the team released Martin onto the pit lane for Qualifying 3 the car was quick on new rubber when he came into Clearways and was held up by Team Mexico.
So all was up for Qualifying 4 with eight minutes remaining, John left the team pit and completed his warm up lap passing the pit straight and met Team Pakistan who was on his warm up lap. Adam Khan moved across his front of Martin's car and that was the end of anything positive. Final qualifying for the Feature Race was 19th place.
Alan Jones A1 Team Australia Seatholder: "We finally delivered John the best car so far and lost everything with two moves from Team Mexico and Team Pakistan during Q3 and Q4. He made a slight mistake early in Q1 and Q2. Anything can happen here so we'll wait to see how the team finish the last race of the season"
John Martin: "I was really happy with the car, everything was positive. A slight missed gear was a problem and it cost me that top six place for the Sprint Race. When Team Mexico and Team Pakistan came out in front of me during Q3 and Q4, I couldn't believe it. That was it, all over for any decent track time"
Rob Arnott: "We were robbed today with the two cars of Team Mexico and Team Pakistan baulking John's two flying laps. He missed a gear, that happens. John is very positive considering the results, and we know that he has a very quick car, let's see what we can do tomorrow for a better finish, as we are quick"
Brazil
A1 Team Brasil will begin tomorrow's Sprint and Feature races at Brands Hatch in 19th and 14th positions respectively after a disappointing day for the team at Brands Hatch in the UK. Xandi Negrao was in action for the team in the final qualifying session of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season.
Brasil took part in the final one hour practice session this morning, during which Xandi focused on further set-up work on the car. He completed 31 laps of practice, setting a fastest lap time of 1:16.192, which was 1.2s off the pace of session leaders China.
In qualifying for the sprint race Xandi struggled with grip and, after setting a time in the first segment of 1:16.189 was in provisional 16th. His problems continued in the segment and although he improved on his time with a lap of 1:16.117, he fell to 19th and will therefore begin tomorrow's 20-minute sprint race from the tenth row of the grid.
He fared better in the feature racing qualifying session although was disappointed not to make the top ten. He was provisionally 17th after the first segment with a lap time of 1:16.556 on old tyres and then set a time almost a second quicker in the final segment with a lap of 1:15.671. This was his best lap and he moved up to 14th, but in a very competitive session where the top 14 cars were separated by less than a second, he had to settle for a seventh row starting slot.
Xandi Negrao: "In the sprint race qualifying I didn't warm up the tyres properly and I didn't have any grip so I was pushing hard and we didn't get a good lap. In qualifying for the feature race it was much better and I was able to focus on putting together a good lap and hitting the limit of the high speed corners. Unfortunately the times were so close that we are still 14th, but one tenth quicker would have put us easily in the top ten. There is not much I can do as we are starting so far back in the sprint race but I think we're in good shape for the feature race."
Canada
Cracking the top-ten and earning points is tomorrow's mission for A1 Team Canada's James Hinchcliffe after the Toronto racer qualified 15th and 13th respectively for the Sprint and Feature races in Round 10 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, the season finale unfolding at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in the United Kingdom, Sunday 4th May.
With Canada looking to secure its highest placing in three seasons of A1GP competition, the team currently ninth from 22 nations, Hinchcliffe is keen to accelerate his learning curve as he makes his racing debut at the 2.62-mile Kent track with points scoring finishes the clear objective. Robbie Kerr repeated last season's feat of securing a pole position for his home event, the British A1GP veteran securing the Sprint pole while India's Narain Karthikeyan trumped the crowd favorite by just over two tenths of a second to snatch the Feature pole.
"Qualifying was interesting, it certainly didn't go quite as we had planned," said Hinchcliffe. "The first segment of the Sprint session was actually my first run on new tires since October. The gain in grip was phenomenal and to be honest I wasn't quite prepared for it. We were a bit off on that run but the second lap time was quite reasonable and would have been a great first attempt so I felt like I was a session behind for the Sprint which is unfortunate.
"I did a decent lap on old tires for my first Feature run and we knew what we had to try and do on new rubber for the final lap. I had a really good first and third sector but in the middle of the lap someone went off in front of me and I had to back out a bit which ultimately compromised my lap. I was happy with the car but we'll see what else we can do. The boys have done a great job as always and all being well we'll get up there and score some points tomorrow."
