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A1 Team France continued to dominate the action at Sydney's Eastern Creek
Raceway, setting the pace in the third and final practice session this morning
in overcast and humid weather conditions, ahead of qualifying for the A1GP
Sydney, Australia this afternoon.
Loic Duval, who topped the time sheets during Friday practice having only
arrived at the circuit one hour before the session began, clocked the fastest
lap at the start of the hour long session this morning and France remained the
team to beat. Duval was closely followed by Great Britain's Robbie Kerr in
second, who is back at the sharp end of the time sheets after a difficult
weekend in Taupo, and India's Narain Karthikeyan in third, who put in a late
charge on fresh tyres.
Current championship leader New Zealand's Jonny Reid set the fourth quickest
time of the session, just ahead of Germany's Michael Ammermüller in fifth.
China's Congfu Cheng was on strong form this morning, ending the session in
sixth position.
Italy's Edoardo Piscopo finished the session seventh ahead of home nation
Australia's John Martin, who was the fastest man around the Eastern Creek
circuit during yesterday's rookie session. Brazil's Sergio Jimenez ended the
morning ninth fastest followed by Pakistan's Adam Khan in tenth.
Several teams struggled to find grip around the 'slippery' 3.93 km circuit
which is particularly hard on tyres, the Czech Republic, Netherlands and
Portugal all spinning off during the session.
All 22 nations competing in the World Cup of Motorsport now have to decide on
their set ups before qualifying for the Sprint and Feature races begins at 14.15
this afternoon. Qualifying consists of four 15 minute sessions with a five
minute break between each one. The fastest lap time set by each team's nominated
driver in the first two qualifying segments will determine the grid for the
rolling start Sprint race, while the fastest times set in the final two segments
will determine how the 22 cars will line up on the grid for the standing start
Feature race. Each driver is limited to one 'flying lap' per 15 minute
session.
Nominated drivers for Qualifying - A1GP Sydney, Australia
(round 6 of 10)
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A1 TEAM
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DRIVER
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Australia
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John Martin
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Brazil
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Sergio Jimenez
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Canada
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Robert Wickens
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China
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CongFu Cheng
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Czech Republic
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Tomas Enge
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France
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Loic Duval
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Germany
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Michael Ammermüller
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Great Britain
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Robbie Kerr
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India
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Narain Karthikeyan
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Indonesia
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Satrio Hermanto
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Ireland
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Adam Carroll
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Italy
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Edoardo Piscopo
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Lebanon
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Chris Alajajian
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Malaysia
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Fairuz Fauzy
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Mexico
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David Garza
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Netherlands
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Jeroen Bleekemolen
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New Zealand
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Jonny Reid
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Pakistan
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Adam Khan
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Portugal
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Joao Urbano
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South Africa
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Adrian Zaugg
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Switzerland
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Neel Jani
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USA
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Jonathan Summerton
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