France Tops Friday Practice in Taupo A1GP, formule, F1, formule 1, construct | Constructors F1

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France Tops Friday Practice in Taupo A1GP, formule, F1, formule 1, construct | Constructors F1 Constructors F1

France Tops Friday Practice in Taupo

Miroslav Sanytrák | 27.1.08 | A1GP

New Zealand - A1 Team France topped the time sheets in the second of today's two free practice sessions at Taupo as all 22 drivers took to the track with biofuel in their tanks, making history at round five of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season.

Despite not taking part in the rookie session this morning, 25-year-old French driver Loic Duval clocked the best lap of the day, completing the 3.5km circuit in 1m15.545s in glorious sunshine.

"It was a good session for us especially without the rookie session this morning", Duval said. "We worked with the data from last year and I think the car was great, I feel really good here. Actually it means nothing to be on the front row on Friday, it happened many times last year and I didn"t get pole position, so that is my target for tomorrow."

The magnificent Lake Taupo provides the backdrop for one of the most picturesque races of the season and Duval sites the event as one of the highlights on the A1GP calendar:

"For me this is the best country we go to, it"s really good here. It feels more like a holiday. I love the track, the people, the mentality, it"s just perfect to be here."

Ireland"s Adam Carroll, who was the quickest man on track in the first 25-minute practice segment this morning, set the second fastest time of the day while championship leader Switzerland"s Neel Jani finished third, just over a tenth of a second off the emerald green car.

Defending champion Germany"s Christian Vietoris has been on strong form all day and the 18-year-old from Gönnersdorf set the fourth fastest time of the day while USA"s Jonathan Summerton took the fifth spot. A1 Team Great Britain driver Robbie Kerr finished the day in sixth place, closely followed by Canada"s Robert Wickens in seventh, who was on superb form in this morning"s rookie session.

Home nation A1 Team New Zealand"s Jonny Reid was eighth quickest this afternoon but remains optimistic for the weekend ahead. The 24-year-old from Auckland finished the day eighth fastest overall.

"It was a very tough session," Reid said. "Everyone was very very tight in the times but we"ve got some areas where we can improve. The track conditions were changing a lot and obviously we didn"t get as close as we would have liked, but there"s still plenty of time over these early days. There"s not too much to change overnight really. We had a small problem which we will improve but if we actually look at all my sector times I"m sure we"re very close to France, so we just need to capitalise on one small area and hopefully we will be there."

Australia"s new lead driver John Martin was an impressive second fastest in both sessions this morning, finally ending the day in 12th place behind Italy"s Edoardo Piscopo.

The times are just under a second slower than last year, largely due to Turn 12 being a much tighter corner, designed to increase overtaking opportunities.

Official Practice Session 1 - Rookie drivers and developing nations only
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME S1 LAP S1 TIME S2 LAP S2 TIME GAP FIRST
1 CANADA Robert WICKENS 01:18.0 7 01:17.1 12 01:17.1
2 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 01:17.3 13 01:17.2 16 01:17.2 0.167
3 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:17.3 11 01:17.8 12 01:17.3 0.244
4 GERMANY Christian VIETORIS 01:17.6 12 01:17.4 12 01:17.4 0.374
5 NEW ZEALAND Brendon HARTLEY 01:17.8 14 01:17.5 16 01:17.5 0.382
6 MEXICO David GARZA 01:18.2 13 01:17.7 15 01:17.7 0.636
7 NETHERLANDS Arie LUYENDYK 01:17.8 12 01:18.2 15 01:17.8 0.77
8 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 01:18.7 13 01:17.9 16 01:17.9 0.788
9 LEBANON Chris ALAJAJIAN 01:18.2 10 01:18.0 9 01:18.0 0.91
10 USA Charlie KIMBALL 01:19.5 12 01:18.0 10 01:18.0 0.929
11 SOUTH AFRICA Wesleigh ORR 01:18.7 14 01:18.4 3 01:18.4 1.298
12 GREAT BRITAIN James WINSLOW 01:19.6 11 01:18.4 14 01:18.4 1.349
13 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:19.4 14 01:18.8 12 01:18.8 1.767
14 BRAZIL Clemente DE FARIA JR. 01:21.0 14 01:19.0 16 01:19.0 1.94
15 SWITZERLAND Tom DILLMAN 01:19.3 15 01:19.1 12 01:19.1 2.046
16 MALAYSIA Aaron LIM 01:20.6 12 01:19.7 8 01:19.7 2.672
17 PORTUGAL Federico DUARTE 01:24.0 6 01:21.3 2 01:21.3 4.197
18 INDIA Parthiva SURESHWAREN 01:23.9 6 0 01:23.9 6.832
19 CZECH REPUBLIC Jarek JANIS 01:31.8 3 0 01:31.8 14.74

