A1 Team China set the pace in this morning's third and final practice session at the Brands Hatch circuit near London, closely followed by GBR's Robbie Kerr in second ahead of qualifying for his home event, the A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain this afternoon.
China's Congfu Cheng shot to the top of the time sheets this morning in sunny but breezy conditions and spent 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, Cheng finishing on top with a best lap of 1m14.916s, followed by Kerr and Karthikeyan in second and third, ahead of title rivals New Zealand's Jonny Reid and Switzerland's Neel Jani in fourth and fifth place.
Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque, who was second fastest around the undulating 4.22 km Grand Prix circuit on Friday, clocked the sixth quickest lap time ahead of Filipe Salaquarda in the Czech car. Eighth and ninth positions were taken by USA's Jonathan Summerton and Germany's Michael Ammermüller while France's Franck Montagny rounded out the top ten.
It was another incredibly close session, with under a second covering Portugal in sixth place to Australia in 19th, setting the scene for an exciting qualifying session this afternoon.
All 22 nations competing in the World Cup of Motorsport are now preparing their cars for Sprint and Feature race qualifying, which 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 TEAM TIME
1
Congfu CHENG
CHINA
01:14.9
2
Robbie KERR
GREAT BRITAIN
01:15.1
3
Narain KARTHIKEYAN
INDIA
01:15.4
4
Jonny REID
NEW ZEALAND
01:15.5
5
Neel JANI
SWITZERLAND
01:15.6
6
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE
PORTUGAL
01:15.7
7
Filip SALAQUARDA
CZECH REPUBLIC
01:15.8
8
Jonathan SUMMERTON
USA
01:15.8
9
Michael AMMERMÜLLER
GERMANY
01:15.8
10
Franck MONTAGNY
FRANCE
01:15.8
11
Fairuz FAUZY
MALAYSIA
01:15.8
12
Adam CARROLL
IRELAND
01:15.9
13
Adrian ZAUGG
SOUTH AFRICA
01:15.9
14
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
NETHERLANDS
01:15.9
15
James HINCHCLIFFE
CANADA
01:16.0
16
Edoardo PISCOPO
ITALY
01:16.0
17
Xandi NEGRAO
BRAZIL
01:16.2
18
Adam KHAN
PAKISTAN
01:16.2
19
John MARTIN
AUSTRALIA
01:16.3
20
Satrio HERMANTO
INDONESIA
01:17.3
21
David MARTINEZ
MEXICO
01:17.4
22
Khalil BESCHIR
LEBANON
01:17.8
Sprint Race qualifying.
GBR's Robbie Kerr put in a sensational performance to qualify in pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race at the A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain, much to the delight of his home fans. The British racer will also start the Feature race from the front row of the grid, lining up in second place alongside Narain Karthikeyan, who has secured India's first pole position.
Twenty-eight-year-old Robbie Kerr set the fastest lap in the closing moments of the second 15-minute qualifying segment to snatch pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race from Switzerland's Neel Jani, who set the fastest lap during Q1.
USA's Jonathan Summerton, who was third fastest on Friday but struggled a little bit this morning, put in a superb lap in Q2 to qualify second and demote current title leader Switzerland to third. Ireland's Adam Carroll will line up alongside Jani on the second row in fourth position while India's Narain Karthikeyan and Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque will start from fifth and sixth place respectively.
South Africa's Adrian Zaugg and France's Franck Montagny will line up behind them in seventh and eighth place, followed by Germany's Michael Ammermüller in ninth. Title contender New Zealand's Jonny Reid endured a difficult session, qualifying Black Beauty in 10th position on the fifth row.
Feature race qualifying.
Having secured the Sprint race pole, GBR's Robbie Kerr took provisional pole for the Feature race during Q3, only to be demoted to second when India's Narain Karthikeyan snatched the top spot in the closing moments of the final qualifying segment, taking his nation's first A1GP pole position.
Switzerland's Neel Jani, who only needs to finish seventh in one of the races tomorrow to win the championship, and Ireland's Adam Carroll will line up on row two in third and fourth position followed by Germany's Michael Ammermüller and France's Franck Montagny in fifth and sixth place respectively.
South Africa's Adrian Zaugg and China's Congfu Cheng qualified seventh and eighth while USA's Jonathan Summerton and the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen complete the top 10 grid positions.
New Zealand's Jonny Reid, who needs to win at least one race tomorrow to be in with a chance of overhauling Switzerland and taking the prestigious title honours, could only manage 17th on the grid.
