Drivers Nominated for Qualifying

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 tires.

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 tires, 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

Nominated drivers for Qualifying – A1GP Sydney, Australia (round 6 of 10)