A1 Team France topped the time sheets in this morning's third and final official practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit ahead of qualifying for the A1GP Shanghai, China this afternoon.
A1GP new boy, France's Franck Montagny, was strong throughout final practice this morning and set the fastest lap time overall on new tyres with 15 minutes of the session remaining. Montagny's breathtaking lap of 1m35.470s knocked current title leader Switzerland's Neel Jani, who was running on used tyres, off the top spot, which he had held for the majority of the 50-minute session.
Second-placed Switzerland was closely followed by Italy's Edoardo Piscopo in third, who, like France, had the benefit of running on fresh tyres, while last year's Shanghai Feature race winner, New Zealand's Jonny Reid, set the fourth fastest time overall.
Great Britain's Robbie Kerr ended the session in a strong fifth position, followed by Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque in sixth, who was the man to beat around the 4.6km state-of-the-art circuit yesterday.
Canada's Robert Wickens, who arrived at the circuit on Friday afternoon straight from Barcelona, where he had been carrying out testing duties for the World Series by Renault, steadily improved throughout the session to finish seventh overall.
Michael Ammermüller was eighth quickest in the German car followed by India's Narain Karthikeyan and home nation China's Congfu Cheng in ninth and tenth positions respectively.
All 22 nations competing in the World Cup of Motorsport are now preparing their cars for Sprint and Feature race qualifying, which begins at 14.15 this afternoon. Qualifying consists of four 15-minute sessions with a five-minute break between each one. The fastest lap time set by each team's nominated driver in the first two qualifying segments will determine the grid for the rolling start Sprint race, while the fastest times set in the final two segments will determine how the 22 cars will line up on the grid for the standing start Feature race. Each driver is limited to one 'flying lap' per 15-minute session.
Official Practice Session 3
POS |
DRIVER |
A1 TEAM |
TIME |
1 |
Franck MONTAGNY |
FRANCE |
01:35.470 |
2 |
Neel JANI |
SWITZERLAND |
01:35.556 |
3 |
Edoardo PISCOPO |
ITALY |
01:35.703 |
4 |
Jonny REID |
NEW ZEALAND |
01:35.834 |
5 |
Robbie KERR |
GREAT BRITAIN |
01:36.040 |
6 |
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE |
PORTUGAL |
01:36.059 |
7 |
Robert WICKENS |
CANADA |
01:36.082 |
8 |
Michael AMMERMÜLLER |
GERMANY |
01:36.086 |
9 |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
INDIA |
01:36.157 |
10 |
Congfu CHENG |
CHINA |
01:36.322 |
11 |
Alex YOONG |
MALAYSIA |
01:36.334 |
12 |
Filip SALAQUARDA |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
01:36.346 |
13 |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
USA |
01:36.634 |
14 |
Adrian ZAUGG |
SOUTH AFRICA |
01:36.652 |
15 |
Xandi NEGRAO |
BRAZIL |
01:36.662 |
16 |
John MARTIN |
AUSTRALIA |
01:36.930 |
17 |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
NETHERLANDS |
01:36.986 |
18 |
Adam CARROLL |
IRELAND |
01:37.148 |
19 |
Adam KHAN |
PAKISTAN |
01:37.454 |
20 |
Satrio HERMANTO |
INDONESIA |
01:37.614 |
21 |
Jimmy AUBY |
LEBANON |
01:38.039 |
22 |
Jorge GOETERS |
MEXICO |
01:38.542 |
Sprint Race qualifying
Twenty-four-year-old Neel Jani set the fastest lap in the closing moments of the second 15-minute qualifying segment to take pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race from Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque, who set the fastest lap during Q1 and has been on superb form all weekend.
Canada's Robert Wickens, who only arrived in China yesterday (Friday) due to prior testing commitments in Europe, put in an incredible performance to qualify third. India's Narain Karthikeyan, who was also on fine form, will line up alongside Wickens in fourth while New Zealand's Jonny Reid qualified in fifth position on the third row, a disappointing result for the title contenders.
USA's Jonathan Summerton, who finished on the Feature race podium last time out in Mexico, will start the race from sixth alongside Reid while Malaysia's Alex Yoong and Ireland's Adam Carroll will line up behind him in seventh and eighth place respectively on row four. Germany's Michael Ammermüller and Great Britain's Robbie Kerr complete the top ten grid positions.
Feature race qualifying
Having secured the Sprint race pole, Switzerland's Neel Jani stormed to the top spot for the Feature race, improving on his provisional pole time set in Q3 by half a second to make it another double pole position for the Swiss team.
Jonathan Summerton continued to impress in the USA car and will line up alongside Jani in second place on the front row. Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque leapt up the order during the final qualifying segment to snatch third position and he will be joined on the second row by Ireland's Adam Carroll, who shot up to fourth place in the closing moments of Q4.
India's Narain Karthikeyan and Malaysia's Alex Yoong will start the Feature race from fifth and sixth place respectively while New Zealand's Jonny Reid could only manage seventh on the grid. GBR's Robbie Kerr will line up alongside him in eighth and the pair will be followed off the grid by South Africa's Adrian Zaugg in ninth and France's Franck Montagny, who was flying this morning, in tenth.
Home nation A1 Team China's Congfu Cheng endured a difficult day, qualifying in 15th for the Sprint race and 20th for the Feature, having battled with technical problems relating to the suspension system on the Chinese car.