GBR's Robbie Kerr, who won the Brands Hatch Sprint race last year and is aiming for a double victory tomorrow, said:
'We've been pushing really hard all weekend. We've got to be happy with the result but it's just a shame we're not one place higher on the Feature race grid. We got a bit caught out by waiting right till the last moment before we went out. We wait so late purely so that other cars have driven round the circuit before us - they clean it up and put some rubber down which gives us the opportunity to get that extra bit of grip and a faster lap time. Everyone does the same though so it's a hard call to get it right every time and unfortunately we didn't get it quite right for the Feature race grid. We're happy with our performance so far this weekend and we've just got to carry it on till tomorrow.'
Narain Karthikeyan, who will start the Feature race from pole in the Indian car for the first time, put his top grid position down to good team work and his previous experience at the challenging Kent circuit:
'I've always done well here at Brands Hatch and it's one of my favourite circuits. The car has been up there all weekend. We put the lap together and the team has done a great job and the set up is not too far off. I think there will be a lot of Indian fans here tomorrow so we'll see what we can do.'
Tomorrow's A1GP season finale Sprint race at Brands Hatch will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 14.30.
Sprint race qualifying results - A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain.
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME
1
GREAT BRITAIN
Robbie KERR
01:14.424
2
USA
Jonathan SUMMERTON
01:14.426
3
SWITZERLAND
Neel JANI
01:14.772
4
IRELAND
Adam CARROLL
01:14.935
5
INDIA
Narain KARTHIKEYAN
01:15.040
6
PORTUGAL
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE
01:15.077
7
SOUTH AFRICA
Adrian ZAUGG
01:15.142
8
FRANCE
Franck MONTAGNY
01:15.216
9
GERMANY
Michael AMMERMÜLLER
01:15.306
10
NEW ZEALAND
Jonny REID
01:15.312
11
NETHERLANDS
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
01:15.338
12
AUSTRALIA
John MARTIN
01:15.344
13
CZECH REPUBLIC
Filip SALAQUARDA
01:15.357
14
MALAYSIA
Fairuz FAUZY
01:15.439
15
CANADA
James HINCHCLIFFE
01:15.470
16
CHINA
Congfu CHENG
01:15.954
17
ITALY
Edoardo PISCOPO
01:16.049
18
PAKISTAN
Adam KHAN
01:16.086
19
BRAZIL
Xandi NEGRAO
01:16.117
20
LEBANON
Khalil BESCHIR
01:17.394
21
MEXICO
David MARTINEZ
01:17.403
22
INDONESIA
Satrio HERMANTO
01:17.553
Feature race qualifying results - A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME
1
INDIA
Narain KARTHIKEYAN
01:14.682
2
GREAT BRITAIN
Robbie KERR
01:14.909
3
SWITZERLAND
Neel JANI
01:14.957
4
IRELAND
Adam CARROLL
01:15.020
5
GERMANY
Michael AMMERMÜLLER
01:15.042
6
FRANCE
Franck MONTAGNY
01:15.266
7
SOUTH AFRICA
Adrian ZAUGG
01:15.284
8
CHINA
Congfu CHENG
01:15.313
9
USA
Jonathan SUMMERTON
01:15.398
10
NETHERLANDS
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
01:15.620
11
PORTUGAL
Filipe ALBUQUERQUE
01:15.627
12
MALAYSIA
Fairuz FAUZY
01:15.664
13
CANADA
James HINCHCLIFFE
01:15.667
14
BRAZIL
Xandi NEGRAO
01:15.671
15
CZECH REPUBLIC
Filip SALAQUARDA
01:15.690
16
ITALY
Edoardo PISCOPO
01:15.827
17
NEW ZEALAND
Jonny REID
01:16.003
18
PAKISTAN
Adam KHAN
01:16.063
19
AUSTRALIA
John MARTIN
01:16.175
20
INDONESIA
Satrio HERMANTO
01:16.876
21
LEBANON
Khalil BESCHIR
01:16.942
22
MEXICO
David MARTINEZ
01:17.062
Reporting by A1GP.com
All pictures A1GP.com.

Pole position for Robbie Kerr (Team Great Britain) in the Sprint Race...

...and Narain Karthikeyan (Team India) in the Feature Race.

Third for Neel Jani (Team Switzerland) in both races.

Adam Carroll was fourth for Team Ireland in both races.

Jonathan Summerton (Team USA) was second fastest in the Sprint Race qualifying

Michael Ammermüller (Team Germany) was lower on the grid than normally expected.

Two top ten results for Team France and Franck Montagny...

...and Adrian Zaugg (Team South Africa).

Filipe Albuquerque relaxes in the Team Portugal garage.

Eighth for Congfu Cheng (Team China) in the Feature Race qualifying.

Jonny Reid (Team New Zealand) struggled in both sessions.

Mid grid starts for Jeroen Bleekemolen (Team Netherlands)...

...and James Hinchcliffe (Team Canada).

...and James Hinchcliffe (Team Canada).

Edoardo Piscopo (Team Italy).

Adam Khan (Team Pakistan).

John Martin (Team Australia) starts twelfth in the Sprint Race.

Emerson Fittipaldi talks to Xandi Negrao in the Team Brazil garage.

Fairuz Fauzy will race for Team Malaysia this weekend.