A1GP Durban, South Africa Drivers Nominated for Qualifying

Race: A1GP Durban, South Africa (round 7 of 10)

South Africa - A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani set the pace in this morning's third and final practice session for the A1GP Durban, South Africa, held in hot, humid and breezy conditions, ahead of what promises to be a thrilling qualifying session this afternoon.

Swiss racer Neel Jani clocked the fastest lap time halfway through the incident-packed final practice this morning and held the top spot for the remainder of the session, which was extended due to four red-flag periods involving India, Australia, Italy and Ireland. Jani was closely followed by Germany's Michael Ammermüller in second, who has been on impressive form all weekend in Durban.

Loic Duval, the third driver to get behind the wheel of the French car this weekend, finished a superb third fastest, having only arrived at the track just over an hour before the session started. The 25-year-old flew to South Africa overnight from Japan where he was fulfilling a motorsport commitment he had agreed to before the A1GP season began. The French team, currently level on points with New Zealand at the top of the championship table, has employed such an ambitious strategy in an attempt to keep its title challenge going.

Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis leapt up the order to second behind Switzerland with 25 minutes remaining and finally finished the session fourth fastest overall, just ahead of the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen in fifth. China's Congfu Cheng was on good form this morning, ending the session in sixth position.

Canada's Robert Wickens, who was flying at the start of the session due to running on relatively fresh tyres because he only completed four laps on Friday, finished the session seventh ahead of home nation South Africa's Adrian Zaugg in eighth. Current title leader New Zealand's Jonny Reid ended the morning ninth fastest followed by Portuguese newcomer Filipe Albuquerque in 10th.

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
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Pos Driver              A1 Team        Time        Gap  Laps
 
1   Neel JANI           SWITZERLAND    01:18.292      -  30 
2   Michael AMMERMÜLLER GERMANY        01:18.430  0.138  33 
3   Loic DUVAL          FRANCE         01:18.495  0.203  29 
4   Oliver JARVIS       GREAT BRITAIN  01:18.539  0.247  26 
5   Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN  NETHERLANDS    01:18.679  0.387  27 
6   Congfu CHENG        CHINA          01:18.763  0.471  38 
7   Robert WICKENS      CANADA         01:18.909  0.617  25 
8   Adrian ZAUGG        SOUTH AFRICA   01:18.979  0.687  29 
9   Jonny REID          NEW ZEALAND    01:19.002  0.71   33 
10  Filipe ALBUQUERQUE  PORTUGAL       01:19.021  0.729  26 
11  Jonathan SUMMERTON  USA            01:19.136  0.844  29 
12  Bruno JUNQUEIRA     BRAZIL         01:19.189  0.897  15 
13  Adam CARROLL        IRELAND        01:19.286  0.994  14 
14  Fairuz FAUZY        MALAYSIA       01:19.390  1.098  31 
15  Adam KHAN           PAKISTAN       01:19.783  1.491  31 
16  John MARTIN         AUSTRALIA      01:19.996  1.704  13 
17  David GARZA         MEXICO         01:20.246  1.954  36 
18  Josef KRAL          CZECH REPUBLIC 01:20.720  2.428  26 
19  Narain KARTHIKEYAN  INDIA          01:20.791  2.499  3 
20  Satrio HERMANTO     INDONESIA      01:20.861  2.569  26 
21  Khalil BESCHIR      LEBANON        01:20.953  2.661  33 
22  Edoardo PISCOPO     ITALY          01:21.022  2.73   11
 

Nominated drivers for Qualifying
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A1 Team         Driver
                
Australia       John Martin 
Brazil          Bruno Junqueira 
Canada          Robert Wickens 
China           CongFu Cheng 
Czech Republic  Josef Kral 
France          Loic Duval 
Germany         Michael Ammermüller  
Great Britain   Oliver Jarvis 
India           Narain Karthikeyan 
Indonesia       Satrio Hermanto 
Ireland         Adam Carroll 
Italy           Edoardo Piscopo  
Lebanon         Khalil Beschir 
Malaysia        Fairuz Fauzy 
Mexico          David Garza 
Netherlands     Jeroen Bleekemolen 
New Zealand     Jonny Reid 
Pakistan        Adam Khan 
Portugal        Filipe Albuquerque 
South Africa    Adrian Zaugg 
Switzerland     Neel Jani 
USA             Jonathan Summerton

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