Jarvis back at the front in China

A1 Team GBR driver Oliver Jarvis will make a front row start for tomorrow’s Feature Race in round four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at the Zhuhai International Circuit. In the first two qualifying sessions of the day, to decide positions for the rolling start in the Sprint Race, Oliver had new tyres for both his flying laps but was unfortunately not able to get the best out of either the car or the tyres in Q1.

Despite this, he made big improvements in Q2 to clock a 1:23.850, putting him on the third row for tomorrow morning’s opening race. In the final two qualifying sessions of the day for Sunday’s Feature Race, Oliver pushed hard on old tyres in Q3 to set a 1:24.100. He improved with another strong run in Q4 on fresh rubber to produce a 1:23.650, faster than his earlier time and good enough to put him on the front row for the Feature Race, only 0.185s adrift of pole- sitter Switzerland.

With such close times in qualifying, tomorrow’s races are set to be equally as competitive and the Chinese circuit does offer plenty of overtaking opportunities. A1 Team GBR is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this as they look to end the final round of 2007 with a victory.

Oliver Jarvis: "A fairly difficult Q1 meant we were on the back foot for Q2, but I pushed hard and managed to qualify fifth despite the car not being quite right. There are some passing opportunities on the track so I will be doing my best to get a podium finish in the Sprint Race".

"We were much more confident going into Q3 and did a good job on old tyres which put us in a good spot. I managed to push a lot harder in Q4 getting a good lap out on new tyres to maintain our front row slot.

The Feature race is a long race – tyre degradation and brake wear could be a factor, but we’re at the front and I’ll be doing my best to make amends from a non-scoring Feature race in Sepang last time out."

Katie Clements, Team Principal: "Despite the slight challenges in the Sprint race qualifying, Olly put in an extremely strong qualifying lap to start second for tomorrow’s Feature race.

The team is confident that our race pace will be competitive in both races and we’re aiming for two strong results to boost us up the Championship table."

Sunday’s 20 minute Sprint race will start at 1100 local time (0300 GMT) with the 70 minute Feature race starting at 1500 local time (0700 GMT). Sky Sports 1 will broadcast all the live action from China from 0600 on Sunday 16 December.

A1GP Round 4 Sprint Race Qualifying P1 GERMANY, 1:23.203 P2 SWITZERLAND, 1:23.425 P3 IRELAND, 1:23.675 P5 GREAT BRITAIN, 1:23.850

A1GP Round 4 Feature Race Qualifying P1 SWITZERLAND, 1:23.465 P2 GREAT BRITAIN, 1:23.650 P3 INDIA, 1:23.767

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- Victoria Henley -  photo A1GP

photos are on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - A1GP SERIES