A1GP 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.
Official Practice Session 3
1 Congfu CHENG CHINA 17 01:14.9 - 29
2 Robbie KERR GREAT BRITAIN 10 01:15.1 0.218 26
3 Narain KARTHIKEYAN INDIA 15 01:15.4 0.505 24
4 Jonny REID NEW ZEALAND 7 01:15.5 0.582 25
5 Neel JANI SWITZERLAND 6 01:15.6 0.65 26
6 Filipe ALBUQUERQUE PORTUGAL 18 01:15.7 0.765 27
7 Filip SALAQUARDA CZECH REPUBLIC 14 01:15.8 0.85 28
8 Jonathan SUMMERTON USA 16 01:15.8 0.857 23
9 Michael AMMERMÜLLER GERMANY 14 01:15.8 0.884 25
10 Franck MONTAGNY FRANCE 12 01:15.8 0.898 27
11 Fairuz FAUZY MALAYSIA 8 01:15.8 0.928 24
12 Adam CARROLL IRELAND 10 01:15.9 0.935 18
13 Adrian ZAUGG SOUTH AFRICA 8 01:15.9 0.996 25
14 Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN NETHERLANDS 14 01:15.9 1.025 23
15 James HINCHCLIFFE CANADA 12 01:16.0 1.042 25
16 Edoardo PISCOPO ITALY 20 01:16.0 1.106 31
17 Xandi NEGRAO BRAZIL 16 01:16.2 1.276 31
18 Adam KHAN PAKISTAN 12 01:16.2 1.313 28
19 John MARTIN AUSTRALIA 19 01:16.3 1.356 30
20 Satrio HERMANTO INDONESIA 23 01:17.3 2.385 23
21 David MARTINEZ MEXICO 21 01:17.4 2.459 28
22 Khalil BESCHIR LEBANON 7 01:17.8 2.847 23
Nominated drivers for Qualifying - A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain (round 10 of 10)
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
For additional information about A1GP including ticket sales and television viewing times and a full list of international broadcast partners, please visit www.A1GP.com .
- Nikkie Rooke -
photos are on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - A1GP
