France and New Zealand on Pole at Eastern Creek

Race: A1GP Sydney, Australia (round 6 of 10)

Australia - A1 Team France put in a superb performance to qualify in pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race at the A1GP Sydney, Australia while the Feature race will be led off the grid by championship leader New Zealand.

Loic Duval continued to impress the packed grandstands at Eastern Creek, clocking the fastest lap during the first 15-minute qualifying segment to take pole position for A1 Team France for tomorrow morning's Sprint race.

Switzerland's Neel Jani, who has been struggling with grip levels and tyre wear this weekend, returned to his usual fine form to set the second quickest time during Q2 and line the Swiss car up alongside Duval on the front row.

South Africa's Adrian Zaugg qualified in third position while current championship leader New Zealand's Jonny Reid will start the race from fourth place on row two. China's Congfu Cheng and USA's Jonathan Summerton will line up on the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Having completed qualifying for the Sprint race in cloudy and humid conditions, the drivers were greeted by sunshine and blue skies when they took to the track for Feature race qualifying five minutes later.

New Zealand's Jonny Reid put in a sensational performance to snatch pole position for the Feature race from title rival Switzerland's Neel Jani by 12 thousandths of a second. Reid was one of the first drivers on track in Q4 and set a time that claimed the first Feature Race pole of his A1GP career and his fourth pole position overall.

After failing to set a time in the first qualifying segment due to being held up by the Lebanese car spinning off at turn four, Great Britain's Robbie Kerr, who is without his race engineer this weekend, made a good recovery to qualify in third position for the Feature race. GBR race engineer James Goodfield suffered a broken leg on Friday night when he was hit by a tyre gun hose that became disconnected when the Portuguese crew in the next door garage were practicing their pit stops.

A1 Team China's Congfu Cheng, who is having a great weekend, will line up in fourth place on the second row. A year on from the team's first podium finish at Eastern Creek, China enjoyed one of its most competitive qualifying sessions to date, topping the time sheets in the third qualifying segment.

Sprint race pole-sitter France's Loic Duval took the fifth spot ahead of South Africa's Adrian Zaugg who will start from sixth.

After the end of the qualifying session, Canada's Robert Wickens had his best overall time removed as a penalty for failing to comply with blue flags. His actions resulted in him holding up Brazil's Sergio Jimenez who was on his Q3 flying lap. Canada will start the Feature race from the last row in 21st position.

Home nation A1 Team Australia's John Martin will start the Sprint race from ninth, the nation's best qualifying performance so far this season and first top ten start on home soil. Martin will start the Feature race from 14th.

After an encouraging start to the weekend, Lebanon will start both races from the back of the grid. Chris Alajajian ran wide and spun into the tyre wall on his out lap during the first qualifying segment and there was no time to repair the extensive damage sustained before the end of the session.

Season one champion France's Loic Duval, who has been on sensational form all weekend in what might be his last A1GP event this season, will start tomorrow's Sprint race from pole and the Feature race from fifth:

'The top step of the podium is our target. This is maybe my last weekend in A1GP so I would like to leave the series with a win. We are in the best position for the Sprint race which makes it easier for the start. I think we are quite competitive and we are always fighting from the front. If we can get a good start tomorrow morning it's going to be difficult for the other drivers to attack us.'

New Zealand's Jonny Reid, who is starting tomorrow's Feature race from pole position for the first time, said:

'We struggled to get a gap in qualifying one for the Sprint race and after that we changed our game plan and made sure we got clean, clear runs. The car's great and I'm extremely satisfied we've taken pole position. I was only able to qualify second here last year but this year we're on pole and I'm really pleased. Qualifying is one thing and racing is another but the car feels good and I'm confident with the team and I'm sure we can put in a strong performance tomorrow.'

Switzerland's Neel Jani, who will start the Sprint and Feature races from second on the grid, commented on his incredible return to form after a tough start to the weekend:

'Basically I was on average one and a half seconds slower than the guys next to me on every lap. We tried everything, we changed everything on the car and the mechanics had a long night session to see what the problem could be. The last thing we changed for qualifying was the tyres and my first lap on new tyres was two and a half seconds quicker than I ever was on the circuit so far. It was a shock to me in those first laps to feel that grip and how different the car was. In the end we still missed pole but we were close so it was a big change for me.'

Tomorrow's Sprint race at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney, Australia will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15.00.

