A1 Team France stormed to the top of the time sheets in the third and final official practice session at Zhuhai International Circuit this morning in cool and breezy weather conditions, ahead of what promises to be a thrilling and incredibly close qualifying session in China this afternoon.
Loic Duval, who had limited track time yesterday due to spinning off in the afternoon and not being eligible to participate in the rookie session, knocked Canada off the top spot half way though the hour long session with a best lap of 1m24.315s around the 4.3km circuit.
The French racer was closely followed by USA's Jonathan Summerton who put in a stunning late charge to clock the second fastest time, ahead of China's CongFu Cheng who ended the morning third quickest, much to the delight of the local fans.
Having dominated the first half of the session, Canada's Robert Wickens finished fourth fastest while championship leader Switzerland's Neel Jani and German rookie Michael Ammermüller set the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively.
Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis was classified seventh while Jeroen Bleekemolen set the eighth quickest lap time of the morning in the Dutch car. New Zealand's Jonny Reid and Brazil's Sergio Jimenez ended the morning ninth and 10th quickest respectively. It was an incredibly close session with just 1.8 seconds separating the entire field.
All 22 teams now have to decide on their set ups before qualifying for the Sprint and Feature races starts 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 |
LAPS |
1 |
Loic DUVAL |
FRANCE |
01:24.315 |
27 |
2 |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
USA |
01:24.342 |
25 |
3 |
Congfu CHENG |
CHINA |
01:24.418 |
27 |
4 |
Robert WICKENS |
CANADA |
01:24.476 |
22 |
5 |
Neel JANI |
SWITZERLAND |
01:24.583 |
22 |
6 |
Michael AMMERMÜLLER |
GERMANY |
01:24.586 |
23 |
7 |
Oliver JARVIS |
GREAT BRITAIN |
01:24.644 |
30 |
8 |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
NETHERLANDS |
01:24.800 |
23 |
9 |
Jonny REID |
NEW ZEALAND |
01:24.806 |
24 |
10 |
Sergio JIMENEZ |
BRAZIL |
01:24.930 |
17 |
11 |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
INDIA |
01:25.130 |
25 |
12 |
Alex YOONG |
MALAYSIA |
01:25.180 |
22 |
13 |
Ian DYK |
AUSTRALIA |
01:25.263 |
30 |
14 |
Edoardo PISCOPO |
ITALY |
01:25.380 |
30 |
15 |
Tomas ENGE |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
01:25.437 |
25 |
16 |
Adam CARROLL |
IRELAND |
01:25.442 |
20 |
17 |
Adrian ZAUGG |
SOUTH AFRICA |
01:25.545 |
16 |
18 |
Chris ALAJAJIAN |
LEBANON |
01:25.718 |
29 |
19 |
David GARZA |
MEXICO |
01:25.742 |
26 |
20 |
Satrio HERMANTO |
INDONESIA |
01:25.742 |
24 |
21 |
Joao URBANO |
PORTUGAL |
01:26.047 |
23 |
22 |
Adam KHAN |
PAKISTAN |
01:26.162 |
24 |
Sprint race qualifying
German rookie Michael Ammermuller set the fastest lap during the second 15-minute qualifying segment to snatch pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race from Ireland's Adam Carroll, who was quickest around the 4.3km Chinese circuit in Q1.
Switzerland's Neel Jani will line up alongside Germany on the front row, after a superb last lap charge during Q2 demoted Ireland's Adam Carroll and China's CongFu Cheng to third and fourth place respectively. Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis and Czech Republic's Tomas Enge will line up on the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Feature race qualifying
Switzerland's Neel Jani went one better in the final qualifying segment to secure pole for the Feature race ahead of GBR's Oliver Jarvis who will line up alongside him on the front row.
India's Narain Karthikeyan put in a sensational lap in Q4 to secure third position on the grid, closely followed by France's Loic Duval who will start from fourth. Germany took the fifth spot while home nation China's CongFu Cheng continued to impress the home fans by qualifying in sixth position and achieving China's best combined qualifying performance to date.
Germany's Michael Ammermüller was delighted with his first pole position in only his second A1GP appearance and is looking forward to taking on the challenging Zhuhai circuit tomorrow morning:
'We did a good job to get first place in qualifying and it's a great result for the whole team. We were struggling a bit in free practice but then we got a really good car and we were quite dominant in the first qualifying. The track got a bit worse towards the end and we weren't in the top three but still I think it's a good result. It's better to be first in the first race because it's a short race and quite difficult to overtake and in the second race it's all about strategy and anything is possible.'
Sepang double race winner Neel Jani, who has been struggling with brake problems on the Swiss car, was pleased with his team's qualifying performance:
'We had another great qualifying - second for the Sprint race and first for the Feature race - but it's very tight this time and all very close, every little mistake can put you three spots back. I'm very pleased as yesterday we had a lot of brake problems so the team did a great job to get it solved for today.'
Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis will start both the Sprint and Feature races from second on the grid. The 23-year-old said:
'The free practice and qualifying sessions have been pretty tough. Like Neel said, the track adheres to very close times so a small mistake can make a big difference. It's also very difficult to get a full lap together, there's a lot of heavy braking zones and it's very easy to make a mistake. We've struggled a little bit so far but hopefully we can have very good races and score a lot of points.'
Tomorrow's Sprint race at Zhuhai International Circuit, China will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15.00.
Sprint race qualifying results - A1GP Zhuhai, China (round 4 of 10)
POS |
A1 TEAM |
DRIVER |
TIME |
GAP FIRST |
1 |
GERMANY |
Michael AMMERMÜLLER |
01:23.203 |
|
2 |
SWITZERLAND |
Neel JANI |
01:23.425 |
0.222 |
3 |
IRELAND |
Adam CARROLL |
01:23.675 |
0.472 |
4 |
CHINA |
Congfu CHENG |
01:23.784 |
0.581 |
5 |
GREAT BRITAIN |
Oliver JARVIS |
01:23.850 |
0.647 |
6 |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
Tomas ENGE |
01:23.921 |
0.718 |
7 |
FRANCE |
Loic DUVAL |
01:23.928 |
0.725 |
8 |
NETHERLANDS |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
01:23.965 |
0.762 |
9 |
INDIA |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
01:23.972 |
0.769 |
10 |
CANADA |
Robert WICKENS |
01:24.029 |
0.826 |
11 |
USA |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
01:24.104 |
0.901 |
12 |
BRAZIL |
Sergio JIMENEZ |
01:24.141 |
0.938 |
13 |
NEW ZEALAND |
Jonny REID |
01:24.141 |
0.938 |
14 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
Adrian ZAUGG |
01:24.207 |
1.004 |
15 |
PORTUGAL |
Joao URBANO |
01:24.263 |
1.06 |
16 |
ITALY |
Edoardo PISCOPO |
01:24.307 |
1.104 |
17 |
MALAYSIA |
Alex YOONG |
01:24.391 |
1.188 |
18 |
AUSTRALIA |
Ian DYK |
01:24.770 |
1.567 |
19 |
INDONESIA |
Satrio HERMANTO |
01:24.893 |
1.69 |
20 |
LEBANON |
Chris ALAJAJIAN |
01:24.915 |
1.712 |
21 |
PAKISTAN |
Adam KHAN |
01:24.958 |
1.755 |
22 |
MEXICO |
David GARZA |
01:25.246 |
2.043 |
Feature race qualifying results - A1GP Zhuhai, China (round 4 of 10)
POS |
A1 TEAM |
A1 DRIVER |
TIME |
GAP FIRST |
1 |
SWITZERLAND |
Neel JANI |
01:23.465 |
|
2 |
GREAT BRITAIN |
Oliver JARVIS |
01:23.650 |
0.185 |
3 |
INDIA |
Narain KARTHIKEYAN |
01:23.767 |
0.302 |
4 |
FRANCE |
Loic DUVAL |
01:23.784 |
0.319 |
5 |
GERMANY |
Michael AMMERMÜLLER |
01:23.890 |
0.425 |
6 |
CHINA |
Congfu CHENG |
01:23.930 |
0.465 |
7 |
USA |
Jonathan SUMMERTON |
01:23.992 |
0.527 |
8 |
MALAYSIA |
Alex YOONG |
01:24.036 |
0.571 |
9 |
SOUTH AFRICA |
Adrian ZAUGG |
01:24.100 |
0.635 |
10 |
NEW ZEALAND |
Jonny REID |
01:24.114 |
0.649 |
11 |
CANADA |
Robert WICKENS |
01:24.149 |
0.684 |
12 |
PORTUGAL |
Joao URBANO |
01:24.250 |
0.785 |
13 |
IRELAND |
Adam CARROLL |
01:24.294 |
0.829 |
14 |
BRAZIL |
Sergio JIMENEZ |
01:24.328 |
0.863 |
15 |
LEBANON |
Chris ALAJAJIAN |
01:24.328 |
0.863 |
16 |
CZECH REPUBLIC |
Tomas ENGE |
01:24.350 |
0.885 |
17 |
PAKISTAN |
Adam KHAN |
01:24.378 |
0.913 |
18 |
NETHERLANDS |
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN |
01:24.460 |
0.995 |
19 |
AUSTRALIA |
Ian DYK |
01:24.538 |
1.073 |
20 |
INDONESIA |
Satrio HERMANTO |
01:24.667 |
1.202 |
21 |
ITALY |
Edoardo PISCOPO |
01:24.810 |
1.345 |
22 |
MEXICO |
David GARZA |
01:24.886 |
1.421 |
Reporting by A1GP.com
