The heat and humidity of Indonesia seems to suit A1 Team Mexico, as in the final practice session before qualifying for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport race at the Sentul track it was Salvador Duran who set the quickest time. His 1min 17.586secs lap, at an average of 184kph, was half a second quicker than that set by the reigning A1GP Champions, A1 Team France, on Friday.
A1 Team Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr was again second quickest with just eight hundreths of a second separating him and the Mexican driver. Again the top drivers’ times were close, but perhaps the biggest surprise was the time set by A1 Team USA, with third placed Phil Giebler being nearly a second quicker than he was on Friday.
The session was the last opportunity the drivers had to set up their cars for qualifying, with several pushing them to the limit, missing their braking points and heading into the gravel traps. Among those to make such excursions were A1 Team Malaysia and A1 Team New Zealand. The times set in the four qualifying segments this afternoon are the ones that count and no doubt local hero, A1 Team Indonesia driver, Ananda Mikola, will be hoping to set a time in the region of a high one minute sixteen seconds that he has predicted could be pole.
Qualifying for tomorrow’s Sprint race is due to start at 14.15 local time this afternoon.
Official Practice Session 3
|
A1 Team |
Driver |
Time |
No. Laps |
1 |
Mexico |
Salvador Duran |
1.17.586 |
21 |
2 |
Great Britain |
Robbie Kerr |
1.17.667 |
12 |
3 |
USA |
Phil Geibler |
1.17.762 |
22 |
4 |
France |
Nicolas Lapierre |
1.18.208 |
21 |
5 |
Brazil |
Tuka Rocha |
1.18.367 |
23 |
6 |
Australia |
Ryan Briscoe |
1.18.392 |
24 |
7 |
New Zealand |
Jonny Reid |
1.18.397 |
17 |
8 |
Canada |
Sean McIntosh |
1.18.663 |
20 |
9 |
Germany |
Nico Hulkenberg |
1.18.830 |
21 |
10 |
Switzerland |
Neel Jani |
1.18.857 |
27 |
11 |
South Africa |
Alan van der Merwe |
1.18.922 |
18 |
12 |
Indonesia |
Ananda Mikola |
1.18.977 |
25 |
13 |
Czech Republic |
Jaroslav Janis |
1.19.084 |
22 |
14 |
Netherlands |
Jeroen Bleekemolen |
1.19.143 |
22 |
15 |
Ireland |
Richard Lyons |
1.19.380 |
18 |
16 |
China |
Ho-Pin Tung |
1.19.396 |
17 |
17 |
Italy |
Enrico Toccacelo |
1.19.706 |
23 |
18 |
Malaysia |
Alex Yoong |
1.19.764 |
24 |
19 |
India |
Armaan Ebrahim |
1.20.455 |
28 |
20 |
Lebanon |
Basil Shaaban |
1.21.051 |
26 |
21 |
Pakistan |
Nur Ali |
1.21.996 |
29 |
QUALIFYING
A1 Team New Zealand’s Jonny Reid has snatched pole position for the Gudang Garam A1GP Sentul, Indonesia Sprint race with a last-gasp flying lap in the dying minutes of Qualifying. Reid’s aggregate time was just 0.034secs quicker than Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr, who also moved up in the last minute to secure second position from Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg for Sunday’s 15-lap race.
Reid performed strongly throughout the four segments, setting top five times in all sessions, but it was his last lap of the day that grabbed pole, the New Zealander’s second of the year. “It’s quite hard work in today’s Qualifying due to the weather conditions, but I’m glad to be on the pole position, and looking forward to the race,” commented Reid. He now looks to achieve a better result than Brno, the last race he started on pole, where he ran into the wall before the first corner after a clash with Hülkenberg. “It was an unfortunate situation, I think we both have misjudged the circuit corner but we have been moving on and will focusing on winning the race tomorrow.”
Great Britain’s Kerr put in a consistent performance over the four segments. The young Briton topped the times after the second session, however could only post the fifth quickest in the third until a massive push in the final minute moved him into second ahead of young rising star Nico Hülkenberg. Kerr was however hoping for more, “Even in today’s sessions I’m disappointed for not being on pole, but I will try and give the best performance I can tomorrow and let’s just see what happens.”
After recording the fastest time in session one, 0.064secs quicker than Reid, Hülkenberg looked set to score yet another pole position, however he failed to match the pace in the remaining three 15 minute portions and dropped down to third overall. Hülkenberg confessed he had made minor set-up adjustments between sessions, and felt the car was better today, “Yesterday I actually have a problem, but today I feel much better and enjoyed the track. For me the weather doesn’t really matter. I like both, the wet and the dry conditions. I’m ready for both conditions.”
After setting the fastest time in the morning’s earlier practice session, Mexican Salvador Duran steadily improved his lap times in Qualifying to start the race from fourth position. Duran’s combined times were enough to win the position against a resurgent Phil Giebler of the USA, who posted the fastest time in the third session. Defending champions France will start the race in seventh behind Australia.
A1 Team Ireland’s new racer, Richard Lyons, had an eventful first A1GP Qualifying when he ran wide into a tyre wall at Turn Three during the second session and caused a red flag period. After marshals pushed him free, he returned to the pits to repair the car’s broken nosecone and continued in the remaining sessions to start tomorrow’s 15-lap Sprint race from 18th on the grid. Home nation Indonesia will start from 17th.
The Sprint race is due to start tomorrow morning at 11.00 local time, with the result determining the grid for the afternoon’s 50-lap Feature race.
Qualifying results
| |
A1 Team |
Driver |
Aggregate Time |
Gap first |
| 1 |
New Zealand |
Jonny Reid |
2.33.242 |
|
| 2 |
Great Britain |
Robbie Kerr |
2.33.276 |
+0.034 |
| 3 |
Germany |
Nico Hulkenberg |
2.33.485 |
+0.243 |
| 4 |
Mexico |
Salvador Duran |
2.33.664 |
+0.422 |
| 5 |
USA |
Phil Giebler |
2.33.693 |
+0.451 |
| 6 |
Australia |
Ryan Briscoe |
2.33.838 |
+0.596 |
| 7 |
France |
Nicolas Lapierre |
2.33.839 |
+0.597 |
| 8 |
South Africa |
Alan van der Merwe |
2.34.001 |
+0.759 |
| 9 |
Canada |
Sean McIntosh |
2.34.608 |
+1.366 |
| 10 |
Netherlands |
Jeroen Bleekemolen |
2.34.691 |
+1.449 |
| 11 |
Switzerland |
Neel Jani |
2.34.835 |
+1.593 |
| 12 |
China |
Ho-Pin Tung |
2.34.878 |
+1.636 |
| 13 |
Malaysia |
Alex Yoong |
2.34.966 |
+1.724 |
| 14 |
Czech Republic |
Jaroslav Janis |
2.35.039 |
+1.797 |
| 15 |
Italy |
Enrico Toccacelo |
2.35.195 |
+1.953 |
| 16 |
India |
Armaan Ebrahim |
2.35.361 |
+2.119 |
| 17 |
Indonesia |
Ananda Mikola |
2.35.519 |
+2.277 |
| 18 |
Ireland |
Richard Lyons |
2.35.610 |
+2.368 |
| 19 |
Brazil |
Tuka Rocha |
2.36.734 |
+3.492 |
| 20 |
Lebanon |
Basil Shaaban |
2.37.946 |
+4.704 |
| 21 |
Pakistan |
Nur Ali |
2.42.114 |
+8.872 |