"We knew it would be tough this weekend with James having been out of the car for a few months," Team Manager Simon Cayzer commented. "Brands is quite a technical circuit, it's definitely not as easy to learn as some of the other tracks we visit. We kept chipping away though improving with every outing. I think we've got a reasonable package to run with tomorrow. Scoring points in the Sprint will be tough but there's everything to play for in the Feature. The Netherlands are a couple of spots ahead of us on the grid but we think if all goes to plan we could leapfrog them on the track and in the points!"
France
After qualifying for the final rounds of the 2007/2008 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport on the Brands Hatch circuit (Great Britain), A1Team France has respected its objectives. Franck Montagny will start both races in front of his direct rival in the overall standings, New Zealand.
On Sunday, A1 Team France will start from 8th place on the grid for the Short race and from 6th for the Feature event. New Zealand, which arrived in England with 10 points in hand over France, will start from 10th and 17th positions respectively.
But the team has to keep an eagle eye on Great Britain, which is racing on home turf this weekend, and is aiming for a place in the top 3. It is 12 points behind France and will start from the front row in both races. Tomorrow looks like being an action-packed day at every level. It should provide a thrilling finish to the championship, and give the spectators a taste of what real motor racing is all about!
Olivier Panis, sporting director: "Franck is feeling more and more at home in the A1GP car and that shows! We could have been higher up on the grid for the long race if we hadn't been held up on a fast lap. That's racing, though. This evening it looks like we can overtake our nearest rival in the overall classification, New Zealand. But mathematically speaking Great Britain can still get ahead of us. So there's no question of playing a waiting game, we're going out there all guns blazing!"
Franck Montagny: "I'm satisfied with my day. Qualifying went off pretty well even if I was held up by two slower cars right at the end of the session. That cost us third spot on the grid for the long race. Nonetheless, I'm optimistic for tomorrow and I reckon we'll be able to score points in both events."
Germany
The Willi Weber managed A1 Team Germany starts the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season finale at Brands Hatch (Great Britain) from grid positions nine and five. The 22-year old race driver Michael Ammermüller improved dramatically in the fourth qualifying section and, in doing so, jumped onto the third row for the feature race. A1 Team Germany lies in sixth position with 83 points going into the last race of the 2007/2008 season. Last season Willi Weber's team won the title.
In the first qualifying run on new tyres Michael Ammermuller recorded a lap time of 1:15.538 minutes – good enough for the tenth fastest time among the 22 nation field. In the second part of qualifying, the German, once again on new tyres, moved one position up the sprint race grid after posting a 1:15.306 minute lap. A1 Team Germany will start Sunday's first race from ninth position. In qualifying for the feature race Ammermüller set a lap time of 1:15.925 minutes on used tyres and, in doing so, secured eleventh position. In the subsequent final run on fresh tyres the 22-year old jumped up to fifth on the grid with a time of 1:15.042 minutes.
Michael Ammermuller: "It went better than yesterday. Things started off well with seventh position in free practice, which showed us that we are on the right way. I'm really looking forward to the feature race because we have a good chance of finishing on the podium starting from fifth place. This would be another highlight to round of the season. It will be important to make a good start. If the pit stops are good anything is possible."
Great Britain
A1 Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr will begin tomorrow's Sprint race from pole position and Feature race from second on the grid.
A1 Team Great Britain secured a front row starting slot for both of tomorrow's 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season finale races as Robbie Kerr powered to pole for the Sprint race and second position for the Feature race in today's qualifying session.
Following yesterday's strong practice session, in which A1 Team GBR topped the timesheets, Robbie Kerr took to the track this morning for one final hour of practice. It was another strong session for the team, with Kerr and China's Congfu Cheng frequently toppling each other's times throughout the hour as the lap times fell. At the end of the session, after Robbie had completed 26 laps with a fastest time of 1:15.134, GBR was second fastest, two tenths of a second behind China.
The team scored a perfect result in qualifying for the Sprint race with Robbie Kerr taking a brilliant pole position at the team's home circuit after the two segments. After setting a lap of 1:14.902 in segment one, the British squad was in provisional second position behind championship leaders Switzerland, after Kerr set a time one tenth off that of Neel Jani's time. However, in segment two, Robbie headed out once again on new rubber and improved his lap by half a second. His time of 1:14.424 put him on pole, with the USA's Jonathan Summerton snatching second ahead of Switzerland in third.
