Zoom One pole and one 16th position for Neel Jani

Switzerland and Ireland took a pole position apiece for tomorrow’s races in Sepang, Malaysia for round three of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

In an afternoon which resulted in two of the most diverse grids to date, Neel Jani put in a phenomenal time of 1:47.154s to give the Swiss the Sprint race advantage. Adam Carroll went even faster in Feature race qualifying, setting a 1:47.124s. However, the big surprise of the exciting qualifying session was Daniel Morad securing Lebanon’s best ever grid position with third in the Feature race.

In heat of 30 degrees Celsius with humidity of 66%, the A1GP drivers were pushed to their limits this afternoon as they took to the demanding Sepang International Circuit.

The A1 teams also had the first chance to play a PowerBoost ‘joker’ in qualifying today, with a new rule aimed at adding a new strategic element to Saturdays. The functionality of the new car allows for the PowerBoost button to be available for an entire lap of Qualifying, and teams will be allowed to use it for one of their four flying laps. The PowerBoost button gives an extra 60bhp on application, so the ability to use it throughout a lap is likely to make a significant difference to the car’s capability.

The first segment of qualifying was interrupted by a red flag when Korea’s Jin Woo Hwang stopped out on track. The clock continued to tick down while the car was moved, resulting in a frantic rush in the dying seconds of the session as the rest of the field attempted to get over the line to start a flying lap before the chequered flag came out.

Monaco, Mexico, Malaysia and Brazil missed the cut while France took the initial advantage with a 1:49.173s. In the second Sprint qualifying segment, New Zealand used the PowerBoost to take provisional pole position with a strong lap from Earl Bamber of 1:47.779s.

Switzerland’s Neel Jani then put in a great lap to grab the Sprint race pole position, recording a 1:47.154s without the help of the PowerBoost button.

France’s Loic Duval will start alongside him on the front row with New Zealand’s Earl Bamber taking advantage of the new qualifying PowerBoost system to post the third fastest time. Portugal will start fourth and Italy fifth, in its best qualifying performance of the season.

With about two and a half minutes of the first session of Feature qualifying remaining, all the teams piled out of the pits. Ireland took provisional pole position, ahead of France, Australia and Monaco with Switzerland down in fifth.