A1GP Sydney, Australia Drivers Nominated for Qualifying

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

Australia - A1 Team France continued to dominate the action at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway, setting the pace in the third and final practice session this morning in overcast and humid weather conditions, ahead of qualifying for the A1GP Sydney, Australia this afternoon.

Loic Duval, who topped the time sheets during Friday practice having only arrived at the circuit one hour before the session began, clocked the fastest lap at the start of the hour long session this morning and France remained the team to beat. Duval was closely followed by Great Britain's Robbie Kerr in second, who is back at the sharp end of the time sheets after a difficult weekend in Taupo, and India's Narain Karthikeyan in third, who put in a late charge on fresh tyres.

Current championship leader New Zealand's Jonny Reid set the fourth quickest time of the session, just ahead of Germany's Michael Ammermüller in fifth. China's Congfu Cheng was on strong form this morning, ending the session in sixth position.

Italy's Edoardo Piscopo finished the session seventh ahead of home nation Australia's John Martin, who was the fastest man around the Eastern Creek circuit during yesterday's rookie session. Brazil's Sergio Jimenez ended the morning ninth fastest followed by Pakistan's Adam Khan in tenth.

Several teams struggled to find grip around the 'slippery' 3.93 km circuit which is particularly hard on tyres, the Czech Republic, Netherlands and Portugal all spinning off during the session.

All 22 nations competing in the World Cup of Motorsport now have to decide on their set ups before qualifying for the Sprint and Feature races begins 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   Loic DUVAL          FRANCE         01:20.060       -  24 
2   Robbie KERR         GREAT BRITAIN  01:20.233   0.173  21 
3   Narain KARTHIKEYAN  INDIA          01:20.333   0.273  23 
4   Jonny REID          NEW ZEALAND    01:20.475   0.415  25 
5   Michael AMMERMÜLLER GERMANY        01:20.649   0.589  23 
6   Congfu CHENG        CHINA          01:20.706   0.646  29 
7   Edoardo PISCOPO     ITALY          01:20.746   0.686  22 
8   John MARTIN         AUSTRALIA      01:20.818   0.758  23 
9   Sergio JIMENEZ      BRAZIL         01:21.085   1.025  25 
10  Adam KHAN           PAKISTAN       01:21.161   1.101  25 
11  Adrian ZAUGG        SOUTH AFRICA   01:21.215   1.155  23 
12  Joao URBANO         PORTUGAL       01:21.502   1.442  25 
13  Robert WICKENS      CANADA         01:21.531   1.471  19 
14  Neel JANI           SWITZERLAND    01:21.583   1.523  23 
15  Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN  NETHERLANDS    01:21.628   1.568  17 
16  Tomas ENGE          CZECH REPUBLIC 01:21.733   1.673  22 
17  Adam CARROLL        IRELAND        01:21.801   1.741  20 
18  David GARZA         MEXICO         01:21.857   1.797  23 
19  Satrio HERMANTO     INDONESIA      01:22.032   1.972  25 
20  Fairuz FAUZY        MALAYSIA       01:22.129   2.069  22 
21  Jonathan SUMMERTON  USA            01:22.134   2.074  23 
22  Chris ALAJAJIAN     LEBANON        01:36.349  16.289   2
 

Nominated drivers for Qualifying
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A1 Team         Driver
 
Australia       John Martin 
Brazil          Sergio Jimenez 
Canada          Robert Wickens 
China           CongFu Cheng 
Czech Republic  Tomas Enge 
France          Loic Duval 
Germany         Michael Ammermüller 
Great Britain   Robbie Kerr
India           Narain Karthikeyan
Indonesia       Satrio Hermanto
Ireland         Adam Carroll
Italy           Edoardo Piscopo 
Lebanon         Chris Alajajian
Malaysia        Fairuz Fauzy
Mexico          David Garza
Netherlands     Jeroen Bleekemolen
New Zealand     Jonny Reid
Pakistan        Adam Khan
Portugal        Joao Urbano
South Africa    Adrian Zaugg
Switzerland     Neel Jani
USA             Jonathan Summerton

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