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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Ireland's double top

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A1 Team Ireland dominated qualifying to take pole position for both of tomorrow’s races in Taupo, New Zealand.

Adam Carroll initially took control of Sprint race qualifying, posting a time of 1 minute 14.507 seconds round the 2.06-mile circuit. The Netherlands’ Robert Doornbos will start alongside Carroll on the front row with Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque in third.

Amazingly, the top three also qualified in the same positions in Feature race qualfying, with Carroll going even quicker to post a 1m 14.411-second lap, the fastest time an A1GP car has ever lapped Taupo Motorsports Park.

Local favourite, New Zealand’s Chris van der Drift, will start the two races from sixth and tenth.

Full report to follow... but here is how qualifying unfolded with our live text updates:

15:11 So the final Feature race grid order will be Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, Switzerland, Malaysia, France, USA, Lebanon, New Zealand, India, Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain, Italy, South Africa, Monaco, Indonesia, China.
15:11 Netherlands' Robert Doornbos snatches second right at the death. It's Ireland and the Netherlands on the front row for both races again.
15:10 Portugal goes second quickest.
15:09 Australia takes second position with John Martin's best lap of the weekend.

15:09 Ireland's Adam Carroll goes even quicker. He lowers the lap record to 1m 14.411! Can anyone beat him?

15:08 All the rest of the cars come of the pits for their final runs.

15:06 Malaysia moves up to second, with a 1m 15.2-second lap from Fairuz Fauzy.

15:05 New Zealand moves him up a position to eigth.
15:04 Chris van der Drift is out on track to try and give the home fans what they want.

15:02 Andretti puts the USA up to sixth - for now at least. Satrio Hermanto doesn't improved Indonesia's position.
15:01 Marco Andretti has gone out first to try and make up for his first segment.

15:00 The track is open for the fourth session qualifying. Can anyone top Ireland's Adam Carroll.
14:55 USA's Marco Andretti went off at Turn 4, which is why he did now set a time.
14:54 So the order is Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Switzerland, France, Lebanon, India, New Zealand, Italy, Netherlands.
14:53 Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque was good enough for second, but it was still seven tenths of a second from Carroll.
14:53 John Martin goes second for Australia, but it's a long way off Adam Carroll's best.
I4:52 Ireland goes quickest - it's another stonking lap from Adam Carroll - a 1m 14.589s.
14:51 Fairuz Fauzy goes second for Malaysia, ahead of Mexico returnee Salvador Duran.
14:50 New Zealand sets the fastest time, but Chris van der Drift is going to have to go faster than 1m 15.899s if he wants pole position.

14:49 The track is quiet at the moment - but I reckon it is about to explode, no doubt. Not literally, you understand, because then we wouldn't then have a race tomorrow.

14:48 Again, Indonesia's Satrio Hermanto is the first car out on track. He sets a lap of 1m 17.269 seconds.
14:45 So we're ready for Feature race qualifying! Can Adam Carroll do the double?
14:44 So the final Sprint race grid orger is Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Malaysia, Lebanon.
14:43 Robert Doornbos shows his hand. He grabs second for the Netherlands right at the death.
14:43 France goes third with Loic Duval.
14:42 What an exciting end to the session! Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque betters Adam Carroll's time for IReland - but Carroll grabs it straight back!
14:40 Monaco's Clivio Piccione has gone off.
14:39 Fairuz Fauzy puts Malaysia up to fifth with a fine lap. It was Fairuz Fauzy's best lap of the weekend.
14:37 Chris Van der Drift has put New Zealand all the way up to third with a much better lap. That pleases the home fans!
14:36 Indonesia's Satrio Hermanto goes out on track first, trying to improve from 18th place.
14:34 Six minutes to go and nobody has gone out on track yet. It is going to be a frantic end to the Sprint race qualifying session.
14:30 The track is open for the second segment of qualifying. Will anyone match Adam Carroll's pace for Ireland?
14:28 So the order is Ireland, Switzerland, France, Portugal,
Lebanon, Netherlands, India, Brazil, Great Britain, Australia.
14:26 Adrain Zaugg goes off on his hot lap.
14:25 Ireland grabs provisional pole position with a superb lap from Adam Carroll.
14:26 Neel Jani goes quickest for Switzerland, but Ireland's Adam Carroll is going for his lap now.
14:25 All the teams are leaving it late to set their first qualifying laps.
14:25 India is now quickest.
14:24 Brazil has now gone quickest with a good lap from Felipe Guimaraes.
14:22 India's Narain Karthikeyan has gone off on its out lap.

14:22 Australia goes quickest.
14:21 China and Australia are the first cars out on track.
14:15 The track is open for the first session of qualifying today. Who will be on pole position for the Sprint race grid?
14:04 Have you tried the new A1GP.com Dashboard? Click the button above - you won't be dissapointed.
14:03 We've been away for a few weeks, but we're back now and we can't wait for the action to get underway.
14:00 Welcome to a sunny and gorgeous Taupo in New Zealand.
source: www.a1gp.com

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