After first qualifying for the Feature race, GBR took provisional pole ahead of India and South Africa with Robbie setting a lap time of 1:15.092 on old tyres. Everything went down to the final segment, which turned out to be the most competitive and closely fought session of the day. Robbie headed out towards the end of the session and set a lap of 1:14.909. He was only beaten by India's Narain Karthikeyan who was able to set a time two tenths faster than GBR, securing pole position. Robbie will therefore begin from the front row alongside India for the Feature race.
Robbie Kerr: "We've been pushing hard all weekend and we have to be happy with the result although it's a shame we're not one place higher in the Feature race. We could have gone quicker but we didn't get a perfect lap together and we caught out a bit with the traffic by going out so late in the session to get the best track conditions. Tomorrow in going to be very competitive and I think the pace in the Sprint race is going to be very quick. The Feature race will be interesting as we have the two pitstops so we just have to continue the performance that we've been showing all weekend and go for the double win."
Katie Clements, Team Principal: "Everything is going to plan and the team and Robbie have performed brilliantly so far this weekend. It's a shame we couldn't have taken pole for the Feature as well as the Sprint, but we are on the front row for both races so we have to be happy with our day's work. I am confident that if we continue the performance standard we have set up to now then there is every chance for us to score maximum points and take third place in the championship tomorrow afternoon."
Ireland
Adam Carroll continued his good form claiming fourth on the grid for both the Sprint and Feature races for Belmayne A1 Team Ireland in the season finale at Brands Hatch, UK tomorrow.
In the closest event Ireland has to home, Adam clocked a 1m 14.935s around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit putting him fourth for tomorrow morning's rolling start Sprint race. In the final segment of Feature qualifying Adam was pushing hard on new tyres until he missed the down shift selector causing him to lose time through turn six. He did a great job to recover the lap with his time, a 1m 15.020s, still good enough for fourth on the grid for tomorrow afternoon's Feature race, as India took their first ever pole just 0.338s ahead.
Team Ireland is optimistic for a great end to the season with Adam Carroll in position to achieve the team's goal of sixth in the championship as the Celtic Tiger will start ahead of rivals Germany and South Africa in both races. The team will also be on the look out for Irish support in the crowds tomorrow morning from which they will pick the fan who shows the most creative Irish themed display to come onto the grid prior to the Feature race to meet Adam Carroll.
Adam Carroll: "Second row for both races is great. I was happy with fourth for the Sprint but was hoping to go better for the Feature. My last run was going really well but on turn six I didn't quite take the gear properly so I went through the corner in fifth instead of fourth and had quite a big moment, so I was surprised to still be up there. We can have a really good race from there now!"
Dan Walmsley, Race Engineer: "It's a very satisfying result but we know we can go faster. Adam missed the down shift selector on his final run so did well to drive his heart out to recover and put the car fourth. Second row for our home race is a good place to start from though as we will be in for an exciting day tomorrow and hopefully come away with a couple of podiums to end the season on a high note."
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "The performance today of the whole team has been nothing short of excellent. Adam has done a terrific job; Dan and he have really shown over the second half of the season that they've really got on top of our performance and to be fourth on the grid for both races is terrific. In particular I'd like to congratulate Team India for their pole position for this final race. In light of the comments by Vijay Mallya and Force India, I don't think there is anything second rate about the performance of Narain Karthikeyan and they have every right to be proud of what they've done today."
Lebanon
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has entertained crowds of motorsport fans around the globe with its unique brand of nation versus nation motor racing, with over 20 nations competing for the championship, visiting four continents and nine countries with fast and furious racing. The final round takes place in England this weekend and the qualifying for tomorrow's races were held at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England this afternoon. The session ended with A1 Team Lebanon starting 20th for the Sprint race tomorrow and 21st for the Feature race.
The Lebanon team resumed their preparations for tomorrow's races with the final practice in the morning for this weekend's driver, Khalil Beschir. The young Lebanese racer continued to work with the team, learning the best lines around the track and trying to get the best from his A1GP car. He was making steady improvement, but an excursion off the track left the Lebanon driver stranded in the gravel and unable to continue in the session.
In the afternoon the A1GP qualifying session saw the teams compete head to head in four segments of ‘flying lap' runs, with the best lap times from the first two segments setting the grid position for the Sprint race, the first of the two A1GP races which headlines this weekend's action- packed schedule, and the best lap time from the second two segments determining the Feature race grid position.
