Switzerland Secures Double Pole at Sepang

Saturday, 24 November 2007, Sepang, Malaysia – Switzerland’s Neel Jani put in a sensational performance during qualifying for the A1GP Sepang, Malaysia this afternoon to take pole position for tomorrow’s Sprint and Feature race. The Swiss star will start the Sprint race from P1 tomorrow morning for the third consecutive season at Sepang and he will lead the drivers off the grid for A1GP’s 50th ever race tomorrow afternoon.

Sprint race qualifying
Neel Jani continued his magnificent form around the Sepang circuit, setting the quickest lap during the first qualifying segment and going on to better it in the second to snatch pole position for the Sprint race from A1 Team France, demoting Loic Duval to second on the grid.

Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis and German rookie Michael Ammermüller will line up alongside each other on the second row of the Sprint race grid, followed by Canada’s Robert Wickens and championship leader New Zealand’s Jonny Reid in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Feature race qualifying
Having secured pole position for the Sprint race, Jani stamped his authority on the weekend by going on to also take pole for the Feature race, recording an outstanding lap of 1m47.648s in the closing minutes of the session, almost a second quicker than GBR’s Oliver Jarvis who will line up alongside him on the front row.

Germany’s Michael Ammermüller and Frenchman Loic Duval qualified in third and fourth position respectively while the Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen will start the Feature race from fifth on the grid. Brazilian rookie Sergio Jimenez will line up alongside the Dutchman in sixth place on the third row.

After a challenging session, home nation Malaysia’s Alex Yoong will start the Sprint race from 19th position and the Feature race from 15th.

Neel Jani was delighted with his final flying lap in the Swiss car and is aiming to convert his team’s double pole into a double victory tomorrow:

‘I thought that my 48.4 which I did on old tyres might already be enough for pole position. So on my last round I just went out and thought just go easy, don’t push too much or break too late, and suddenly there was a 47.7 so maybe that was the solution! James, my engineer, and the team adjusted the car for each segment – we made some little adjustments on the tyres with ride heights and each time I went out the car was better and everything was just perfect. I hope we do tomorrow what we didn’t do the last two years – get both race wins.’

The 23-year-old driver was also keen to recognise the contribution of Swiss rookie Rahel Frey, who took part in the first practice session at Sepang on Friday morning:

‘My set up was not so far from what she (Rahel) figured out more or less so I have to thank her for that. It’s a team effort with the rookie session and you have to go step by step.’

French driver Loic Duval knows the Sepang circuit well but struggled with the balance of the car during today’s qualifying session:

‘I’ve raced here before in a different category so it wasn’t so difficult for me to learn the track. The braking points are a bit different in an A1GP car obviously but anyway it was enough to be at the front this weekend. We had quite a bit of understeer during the first three qualifying segments, so we tried something different in the last one to try to take pole, but then I suffered from big oversteer so it wasn’t good actually. We’re not quick enough to beat Neel this weekend in qualifying anyway.’

Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis, who will start the Sprint race from third on the grid and the Feature race from second, commented:

‘We put on a new set of tyres for Qualifying 1 and the difference was amazing. Unfortunately it just caught me out as the car had a lot of oversteer. I turned into the double right hander and the car turned in immediately and I clipped the curb and nearly went off. So we didn’t really set a competitive time in Q1 which meant we had to take Qualifying 2 quite cautiously. I think it would have been possible to get pole for the Sprint but we didn’t have the pace for a 1.47, so congratulations to Neel and the team, they did a fantastic job to take pole in both.’

Tomorrow’s Sprint race at Sepang, Malaysia will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15:00.

Sprint race qualifying results – A1GP Sepang, Malaysia (round 3 of 10)