A1GP Taupo, New Zealand - A1 Teams Nominated Drivers

Official Practice session 2 (14.00 - 15.00)
POS DRIVER A1 TEAM TIME GAP_FIRST LAPS
1 Loic DUVAL FRANCE 01:15.5 - 23
2 Adam CARROLL IRELAND 01:15.8 0.254 19
3 Neel JANI SWITZERLAND 01:15.9 0.374 19
4 Christian VIETORIS GERMANY 01:16.0 0.441 23
5 Jonathan SUMMERTON USA 01:16.0 0.455 26
6 Robbie KERR GREAT BRITAIN 01:16.0 0.482 19
7 Robert WICKENS CANADA 01:16.1 0.52 18
8 Jonny REID NEW ZEALAND 01:16.1 0.529 29
9 Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN NETHERLANDS 01:16.2 0.683 22
10 Adrian ZAUGG SOUTH AFRICA 01:16.3 0.723 20
11 Edoardo PISCOPO ITALY 01:16.4 0.892 26
12 John MARTIN AUSTRALIA 01:16.5 0.918 25
13 Sergio JIMENEZ BRAZIL 01:16.6 1.008 28
14 Alex YOONG MALAYSIA 01:16.6 1.029 27
15 Narain KARTHIKEYAN INDIA 01:16.6 1.045 25
16 Chris ALAJAJIAN LEBANON 01:16.8 1.232 20
17 David GARZA MEXICO 01:16.8 1.265 23
18 Tomas ENGE CZECH REPUBLIC 01:17.0 1.422 25
19 Joao URBANO PORTUGAL 01:17.1 1.544 30
20 Congfu CHENG CHINA 01:17.3 1.771 27
21 Adam KHAN PAKISTAN 01:17.7 2.129 26
22 Satrio HERMANTO INDONESIA 01:18.3 2.74 26
The following drivers have signed-on to compete in the A1GP Taupo, New Zealand
A1 Team Driver 1 Driver 2
Australia John Martin*
Brazil Sergio Jimenez Clemente de Faria Jnr*
Canada Robert Wickens*
China Congfu Cheng
Czech Republic Jarek Janis* Tomas Enge
France Loic Duval
Germany Christian Vietoris*
Great Britain Robbie Kerr James Winslow*
India Narain Karthikeyan Parthiva Sureshwaren*
Indonesia Satrio Hermanto*
Ireland Adam Carroll*
Italy Edoardo Piscopo*
Lebanon Khalil Beschir Chris Alajajian*
Malaysia Alex Yoong Aaron Lim*
Mexico David Garza*
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen Arie Luyendyk Jr*
New Zealand Jonny Reid Brendon Hartley*
Pakistan Adam Khan
Portugal Joao Urbano Frederico Duarte*
South Africa Adrian Zaugg Wesleigh Orr*
Switzerland Neel Jani Tom Dillmann*
USA Jonathan Summerton Charlie Kimball*
Drivers marked with a star are eligible to participate in the first official practice session on Friday 18 January 2008, reserved for rookie drivers and developing nations only.

A1GP Taupo, New Zealand Drivers Nominated for Qualifying

New Zealand - A1 Team France continued to dominate the on-track action at Taupo, setting the pace in the third and final practice session this morning in sunny but blustery weather conditions, ahead of qualifying in New Zealand this afternoon.

Loic Duval stormed to the top of the time sheets early on, improving throughout the hour to finish the session with a best lap of 1m15.292s around the picturesque 3.5km circuit. Duval was closely followed by Great Britain"s Robbie Kerr in second and Germany"s Christian Vietoris in third.

Despite spending the first half of the session confined to the garage with a technical problem, championship leader Switzerland"s Neel Jani set the fourth quickest time of the hour, just ahead of home nation New Zealand"s Jonny Reid in fifth. China"s Congfu Cheng was on fine form this morning, ending the session in a strong sixth position.

Canada"s Robert Wickens finished the session seventh with exactly the same lap time as China while Sergio Jimenez clocked the eighth fastest lap in the Brazilian car. Australia"s John Martin and the Netherland"s Jeroen Bleekemolen ended the morning ninth and 10th quickest respectively in what was an incredibly close session, with just over a second separating the top 14 teams.

The 22 nations now have to decide on their set ups before qualifying for the Sprint and Feature races 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.

