Brands Hatch, Great Britain - 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.
Nominated drivers for Qualifying - A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain (round 10 of 10)
A1 TEAM DRIVER Australia John Martin Brazil Xandi Negrao Canada James Hinchcliffe China Congfu Cheng Czech Republic Filip Salaquarda France Franck Montagny Germany Michael Ammermüller Great Britain Robbie Kerr India Narain Karthikeyan Indonesia Satrio Hermanto Ireland Adam Carroll Italy Edoardo Piscopo Lebanon Khalil Beschir Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy Mexico David Martinez 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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