With Switzerland's nearest challengers in the title battle, New Zealand, France and GBR, all experiencing disappointing qualifying sessions, Jani has put the Swiss car in a perfect position to increase his team's lead and stamp Switzerland's authority on the championship.
Jani has now notched up seven pole positions during his A1GP career and secured two double poles this season, his first at round three in Malaysia. His stunning performance today means the Swiss star now holds the record for the most number of pole positions secured by an A1GP driver, beating five which was previously held jointly by him and Adrian Zaugg.
Sprint and Feature race pole-sitter Neel Jani, whose main aim is to pick up maximum championship points tomorrow, said:
'The team did a great job. We were struggling a little bit for the first run in qualifying but then we made a change and from then on we had fantastic pace. We don't know about the weather for tomorrow - it might rain which could change everything. If I get a good start there is nothing to worry about and I think the guys next to me are sensible and they don't want to go out either. I don't need to win at the moment, I just need points and that's what I'm going for. If I can win, even better!'
Portuguese rookie Filipe Albuquerque, who will start the Sprint race from second and the Feature race from third on the grid, is targeting his first A1GP victory:
'This is only my third race so I'm quite happy to be starting second and third and I think we did a good job. I thought I had got pole for the Sprint but Neel was just way too fast so I think P2 was the best we could do. Then for Feature qualifying I was behind Wickens (Canada) and he made a small mistake and I couldn't put my lap together but still third is ok with those mistakes. I'm happy to be on the first row in the Sprint race and if I have a chance to overtake Neel I will definitely go for the first place. We're nowhere in the championship so I don't care about the points I just care about the win.'
Tomorrow's Sprint race in Shanghai will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15.00.
All A1 Teams, suppliers and staff gathered in the paddock this morning for the annual A1GP group photograph. Go to www.A1GP.com/press to view and download it.
Sprint race qualifying results - A1GP Shanghai, China (round 9 of 10)
POS |
A1 TEAM |
DRIVER |
BEST TIME |
1 |
SWITZERLAND |
Neel JANI |
1:34.163 |
2 |
PORTUGAL |
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE |
1:34.613 |
3 |
CANADA |
Robert WICKENS |
1:34.682 |
4 |
INDIA |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
1:34.688 |
5 |
NEW ZEALAND |
Jonny REID |
1:34.742 |
6 |
USA |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
1:34.791 |
7 |
MALAYSIA |
Alex YOONG |
1:34.850 |
8 |
IRELAND |
Adam CARROLL |
1:34.928 |
9 |
GERMANY |
Michael AMMERMÜLLER |
1:35.012 |
10 |
GREAT BRITAIN |
Robbie KERR |
1:35.015 |
11 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
Adrian ZAUGG |
1:35.198 |
12 |
ITALY |
Edoardo PISCOPO |
1:35.224 |
13 |
AUSTRALIA |
John MARTIN |
1:35.336 |
14 |
BRAZIL |
Xandi NEGRAO |
1:35.492 |
15 |
CHINA |
Congfu CHENG |
1:35.508 |
16 |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
Filip SALAQUARDA |
1:35.590 |
17 |
NETHERLANDS |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
1:35.670 |
18 |
FRANCE |
Franck MONTAGNY |
1:35.789 |
19 |
PAKISTAN |
Adam KHAN |
1:35.923 |
20 |
LEBANON |
Jimmy AUBY |
1:35.931 |
21 |
INDONESIA |
Satrio HERMANTO |
1:36.612 |
22 |
MEXICO |
Jorge GOETERS |
1:38.312 |
Feature race qualifying results - A1GP Shanghai, China (round 9 of 10)
POS |
A1 TEAM |
DRIVER |
BEST TIME |
1 |
SWITZERLAND |
Neel JANI |
1:34.172 |
2 |
USA |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
1:34.626 |
3 |
PORTUGAL |
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE |
1:35.022 |
4 |
IRELAND |
Adam CARROLL |
1:35.035 |
5 |
INDIA |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
1:35.195 |
6 |
MALAYSIA |
Alex YOONG |
1:35.207 |
7 |
NEW ZEALAND |
Jonny REID |
1:35.283 |
8 |
GREAT BRITAIN |
Robbie KERR |
1:35.357 |
9 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
Adrian ZAUGG |
1:35.392 |
10 |
FRANCE |
Franck MONTAGNY |
1:35.496 |
11 |
ITALY |
Edoardo PISCOPO |
1:35.520 |
12 |
CANADA |
Robert WICKENS |
1:35.554 |
13 |
GERMANY |
Michael AMMERMÜLLER |
1:35.558 |
14 |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
Filip SALAQUARDA |
1:35.611 |
15 |
AUSTRALIA |
John MARTIN |
1:35.653 |
16 |
PAKISTAN |
Adam KHAN |
1:35.865 |
17 |
BRAZIL |
Xandi NEGRAO |
1:35.887 |
18 |
NETHERLANDS |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
1:35.921 |
19 |
LEBANON |
Jimmy AUBY |
1:36.066 |
20 |
CHINA |
Congfu CHENG |
1:36.136 |
21 |
INDONESIA |
Satrio HERMANTO |
1:36.326 |
22 |
MEXICO |
Jorge GOETERS |
1:37.440 |
Reporting by A1GP.com
