Germany and Switzerland on Pole at Zhuhai


Champ Car's Neel Jani (C) looks quite relaxed in the post-qualifying press conference
A1 Grand Prix

China – Defending champion A1 Team Germany qualified in pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race at the inaugural Huatai A1GP Zhuhai, China while the Feature race will be led off the grid by current championship leader Switzerland.

Sprint race qualifying
German rookie Michael Ammermuller set the fastest lap during the second 15-minute qualifying segment to snatch pole position for tomorrow morning's Sprint race from Ireland's Adam Carroll, who was quickest around the 4.3km Chinese circuit in Q1.

Switzerland's Neel Jani will line up alongside Germany on the front row, after a superb last lap charge during Q2 demoted Ireland's Adam Carroll and China's CongFu Cheng to third and fourth place respectively. Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis and Czech Republic's Tomas Enge will line up on the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively.

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Feature race qualifying
Switzerland's Neel Jani went one better in the final qualifying segment to secure pole for the Feature race ahead of GBR's Oliver Jarvis who will line up alongside him on the front row.

India's Narain Karthikeyan put in a sensational lap in Q4 to secure third position on the grid, closely followed by France's Loic Duval who will start from fourth. Germany took the fifth spot while home nation China's CongFu Cheng continued to impress the home fans by qualifying in sixth position and achieving China's best combined qualifying performance to date.

Germany's Michael Ammermüller was delighted with his first pole position in only his second A1GP appearance and is looking forward to taking on the challenging Zhuhai circuit tomorrow morning:

'We did a good job to get first place in qualifying and it's a great result for the whole team. We were struggling a bit in free practice but then we got a really good car and we were quite dominant in the first qualifying. The track got a bit worse towards the end and we weren't in the top three but still I think it's a good result. It's better to be first in the first race because it's a short race and quite difficult to overtake and in the second race it's all about strategy and anything is possible.'


Champ Car's Neel Jani beat the competition in final qualifying

Germany's Michael Ammermueller won the pole for the sprint race

A1 Grand Prix

Sepang double race winner Neel Jani, who has been struggling with brake problems on the Swiss car, was pleased with his team's qualifying performance:

'We had another great qualifying – second for the Sprint race and first for the Feature race – but it's very tight this time and all very close, every little mistake can put you three spots back. I'm very pleased as yesterday we had a lot of brake problems so the team did a great job to get it solved for today.'

Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis will start both the Sprint and Feature races from second on the grid. The 23-year-old said:

'The free practice and qualifying sessions have been pretty tough. Like Neel said, the track adheres to very close times so a small mistake can make a big difference. It's also very difficult to get a full lap together, there's a lot of heavy braking zones and it's very easy to make a mistake. We've struggled a little bit so far but hopefully we can have very good races and score a lot of points.'

Tomorrow's Sprint race at Zhuhai International Circuit, China will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15.00.

Sprint race qualifying results – A1GP Zhuhai, China (round 4 of 10)

POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME S1 TIME S2 TIME GAP FIRST
1 GERMANY Michael AMMERMÃœLLER 01:23.790 01:23.203 01:23.203
2 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 01:24.127 01:23.425 01:23.425 0.222
3 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:23.675 01:24.265 01:23.675 0.472
4 CHINA Congfu CHENG 01:23.811 01:23.784 01:23.784 0.581
5 GREAT BRITAIN Oliver JARVIS 01:24.490 01:23.850 01:23.850 0.647
6 CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE 01:24.410 01:23.921 01:23.921 0.718
7 FRANCE Loic DUVAL 01:24.159 01:23.928 01:23.928 0.725
8 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 01:24.235 01:23.965 01:23.965 0.762
9 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 01:24.570 01:23.972 01:23.972 0.769
10 CANADA Robert WICKENS 01:24.029 01:24.286 01:24.029 0.826
11 USA Jonathan SUMMERTON 01:26.073 01:24.104 01:24.104 0.901
12 BRAZIL Sergio JIMENEZ 01:24.141 01:24.212 01:24.141 0.938
13 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 01:24.141 01:24.252 01:24.141 0.938
14 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 01:24.576 01:24.207 01:24.207 1.004
15 PORTUGAL Joao URBANO 01:24.685 01:24.263 01:24.263 1.06
16 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 01:24.307 01:24.675 01:24.307 1.104
17 MALAYSIA Alex YOONG 01:25.083 01:24.391 01:24.391 1.188
18 AUSTRALIA Ian DYK 01:24.770 01:24.850 01:24.770 1.567
19 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:25.875 01:24.893 01:24.893 1.69
20 LEBANON Chris ALAJAJIAN 01:25.793 01:24.915 01:24.915 1.712
21 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 01:24.958 01:26.041 01:24.958 1.755
22 MEXICO David GARZA 01:25.246 01:25.829 01:25.246 2.043

Feature race qualifying results – A1GP Zhuhai, China (round 4 of 10)

POS A1 TEAM A1 DRIVER TIME S1 TIME S2 TIME GAP FIRST
1 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 01:24.170 01:23.465 01:23.465
2 GREAT BRITAIN Oliver JARVIS 01:24.100 01:23.650 01:23.650 0.185
3 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 01:24.436 01:23.767 01:23.767 0.302
4 FRANCE Loic DUVAL 01:24.355 01:23.784 01:23.784 0.319
5 GERMANY Michael AMMERMÃœLLER 01:24.093 01:23.890 01:23.890 0.425
6 CHINA Congfu CHENG 01:24.331 01:23.930 01:23.930 0.465
7 USA Jonathan SUMMERTON 01:24.459 01:23.992 01:23.992 0.527
8 MALAYSIA Alex YOONG 01:25.116 01:24.036 01:24.036 0.571
9 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 01:24.435 01:24.100 01:24.100 0.635
10 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 01:24.613 01:24.114 01:24.114 0.649
11 CANADA Robert WICKENS 01:24.933 01:24.149 01:24.149 0.684
12 PORTUGAL Joao URBANO 01:25.126 01:24.250 01:24.250 0.785
13 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:24.519 01:24.294 01:24.294 0.829
14 BRAZIL Sergio JIMENEZ 01:24.599 01:24.328 01:24.328 0.863
15 LEBANON Chris ALAJAJIAN 01:25.343 01:24.328 01:24.328 0.863
16 CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE 01:24.554 01:24.350 01:24.350 0.885
17 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 01:24.378 01:25.250 01:24.378 0.913
18 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 01:24.897 01:24.460 01:24.460 0.995
19 AUSTRALIA Ian DYK 01:24.802 01:24.538 01:24.538 1.073
20 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:24.667 01:25.052 01:24.667 1.202
21 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 01:25.221 01:24.810 01:24.810 1.345
22 MEXICO David GARZA 01:25.265 01:24.886 01:24.886 1.421