A1 Team Czech Republic snatched the top spot on the timing sheet in the closing minutes of this afternoon’s second practice session for the A1GP Taupo, New Zealand, setting the fastest time of the day, despite driver Tomas Enge stepping in at the last minute for injured team mate, Jarek Janis.

‘I should be in Daytona, preparing for the 24 hour race next weekend but Janis is injured so I got a late call to come to New Zealand but I’m very happy to step in. I love the country, I’ve never been in such a nice place before, said Czech driver Tomas Enge. Commenting on the track conditions, Enge continued: ‘I didn’t expect the track to be so dirty and you really had to push the car round the corners but I hope I can continue like this for the weekend. I will be concentrating on myself, not looking at the others.’

Knocking A1 Team India off the top spot, a position that new driver Narain Karthikeyan had held on to for nearly half the session, the Czech Republic demonstrated just how close this weekend’s race is likely to be. Having only joined the team last week, the morning practice session was Karthikeyan’s first time in an A1GP car and marked a significant improvement in India’s performance. Commenting on the gains made, Karthikeyan said: ‘It’s a big big difference and I’m happy with the way things are going. I’m not getting carried away by today, there is still lots to be done on the car. The team have had some less experienced drivers so we need a lot of work to be done on the car set up wise’.

A1 Team France set the fastest lap time in this morning’s rookie session with Loic Duval behind the wheel. Commenting on the Taupo circuit which has undergone extensive improvements to host the A1GP event, Duval said: ‘It’s a nice track but difficult on the line as it gets really dirty outside. The track looks very good and the whole complex is very nice. The corners are difficult, the shorter lines are a problem during the race, its tough to overtake and quite dirty so I’m expecting a tough race.’

Host nation A1 Team New Zealand also seemed to have a tough start to the day, setting the eight fastest times in both sessions. But having won the last race in Sentul, Indonesia, expectations are high for New Zealand to be the first team in A1GP to win a home race. ‘Winning at Sentul doesn’t add any pressure but I can use the home fans and use that energy to help me’, commented driver Jonny Reid. ‘I’m not disillutioned by the results, it’s quite pleasing as we have a few tricks up our sleeves. The track is really dirty off line and it’s a really technical circuit so I’ll be relying on the team and mechanics a lot.’

After a further free practice session at 11.00 in the morning, Qualifying for the Sprint race will take place with four 15 minute sessions between 14.15 and 15.30.

Official Practice Session 1 (11.00 – 12.00) – Rookie drivers and developing nations only

	A1 Team	Driver	Time	No. Laps
1	France	Loic Duval	1:15.601	15
2	India	Narain Karthikeyan	1:16.188	29
3	Netherlands	Renger Van der Zande	1:16.344	27
4	Switzerland	Marcel Fassler	1:16.412	26
5	Malaysia	Fairuz Fauzy	1:16.490	16
6	Germany	Christian Vietoris	1:16.712	25
7	Brazil	Raphael Matos	1:16.771	20
8	New Zealand	Wade Cunningham	1:16.840	17
9	Canada	James Hinchcliffe	1:16.849	14
10	South Africa	Alan Van der Merwe	1:16.868	22
11	Ireland	Richard Lyons	1:17.333	20
12	China	Ho-Pin Tung	1:17.412	24
13	Australia	Karl Reindler	1:17.566	23
14	Mexico	Sergio Perez	1:17.744	14
15	USA	Ryan Hunter Reay	1:17.878	25
16	Italy	Michele Rugolo	1:17.908	19
17	Lebanon	Alex Khateeb	1:18.619	12
18	Singapore	Christian Murchison	1:18.806	20
19	Pakistan	Nur Ali	1:21.257	27

Official Practice session 2 (14.00 – 15.00)

	A1 Team	Driver	Time	No. Laps
1	Czech Republic	Tomas Enge	1.15.248	24
2	India	Narain Karthikeyan	1.15.303	20
3	France	Loic Duval	1.15.368	20
4	Ireland	Richard Lyons	1.15.380	23
5	Germany	Nico Hulkenberg	1.15.407	24
6	Italy	Enrico Toccacelo	1.15.505	29
7	Netherlands	Jeroen Bleekemolen	1.15.529	33
8	New Zealand	Jonny Reid	1.15.587	28
9	South Africa	Alan van der Merwe	1.15.782	20
10	Great Britain	Robbie Kerr	1.15.799	28
11	Mexico	Salvador Duran	1.16.077	34
12	China	Ho-Pin Tung	1.16.134	18
13	Malaysia	Alex Yoong	1.16.267	30
14	Brazil	Raphael Matos	1.16.315	31
15	Canada	James Hinchcliffe	1.16.346	6
16	Switzerland	Sebastien Buemi	1.16.370	37
17	Singapore	Christian Murchison	1.16.401	30
18	USA	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1.16.490	29
19	Indonesia	Ananda Mikola	1.16.609	31
20	Australia	Karl Reindler	1.16.665	32
21	Lebanon	Alex Khateeb	1.17.572	25
22	Pakistan	Nur Ali	1.21.197	30