A1GP news

Problems for Pakistan

Preparations for the A1GP Sydney, Australia continued today, as A1 Team Pakistan joined a host of other nations on track at Eastern Creek for final practice and qualifying, ahead of tomorrow's two races.

Representing his nation, Nur Ali continued to improve his lap times, but was hit by mechanical failure this afternoon which hampered the team's progress in qualifying. After missing one qualifying segment, the team will start the Sprint race from the 11th row of the grid.

In the morning's final practice session, Ali improved his lap time, to move within seven tenths of former F1 driver Alex Yoong. While pushing hard to improve further, Ali spun to end his practice session prematurely.

The team were also showing signs of improvement this afternoon when the mechanical problem hit. In a qualifying system unique to A1GP, teams complete four 15 minute qualifying segments, with the best two times aggregated to decide the team's place on the Sprint race grid. With only three segments completed, the team lost valuable track time as the Pakistan car limped back to the pits.

Nur Ali commented, "Today's qualifying session was a bit frustrating, the third segment I was on when the car broke was looking like my fastest time of the day. I was feeling really good in the car, and then it just went, the driveshaft broke. I was fortunate enough to be able to bring the car back into the garage where the team did a fantastic job to get the car fixed and back out on track.

The connection between myself and the team has been great this weekend, we're really communicating well on the behaviour of the car, and I have to thank them for the job they did this afternoon."

Speaking about the team's chances on race day, Ali added, "I think we could have a good Sprint race tomorrow, and if we get a good start we could make up a couple of places that will help us in the Feature race. I'm really having fun at this track. It's great to drive and definitely my favourite A1GP circuit so far."

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