Official Practice Session 3 
POS DRIVER A1 TEAM TIME GAP_FIRST LAPS
1 Loic DUVAL FRANCE 01:15.292 - 27
2 Robbie KERR GREAT BRITAIN 01:15.410 0.118 29/td>
3 Christian VIETORIS GERMANY 01:15.515 0.223 30/td>
4 Neel JANI SWITZERLAND 01:15.590 0.298 26/td>
5 Jonny REID NEW ZEALAND 01:15.601 0.309 27/td>
6 Congfu CHENG CHINA 01:15.752 0.46 32/td>
7 Robert WICKENS CANADA 01:15.752 0.46 23/td>
8 Sergio JIMENEZ BRAZIL 01:15.778 0.486 24/td>
9 John MARTIN AUSTRALIA 01:15.800 0.508 31/td>
10 Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN NETHERLANDS 01:15.982 0.69 22/td>
11 Jonathan SUMMERTON USA 01:15.999 0.707 30/td>
12 David GARZA MEXICO 01:16.125 0.833 34/td>
13 Adam CARROLL IRELAND 01:16.187 0.895 24/td>
14 Narain KARTHIKEYAN INDIA 01:16.324 1.032 29/td>
15 Edoardo PISCOPO ITALY 01:16.594 1.302 28/td>
16 Alex YOONG MALAYSIA 01:16.633 1.341 32/td>
17 Joao URBANO PORTUGAL 01:16.755 1.463 24/td>
18 Adrian ZAUGG SOUTH AFRICA 01:16.834 1.542 18/td>
19 Satrio HERMANTO INDONESIA 01:16.977 1.685 15/td>
20 Chris ALAJAJIAN LEBANON 01:17.034 1.742 23/td>
21 Tomas ENGE CZECH REPUBLIC 01:17.089 1.797 19/td>
22 Adam KHAN PAKISTAN 01:17.319 2.027 30/td>

Nominated drivers for Qualifying - A1GP Taupo, New Zealand (round 5 of 10)
A1 TEAM DRIVER
Australia John Martin
Brazil Sergio Jimenez
Canada Robert Wickens
China CongFu Cheng
Czech Republic Tomas Enge
France Loic Duval
Germany Christian Vietoris
Great Britain Robbie Kerr
India Narain Karthikeyan
Indonesia Satrio Hermanto
Ireland Adam Carroll
Italy Edoardo Piscopo
Lebanon Chris Alajajian
Malaysia Alex Yoong
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

New Zealand and France on Pole at Taupo

New Zealand - Home nation A1 Team New Zealand qualified in pole position for tomorrow morning"s Sprint race at Taupo while France took the Feature race pole. It was an unusual qualifying hour as the majority of teams waited as late as possible to take to the windy, dusty track during each of the four 15-minute qualifying segments.

Sprint race qualifying
The crowds roared as New Zealand"s Jonny Reid set the fastest lap in the closing minutes of the second 15-minute qualifying segment to snatch pole position for tomorrow morning"s Sprint race.

South Africa"s Adrian Zaugg will line up alongside the home nation hero on the front row, after an incredible last lap charge during Q2 moved him up to second place. France"s Loic Duval, who has been the man to beat all weekend, will start the race from third position on the second row while Germany"s Christian Vietoris qualified fourth.

The Netherlands" Jeroen Bleekemolen and USA"s Jonathan Summerton will line up on the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Feature race qualifying
The teams continued to play a waiting game due to the dusty conditions, finally taking to the track with just over two minutes of the final qualifying segment remaining. France"s Loic Duval put in a sensational performance to secure pole for the Feature race ahead of Germany"s Christian Vietoris who will line up alongside him on the front row.

Current championship leader Switzerland"s Neel Jani qualified in third position, closely followed by Canada"s Robert Wickens who will start from fourth on the grid. Home nation New Zealand"s Jonny Reid took the fifth spot while Portugal"s Joao Urbano recorded an incredible lap around the 3.5km circuit to secure sixth position ahead of South Africa.

New Zealand"s Jonny Reid is delighted to be starting tomorrow"s Sprint race from pole position and is aiming for a win in front of his home crowd:
"It was a fantastic feeling to see everyone on their feet in the grandstands as I came across the line. I had no radio communication during the session but I could see the crowd were pretty excited and I was hoping it was at least the front row. It was a very clean lap in Q2 and not many mistakes which is pleasing. We slipped up a bit for the Feature race qualifying but we"ll be there when it comes to the racing tomorrow. I have the home support and I really want this one."

