A1 Grand Prix: Brands Hatch Qualifying

Fairuz above will drive in Sprint race and Alex in Feature race (click image to enlarge)

Fairuz to drive the Sprint race and Alex the Feature race - 8TV and Star Sports to telecast races live

Brands Hatch, 24 September 2005 - The grid for tomorrow's A1GP debut race at Brands Hatch has thrown up a few surprises, While Brazil's pole courtesy of Nelson Piquet Jr was half expected, pundits were surprised that RedBull driver and F1 tester Scott Speed of USA languished in a dismal bottom half of 17th after he had dominated the second practice session yesterday and was fourth in this morning's practice 3.

The unique qualifying procedure - each driver must set a time in four seperate 15 minute sessions, the two best of which are added together to determine the grid - proved an interesting success this afternoon, with Piquet taking top spot in two of the sessions to secure pole by three tenths of a second.

Lining up beside him is the New Zealand entry, driven consistently and quickly by the under-rated Matt Halliday.

The second row is taken by France and Australia. Alexandre Premat, the French pilot and GP2 front runner, took fastest in the final session on his way to third spot, and the Australian rising star Will Power starts beside him.

Great Britain's Robbie Kerr starts fifth alongside the Switzerland car driven by F1 tester Neel Jani.

Unexpectedly, Mexico slotted into seventh place, with British F3 series regular Salvador Duran, who will start next to the Pakistan car, another surprise, with the promising Adam Khan at the wheel.

Completing the top ten are Malaysia, with Ex-F1 driver Alex Yoong at the wheel, and Japan's Ryo Fukuda, both drivers far more competent that their reputation paints.

Former Benetton, Arrows and Minardi F1 driver, Jos Verstappen, however could only manage 14th on the grid after much promises in pre-season A1 testing. Other Asian teams qualifying positions are Indonesia - 18th, India - 19th, Lebanon - 23rd and China - 24th.

However, in a twist to the traditional motorsport format, the driver who took part in qualifying may not be the one who competes in both races. Any of the A1 Team's drivers that have set a practice time within 102 per cent of the team's fastest qualifying lap are in with a chance to race.

All the A1 Teams will use the drivers who qualified today for both of tomorrow's races except for A1 Team Malaysia who will field Fairuz Fauzy for the Sprint race and Alex Yoong for the Main Feature race for both drivers to gain valuable race mileage.

The Sprint race will be contested over 50 miles lasting up to 30 minutes in duration. With a rolling start at 13.30 BST (8.30pm Malaysian time), tomorrow's Sprint race will be run over 18 laps of the Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch.

The outcome of the Sprint race determines the grid position of the Main Feature race which will start at 15.00 BST (10pm Malaysian time) with a standing start. The Feature race will be run over 100 miles (36 laps) lasting up to 60 minutes in duration.

Malaysians following the A1GP sries should tune to either 8TV or Star Sport where the races will be telecast live.

A1GP - BRANDS HATCH, GREAT BRITAIN (23-25 SEP 05) QUALIFYING RESULTS FOR ROUND 1 RACE 1 (SPRINT RACE)
Pos/A1 Team/Driver/Aggregate/(From Best 2 Times Of)
1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr 2'30.789 (1'15.824, 1'14.965)
2 New Zealand Matt Halliday 2'31.117 (1'15.389, 1'15.728)
3 France Alexandre Premat 2'31.206 (1'16.043, 1'15.163)
4 Australia Will Power 2'31.388 (1'15.774, 1'15.614)
5 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 2'31.714 (1'15.878, 1'15.836)
6 Switzerland Neel Jani 2'31.729 (1'16.142, 1'15.587)
7 Mexico Salvador Duran 2'32.307 (1'16.056, 1'16.251)
8 Pakistan Adam Khan 2'32.596 (1'16.457, 1'16.139)
9 Malaysia Alex Yoong 2'32.632 (1'16.362, 1'16.270)
10 Japan Ryo Fukuda 2'32.689 (1'16.544, 1'16.145)
11 Portugal Alvaro Parente 2'32.705 (1'16.528, 1'16.177)
12 Ireland Michael Devaney 2'32.811 (1'16.576, 1'16.235)
13 Germany Timo Scheider 2'32.981 (1'16.624, 1'16.357)
14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 2'33.075 (1'16.472, 1'16.603)
15 South Africa Stephen Simpson 2'33.086 (1'16.612, 1'16.474)
16 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 2'33.232 (1'16.402, 1'16.832)
17 USA Scott Speed 2'33.317 (1'16.950, 1'16.367)
18 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 2'33.424 (1'16.864, 1'16.560)
19 India Karun Chandhok 2'34.126 (1'17.341, 1'16.785)
20 Czech Republic Jan Charouz 2'34.786 (1'17.813, 1'16.973)
21 Canada Sean McIntosh 2'36.656 (1'18.189, 1'18.467)
22 Austria Mathias Lauda 2'36.878 (1'18.186, 1'18.692)
23 Lebanon Khalil Beschir 2'37.104 (1'18.671, 1'18.433)
24 China Tengyi Jiang 2'38.750 (1'19.071, 1'19.679)
25 Russia Alexey Vasiliev 2'41.303 (1'20.597, 1'20.706)