POS A1 TEAM
DRIVER
TIME S1
TIME S2
TIME
GAP FIRST

1
SWITZERLAND
Neel JANI
01:49.003
01:48.630
01:48.630

2
FRANCE
Loic DUVAL
01:49.072
01:48.845
01:48.845
+0.215

3
GREAT BRITAIN
Oliver JARVIS
01:50.677
01:48.864
01:48.864
+0.234

4
GERMANY
Michael AMMERMÜLLER
01:49.976
01:49.219
01:49.219
+0.589

5
CANADA
Robert WICKENS
01:50.560
01:49.252
01:49.252
+0.622

6
NEW ZEALAND
Jonny REID
01:50.677
01:49.330
01:49.330
+0.700

7
BRAZIL
Sergio JIMENEZ
01:50.326
01:49.376
01:49.376
+0.746

8
SOUTH AFRICA
Adrian ZAUGG
01:50.362
01:49.525
01:49.525
+0.895

9
CHINA
Congfu CHENG
01:50.601
01:49.535
01:49.535
+0.905

10
NETHERLANDS
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
01:49.874
01:49.677
01:49.677
+1.047

11
USA
Jonathan SUMMERTON
01:52.872
01:49.758
01:49.758
+1.128

12
AUSTRALIA
Ian DYK
01:51.732
01:49.898
01:49.898
+1.268

13
IRELAND
Adam CARROLL
02:06.063
01:49.915
01:49.915
+1.285

14
INDIA
Narain KARTHIKEYAN
01:50.700
01:50.226
01:50.226
+1.596

15
PORTUGAL
Joao URBANO
01:51.452
01:50.329
01:50.329
+1.699

16
MEXICO
Michel JOURDAIN
01:52.834
01:50.364
01:50.364
+1.734

17
CZECH REPUBLIC
Erik JANIS
01:52.597
01:50.401
01:50.401
+1.771

18
ITALY
Enrico TOCCACELO
01:51.239
01:50.546
01:50.546
+1.916

19
MALAYSIA
Alex YOONG
01:52.415
01:50.653
01:50.653
+2.023

20
LEBANON
Chris ALAJAJIAN
01:50.871
01:50.775
01:50.775
+2.145

21
INDONESIA
Satrio HERMANTO
01:52.614
01:51.618
01:51.618
+2.988

22
PAKISTAN
Adam KHAN
02:28.584
01:51.819
01:51.819
+3.189

Feature race qualifying results – A1GP Sepang, Malaysia (round 3 of 10)

POS A1 TEAM
A1 DRIVER
TIME S1
TIME S2
TIME
GAP FIRST

1
SWITZERLAND
Neel JANI
01:48.425
01:47.648
01:47.648

2
GREAT BRITAIN
Oliver JARVIS
01:49.324
01:48.608
01:48.608
+0.960

3
GERMANY
Michael AMMERMÜLLER
01:49.293
01:48.736
01:48.736
+1.088

4
FRANCE
Loic DUVAL
01:48.807
01:48.905
01:48.807
+1.159

5
NETHERLANDS
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN
01:49.694
01:49.021
01:49.021
+1.373

6
BRAZIL
Sergio JIMENEZ
01:50.000
01:49.110
01:49.110
+1.462

7
IRELAND
Adam CARROLL
01:49.248
01:50.081
01:49.248
+1.600

8
CHINA
Congfu CHENG
01:49.644
01:49.308
01:49.308
+1.660

9
SOUTH AFRICA
Adrian ZAUGG
01:49.637
01:49.324
01:49.324
+1.676

10
NEW ZEALAND
Jonny REID
01:49.600
01:49.353
01:49.353
+1.705

11
INDIA
Narain KARTHIKEYAN
01:49.797
01:49.543
01:49.543
+1.895

12
CANADA
Robert WICKENS
01:49.642
01:49.726
01:49.642
+1.994

13
USA
Jonathan SUMMERTON
01:49.818
01:49.937
01:49.818
+2.170

14
AUSTRALIA
Ian DYK
01:50.912
01:49.868
01:49.868
+2.220

15
MALAYSIA
Alex YOONG
01:50.102
01:49.997
01:49.997
+2.349

16
CZECH REPUBLIC
Erik JANIS
01:50.020
01:50.617
01:50.020
+2.372

17
PORTUGAL
Joao URBANO
01:50.163
01:50.109
01:50.109
+2.461

18
ITALY
Enrico TOCCACELO
01:50.408
01:50.193
01:50.193
+2.545

19
INDONESIA
Satrio HERMANTO
01:51.335
01:50.651
01:50.651
+3.003

20
MEXICO
Michel JOURDAIN
01:50.869
01:51.067
01:50.869
+3.221

21
PAKISTAN
Adam KHAN
01:51.670
01:50.871
01:50.871
+3.223

22
LEBANON
Chris ALAJAJIAN
01:50.178*
01:51.161
01:51.161
+3.513

* A1 Team Lebanon will start tomorrow’s Feature race from the back of the grid after having its lap time from the third qualifying session disqualified when the car was found to be under the minimum weight at the end of that segment.