Brno: Team Germany qualifying report

A1 Team Germany to make debut start from front row

By taking second place in the final practice session A1 Team Germany, managed by Willi Weber, recorded its best ever qualifying performance to date at the second round of the A1 Grand Prix Series in Brno, Czech Republic. The team and nominated race driver Nicolas Hülkenberg start from the front row for the first time on Sunday in the World Cup of Motorsport. Only A1 Team New Zealand was quicker in qualifying, which is also run by the Supernova team of David Sears.

Nico Hülkenberg set a time of 1m45.917s around the Czech race track on Saturday in the first of four qualifying-runs with the powerful 520 hp A1 Grand Prix car. As a result, he occupied second position 0.241 seconds behind A1 Team New Zealand. In the second qualifying segment A1 Team Germany drove the eighth fastest time (1m47.398s). The team once again posted second fastest time (1m45.499s) 0.459s behind New Zealand in the third stage. With a lap of 1m45.025s, Nico Hülkenberg set a personal best and the second fastest time of all teams. A difference of twelve-thousandths-of-a-second meant second place behind New Zealand once again. The sum of the two fastest times, used to determine the starting grid for Sunday's sprint race, sees A1 Team Germany line up 0.471 seconds behind New Zealand.

Nicolas Hülkenberg:
"I'm delighted to have improved again when compared to the season opener. On the first run on new tyres we immediately recorded the second fastest time, even though I was driving cautiously. Eighth was all I could do with the same set of tyres in the second run, because my car oversteered too much. I used new tyres again for our third attempt and was second again. Then I wanted to see what was really possible: We made a small adjustment to the front wing, which was absolutely correct since I set my personal fastest lap on the new tyres. Only Johnny Reid was a tick faster. The races on Sunday will be difficult. It's easy to drift off the ideal line in Brno - and there is lots of dirt offline around the circuit and you can lose loads of time."