Sprint race qualifying results
------------------------------

Pos A1 Team        Driver              Time S1    Time S2    Best Time  Gap
                                                            
1   FRANCE         Loic DUVAL          01:18.149  01:18.375  01:18.149   
2   SWITZERLAND    Neel JANI           01:18.485  01:18.218  01:18.218  +0.069 
3   SOUTH AFRICA   Adrian ZAUGG        01:18.243  01:18.343  01:18.243  +0.094 
4   NEW ZEALAND    Jonny REID          01:18.799  01:18.368  01:18.368  +0.219 
5   CHINA          Congfu CHENG        01:19.383  01:18.370  01:18.370  +0.221 
6   USA            Jonathan SUMMERTON  01:19.371  01:18.464  01:18.464  +0.315 
7   GERMANY        Michael AMMERMÜLLER 01:21.134  01:18.632  01:18.632  +0.483 
8   GREAT BRITAIN  Robbie KERR                    01:18.649  01:18.649  +0.500 
9   AUSTRALIA      John MARTIN         01:19.679  01:18.690  01:18.690  +0.541 
10  NETHERLANDS    Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN  01:19.007  01:18.804  01:18.804  +0.655 
11  BRAZIL         Sergio JIMENEZ      01:19.626  01:18.811  01:18.811  +0.662 
12  IRELAND        Adam CARROLL        01:19.326  01:18.929  01:18.929  +0.780 
13  INDIA          Narain KARTHIKEYAN  01:20.120  01:19.004  01:19.004  +0.855 
14  CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE          01:19.617  01:19.099  01:19.099  +0.950 
15  CANADA         Robert WICKENS      01:19.197  01:19.609  01:19.197  +1.048 
16  MALAYSIA       Fairuz FAUZY        01:19.709  01:19.384  01:19.384  +1.235 
17  PORTUGAL       Joao URBANO                    01:19.492  01:19.492  +1.343 
18  PAKISTAN       Adam KHAN           01:20.749  01:19.623  01:19.623  +1.474 
19  MEXICO         David GARZA                    01:19.785  01:19.785  +1.636 
20  ITALY          Edoardo PISCOPO     01:20.026  01:19.975  01:19.975  +1.826 
21  INDONESIA      Satrio HERMANTO     01:20.154  02:00.395  01:20.154  +2.005 
22  LEBANON        Chris ALAJAJIAN        
 

Feature race qualifying results
-------------------------------

Pos A1 Team        Driver              Time S1    Time S2    Best Time  Gap
 
1   NEW ZEALAND    Jonny REID          01:19.683  01:18.578  01:18.578    
2   SWITZERLAND    Neel JANI           01:19.594  01:18.590  01:18.590  +0.012 
3   GREAT BRITAIN  Robbie KERR         01:20.759  01:18.720  01:18.720  +0.142 
4   CHINA          Congfu CHENG        01:19.359  01:18.825  01:18.825  +0.247 
5   FRANCE         Loic DUVAL          01:19.643  01:18.829  01:18.829  +0.251 
6   SOUTH AFRICA   Adrian ZAUGG        01:19.788  01:18.922  01:18.922  +0.344 
7   USA            Jonathan SUMMERTON  01:20.150  01:18.976  01:18.976  +0.398 
8   CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE          01:20.335  01:19.232  01:19.232  +0.654 
9   BRAZIL         Sergio JIMENEZ      01:40.741  01:19.235  01:19.235  +0.657 
10  MALAYSIA       Fairuz FAUZY        01:20.455  01:19.252  01:19.252  +0.674 
11  NETHERLANDS    Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN  01:20.231  01:19.487  01:19.487  +0.909 
12  GERMANY        Michael AMMERMÜLLER 01:20.138  01:19.516  01:19.516  +0.938 
13  MEXICO         David GARZA         01:19.878  01:19.529  01:19.529  +0.951 
14  AUSTRALIA      John MARTIN         01:19.761  01:19.611  01:19.611  +1.033 
15  IRELAND        Adam CARROLL        01:20.193  01:19.706  01:19.706  +1.128 
16  PORTUGAL       Joao URBANO         01:20.149  01:19.733  01:19.733  +1.155 
17  PAKISTAN       Adam KHAN           01:20.591  01:19.852  01:19.852  +1.274 
18  INDIA          Narain KARTHIKEYAN  01:19.878  01:19.951  01:19.878  +1.300 
19  ITALY          Edoardo PISCOPO     01:20.486  01:20.051  01:20.051  +1.473 
20  INDONESIA      Satrio HERMANTO     01:20.721  01:20.133  01:20.133  +1.555 
21  CANADA         Robert WICKENS         
22  LEBANON        Chris ALAJAJIAN

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