Neel Jani, who has been on pole at Sepang the past two years, continued his domination in Malaysia with pole position for both the sprint and feature races.
Already early this morning the Swiss driver had been dominant in the third practice session and clocked a very fast time of 1.49.176. In the afternoon, he followed through with both poles.
Under the 2007-2008 regulations, each A1GP Team is limited to one ‘flying lap’ per session, and at the end of the first two sessions the grid is determined. The teams’ fastest single lap from either of these first two segments counts towards the sprint race grid slot.
In the hot and sunny conditions at Sepang A1 Team Switzerland finished Q1 with a best time of 1.49.003. In Q2, the team improved their time and finished with a stunning 1.48.630 being the fastest of the Q2 session. The combined result gave Neel Jani pole for the sprint race.
For the Sunday feature race the same applies also for the last two segments, so, the team’s fastest single lap from segments 3 and 4 determines the feature race grid slot. In Q3, A1 Team Switzerland again clocked the fastest time of 1.48.425, 0.382s ahead of France. In Q4, the Swiss team was still the one to beat but Jani put in an incredible lap to go even faster with a lap of 1.47.648.
Neel Jani commented, "I encountered a slight problem with brakes towards the end of my last outing and spun. But I managed keeping the top of the sheet in the session and I did not suffer too much from the heat, although it is a bit like being in the sauna with the heat and humidity."
During the qualifying press conference Neel Jani summed-up his session: "I am so pleased overall. I wanted to be P1 yesterday and I made it today. I pushed so hard. It was fantastic in both qualifying sessions for each race. James Robinson my engineer and everyone in the team did such a good job.
They adjusted the car for each segment. At the end, in the last run it was just exactly perfect. Finishing on pole for the sprint race and the feature race was certainly more than what we were hoping. I was on pole here last year in the two races, but I did not win both races. My aim is to win both races tomorrow."
Max Welti, team principal of A1 Team Switzerland commented: "I am very pleased with the result. To be starting with a good advantage is key on this difficult track. Neel Jani, Rahel Frey our rookie, our engineers and the mechanics did a really good job all weekend. What a great qualifying result to set us up well for the two races tomorrow."
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A1 Team Switzerland
A1 Team Switzerland is the Swiss national team in motorsport, representing its country in the unique global A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport. A1 Team Switzerland is entering its third year of racing in the A1 GP series. After 11 events and 22 races around the world, A1 Team Switzerland finished the inaugural A1GP season as runners-up, winning from pole position in Dubai. In 2006-2007 they again won from the pole in Malaysia, on the way to securing another top eight championship finish.
The drivers racing for their country in 2007-2008 will be Neel Jani and Sébastien Buemi. The rookie drivers will be Marcel Fässler, Tom Dillmann and two lady rookie drivers, Rahel Frey and Natacha Gachnang who participated successfully to a shootout event at Silverstone in September 2007. They will have the chance to represent their national team starting with the Brno Grand Prix, 2nd leg of the A1 GP Championship.
A1 Team Switzerland’s selected best results
Sprint race: 2 x 1st - Malaysia 2006/2007 (Neel Jani) and Dubai 2005/2006 (Neel Jani)
Feature race: 3 x 2nd 2005/2006 South Africa (Neel Jani), Malaysia (Neel Jani), Portugal (Neel Jani)
Pole Position: Malaysia 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 (Neel Jani), Dubai 2005/2006 (Neel Jani) Malaysia 2007/2008 - Sprint and Feature races - (Neel Jani)
2007 podiums: Zandvoort (Neel Jani) - Brno - CZ (Neel Jani)
Live streaming at www.a1gp.com
- Agnes CARLIER - photos A1GP
photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - A1GP