After the first two segments, Beschir had recorded 20th fastest lap to take that position for the Sprint, and 20th quickest time in the second two segments, to line up on the 11th row of the grid for the Feature race.
Beschir said of his qualifying session, "I made a mistake this morning that ended my session a little early, but up until that point I'd been able to make steady improvement. We'll make the best effort we can from our grid positions and I'm hoping that we can gain more places in the races tomorrow."
Marcus Koch, Chief Engineer, A1 Team Lebanon added, "It was always going to be a tough qualifying session because Khalil has had so little time in the car this season. He improved his lap times in each segment of qualifying, and starts the Sprint race ahead of drivers with more A1GP race experience this season. We'll be on the grid tomorrow aiming to improve on the grid positions for the two races tomorrow."
Malaysia
A1 Team Malaysia with driver, Fairuz Fauzy, will line up in 14th place on the grid for the Sprint race and 12th place for the Feature race, the final race of the third season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, following the today's qualifying session at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, the historic English racetrack which hosts the tenth and final round of the Series.
A1 Team Malaysia was determined to use every minute of track time to be as prepared as possible for the final two races in the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport calendar. Running on used tyres for the final practice session to keep three sets for the all-important qualifying, Fauzy set strong, consistent lap times and worked on improving the balance of the car for the afternoon session, ending the session with the eleventh quickest lap.
The A1GP qualifying session in the afternoon saw the 22 nations completing four ‘flying laps' within the four 15 minute qualifying segments. With three sets of new tyres Fauzy made the most of the fresh rubber to set 14th best time for the Sprint race, and 12th fastest lap of the final two segments to take his place for the Feature race.
Fauzy said of his day, "We had a puncture during this morning's session, which reduced our running and left us a little behind with our preparations for qualifying. This afternoon was close; just two tenths would have put us comfortably in the top ten. It's the last race weekend of the season and the times have just got closer as the season has progressed so it's very tight and very competitive. >From our start positions we can get into the top ten, particularly in the Feature race. It'll be important to keep out of trouble at the start and then we can try to make up some ground."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive of A1 Team Malaysia, reviewed the day commenting, "We haven't had the top ten starts that we were aiming for, but we're close and should be able to make progress into the points from these starting positions. It's a very close contest with the front of the grid all running on a very similar pace, so it's going to be an exciting battle tomorrow. We are very determined to finish as strongly as we can. I also hope that A1GP will put on a great showing of thrilling motor racing, so that the loyal British fans trackside and fans of A1GP all around the world are given a finale to remember."
Netherlands
A1 Team Netherlands was not on form today during the final qualifying sessions of this A1GP season. In a heavily fought qualifying for the Sprint race, where the intervals were extremely small Jeroen Bleekemolen had to settle for an 11th fastest time with a lap of 1'15.338. In the Feature race qualifying A1 Team Netherlands finished in tenth place.
In free practice this morning A1 Team Netherlands was not amongst the front runners. In this final session Bleekemolen set a fourteenth fastest time.
After a short delay the Sprint race qualifying started. Almost everyone waited until the dying minutes of the session before going out on track for the flying lap. Bleekemolen did set a third fastest time at first, but soon A1 Team Netherlands dropped to seventh. In the second session A1 Team Netherlands seemed on its way to improve their lap time further but in the end Bleekemolen lost too much. This caused A1 Team Netherlands to drop further to 11th. In the fight for the Championship New Zealand did not do well compared to Switzerland. Switzerland, which only needs one seventh place finish for the title is starting in third, New Zealand in tenth. Great Britain took the pole on their home circuit, with only two thousands of a second.
In the first run for the Feature race qualifying A1 Team Netherlands again seemed to improve on the fastest time up to then. On used tyres Bleekemolen set a time of 1'15.704,which was good for a provisional ninth time. The final qualifying run only brought a marginal improvement, with a time of 1'15.620. This caused A1 Team Netherlands to drop one more place, to tenth on the grid. India took the final pole of the season, followed by Great Britain and Switzerland that is getting very close to the title with New Zealand down in seventeenth.