Season one champion France"s Loic Duval has been on superb form all weekend and has high hopes for tomorrow"s Feature race, which he is starting from pole:
"The first part of qualifying was ok because I was first in the first segment, but the set up of the car wasn"t really as good as this morning. It was quite difficult to find a good set up which is why I just took pole for the Feature race. The average of today is not too bad though - first and third - and at the end of the weekend the most important thing is the number of points we can score."

Germany"s Christian Vietoris, who will start the Sprint race from fourth and the Feature race from second on the grid, commented on the dirty, dusty track conditions:
"It is a big problem because you don"t know what to expect at the next corner. Today it was ok but yesterday it was a lot worse and nearly everybody went off the track at some point."

Tomorrow"s Sprint race at Taupo, New Zealand will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15.00.

Sprint race qualifying results - A1GP Taupo, New Zealand (round 5 of 10)
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME S1 TIME S2 BEST TIME GAP FIRST
1 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 01:16.533 01:15.241 01:15.241
2 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 01:17.423 01:15.522 01:15.522 0.281
3 FRANCE Loic DUVAL 01:16.340 01:15.628 01:15.628 0.387
4 GERMANY Christian VIETORIS 01:16.495 01:15.724 01:15.724 0.483
5 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 01:17.700 01:16.036 01:16.036 0.795
6 USA Jonathan SUMMERTON 01:19.515 01:16.101 01:16.101 0.86
7 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:16.846 01:16.182 01:16.182 0.941
8 CANADA Robert WICKENS 01:17.612 01:16.201 01:16.201 0.96
9 MALAYSIA Alex YOONG 01:19.409 01:16.386 01:16.386 1.145
10 BRAZIL Sergio JIMENEZ 01:17.516 01:16.408 01:16.408 1.167
11 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 01:16.978 01:16.423 01:16.423 1.182
12 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 01:17.654 01:16.472 01:16.472 1.231
13 GREAT BRITAIN Robbie KERR 01:17.876 01:16.731 01:16.731 1.49
14 PORTUGAL Joao URBANO 01:23.471 01:17.147 01:17.147 1.906
15 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 01:18.875 01:17.309 01:17.309 2.068
16 CHINA Congfu CHENG 01:17.340 01:17.340 2.099
17 LEBANON Chris ALAJAJIAN 01:17.682 01:17.682 2.441
18 MEXICO David GARZA 01:17.809 01:17.809 2.568
19 CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE 01:19.736 01:17.811 01:17.811 2.57
20 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 01:50.053 01:17.961 01:17.961 2.72
21 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:20.597 01:18.421 01:18.421 3.18
22 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 01:19.325 01:18.635 01:18.635 3.394

Feature race qualifying results - A1GP Taupo, New Zealand (round 5 of 10)
POS A1 TEAM DRIVER TIME S1 TIME S2 BEST TIME GAP FIRST
1 FRANCE Loic DUVAL 01:15.974 01:15.296 01:15.296
2 GERMANY Christian VIETORIS 01:15.869 01:15.331 01:15.331 +0.035
3 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 01:16.351 01:15.476 01:15.476 +0.180
4 CANADA Robert WICKENS 01:15.922 01:15.588 01:15.588 +0.292
5 NEW ZEALAND Jonny REID 01:15.618 01:15.649 01:15.618 +0.322
6 PORTUGAL Joao URBANO 01:16.627 01:15.620 01:15.620 +0.324
7 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 01:15.651 01:15.651 +0.355
8 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 01:15.988 01:15.795 01:15.795 +0.499
9 GREAT BRITAIN Robbie KERR 01:16.485 01:15.895 01:15.895 +0.599
10 USA Jonathan SUMMERTON 01:16.185 01:15.898 01:15.898 +0.602
11 BRAZIL Sergio JIMENEZ 01:16.647 01:16.024 01:16.024 +0.728
12 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 01:16.658 01:16.106 01:16.106 +0.810
13 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 01:16.271 01:16.115 01:16.115 +0.819
14 MALAYSIA Alex YOONG 01:16.198 01:16.303 01:16.198 +0.902
15 MEXICO David GARZA 01:17.977 01:16.313 01:16.313 +1.017
16 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 01:16.592 01:16.524 01:16.524 +1.228
17 LEBANON Chris ALAJAJIAN 01:17.871 01:16.556 01:16.556 +1.260
18 CHINA Congfu CHENG 01:17.625 01:16.761 01:16.761 +1.465
19 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 01:17.248 01:16.791 01:16.791 +1.495
20 CZECH REPUBLIC Tomas ENGE 01:18.217 01:17.526 01:17.526 +2.230
21 PAKISTAN Adam KHAN 01:18.338 01:17.556 01:17.556 +2.260
22 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 01:18.106 01:18.395 01:18.106 +2.810

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