Of course Jeroen Bleekemolen was dissapointed about the result; "We wanted to be up front of course. It is a shame, we just came up short every outing. We did not manage to get the balance of the car completely right. It was under – and oversteer, every time a little bit of one or the other. No matter what we did, we did not make progress in our times. Because everyone is close together you might say that overtaking will be difficult tomorrow, with the difference in pace being this small. But on the other hand that, especially because these are the final races of the season, people will go the extra mile and will give it all. I think that we might well see cars coming by on less than four wheels."
Jan Lammers was very clear in his analysis and he thinks a good dose of self reflection is necessary; "I normally can accept loosing, but this aggrevates me. Regardless how the races will go tomorrow, we can be lucky and maybe gain something with good pitstops, everyone of us has to take this result very personal. Without some measures we cannot compete up front, that much is clear. Getting the car balance right is a skill that we should already own and if we want to start saying that we are able to win races there is quite a bit we will have to do first."
New Zealand
New Zealand's slim chance of overhauling Switzerland to win the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has taken a nose dive after qualifying for the 10th and final round at Brands Hatch.
Needing to win at least one of the final day's two races and trust that the championship-leading Swiss won't finish any higher than 8th in either outing, Black Beauty has an Everest to climb after striking out in qualifying.
As Switzerland snared 3rd place on the grid for both races, Jonny Reid could only put New Zealand into 10th place on the Sprint Race grid and the team will start a lowly 17th of the 22 nations for the Feature Race.
Reid admits the challenge is huge, but says the championship isn't over "because no points have been scored yet". "We're hoping for the best and will stay as positive as possible," he said.
New Zealand is second in the championship, 29 points behind Switzerland with 32 points on offer this weekend. Reid will be keeping a close eye on France, which is just 10 points behind in 3rd place overall and will start from 10th and 6th in the two races.
Reid's qualifying woes weren't signalled in the morning as he set the 4th fastest time in the final practice session on the 4.22km circuit. China's Congfu Cheng shot to the top of the time sheets in sunny but breezy conditions, spending the majority of the session trading places with home nation GBR's Robbie Kerr and India's Narain Karthikeyan.
The trio know the Brands Hatch circuit well and dominated the hour, finishing ahead of New Zealand with the Swiss 5th fastest.
It was another incredibly close session, with under a second covering Portugal in sixth place to Australia in 19th.
Pakistan
A1 Team Pakistan took part in qualifying for the final round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, at the Brands Hatch circuit in Great Britain. Adam Khan took his place behind the wheel of the Pakistan car to set the team's position for tomorrow's races. As A1GP's unique qualifying session drew to a close, the team had qualified 18th for both the Sprint and Feature races.
Before qualifying, the team were on track this morning for the final practice session of the weekend. As the weather remained sunny and bright, Khan completed 28 laps to work on the team's set up before the afternoon's qualifying sessions.
With the grassy banks around the Brands Hatch covered with excited spectators, the 22 A1GP drivers took to the track for the four segment qualifying session. In a system unique to A1GP, the teams completed four flying laps, the quickest of the first two laps setting the team's position for the Sprint race, while the quickest of the final two laps setting the grid position for the Feature race.
Khan was the first driver out on track for the first qualifying segment, setting a good benchmark time on old tyres. The 22 year-old racer improved further on his second lap however, to take nearly two seconds off his previous time and put the team 18th on the Sprint race grid.
After a five minute break, the team were back out for the third qualifying segment –Khan's first attempt to set a good position for the Feature race grid. Khan was pushing hard on his third qualifying lap, putting the team in a provisional 14th place. With just one more lap to improve his position, Khan improved his time further, but with other teams also going quicker Pakistan were relegated to 18th on the grid.
Speaking about the team's qualifying performance, Khan said, "I'm not very happy with it, we'll just have to try and make the most of it tomorrow. I think there will be quite a few incidents tomorrow - this is a very tricky circuit, very twisty with some blind corners, so I think there is potential to make up some positions. We'll be pushing hard tomorrow to get the best result for Pakistan and end the season on a high."
Team Manager John Allen added, "We didn't really get to grips with the high speed corners here and struggled to get the most out of the new tyres. Ideally I think we could have been a few more places up the grid for the Feature race. Nevertheless, we've seen the championship get more and more competitive as the season has gone on and now at the season finale it is more difficult than ever. Despite qualifying 18th for the Feature race, Adam is just over a second behind the pole sitter which shows how close it is.
"Adam is very much a racer and I think we'll see him make up places tomorrow, especially in the longer Feature race. It's going to be quite an uphill battle tomorrow to get into the points, but at Brands Hatch anything can happen."
Switzerland
Neel Jani will be starting well ahead of New Zealand in both races at Brands Hatch
Actually, nothing can go wrong anymore for the Swiss team in the nations' cup of motorsport. At Brands Hatch, Neel Jani will be starting from third place both for the sprint and for the feature race, on both occasions well ahead of New Zealand, Switzerland's only remaining rival in the battle for the title that is at stake on Sunday.
Given the qualifying results, it is quite probable that the decision will already come in the sprint race. New Zealand's Jonny Reid would have to find a way past the Swiss car from tenth position in only 15 laps. In case he fails to do so, Switzerland will be world champion. And this will also be the case when New Zealand will be winning the race against the odds and Neel Jani finishes at least seventh. Even when the Swiss driver would have some kind of problem, he would have a second and even better chance in the feature race running over 48 laps, in which New Zealand has to start from 17th place, almost chanceless.
"All in all, I am very happy with what we have achieved, after we didn't get it right for quite a long time in practice in the morning", Neel Jani reported. "Of course, I would have liked to be on pole position, but this time, I can live with my pair of third places. In qualifying for the sprint race, I wasn't too far off. I set the fastest time in the first segment. In the second one, the tyres didn't work at their best. Probably, they cooled down too much during the in-lap. On my first attempt for the feature race, the throttle on my car was stuck for a moment. As a result, I took it cautiously. On my final run, I was heading for pole after the first and second sector, but I lost four tenths in the last corners. I guess I pushed a little bit too hard, so that there was too much pressure on the tyres. I can be confident."
Even team principal Max Welti, who is always urging everybody to remain realistic, expressed his relief: "We have made a big step into the right direction. Once again, I have to make a big compliment to Neel. Although we have 70 guests here, he remained calm and focussed. He has matured in every sense of the word, doesn't let himself get affected by any unexpected things. The result, of course, is also down to our engineer James Robinson, who has an excellent relationship with the driver. We have seen this in practice in the morning, as things initially weren't running smoothly."
USA
Jonathan Summerton qualified A1 Team USA on the front row Saturday for the Sprint race for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch.
Summerton will start from the fifth row for the Feature race Sunday in the 10th and final round of the A1GP season.
"I'm really happy with the 'We the People' car," Summerton said. "I was hoping for a pole in Sprint qualifying and you can't come much closer, but it's a great starting position. There usually isn't much overtaking in the Sprint race."
The 20-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., was .002 of a second slower than pole winner Robbie Kerr of Great Britain, driving around Brands' 2.6-mile Grand Prix circuit in 1:14.426 for Sunday's 20-minute Sprint.
Summerton ran a lap of 1:15.398 on worn tires in the first qualifying session for Sunday's 70-minute Feature. He was fourth going into the second session and had the team had saved, like many other teams, its last set of new tires. In A1GP, teams are limited to five sets of new tires per weekend and are issued two sets for the four qualifying sessions.
With the tires at their peak for only one lap, Summerton was on his attempt to start at the front and spun late in the lap. The lap on used tires from the first session held up for ninth fastest.
"We struggled with some understeer in the Feature qualifying," Summerton said. "I got a little loose in Turn 9 and got up on the curb a little and it put a wheel into the grass. I spun. I'm happy that our lap on old tires held up for eighth, but disappointed we lost that lap. I believe it would have put us in the top two again."
A1 Team USA (44 points) goes into the final two races of the season trailing Portugal (50) for 10th place by six points. China (46), Brazil (44) and India (40) are also in contention for 10th in the championship.
"We're going for a win and a podium," Summerton said. "How we finish in the Sprint will determine how aggressive we are in the Feature. We want to be in the top-10 in the championship and we don't want to throw that away if we get in a position to do it. It's going to be a hard battle in the Feature coming from ninth, but we know we've got a fast car, the team is good and I'm sure we'll have a good race car."
A1 Team USA qualified on the front row for the second straight round. Summerton was second for the Feature at Shanghai, China, and won the race.
"We've done an outstanding job this weekend with the exception of Jonathan's spin in Feature qualifying," A1 Team USA Holdings owner Rick Weidinger said. "We are in a position to take 10th in the championship and take some high horsepower momentum into next season. We've developed into a top team and we want to show that on the final day of the season."