Estoril: Sean McIntosh qualifying report

Sean starts seventh for Estoril A1 sprint

Estoril, Portugal (October 22, 2005) -- Sean McIntosh comfortably secured a seventh place starting slot for the sprint race in tomorrow's third round of the A1 Grand Prix Series at the Estoril Circuit in Portugal.

McIntosh's aggregate qualifying time of 3m03.367s ensured the Team Canada racer would take the rolling start for tomorrow's sprint race well inside the top-ten for the first time while looking to ensure a strong finish at the 4.36km track to set himself up for an equally valuable grid slot for the hour-long feature race.

With 10mm of rain falling at the circuit yesterday, improved overhead conditions just prior to qualifying today saw Team Brazil claim pole position with Round 1 winner Nelson Piquet Jr. joined on the front-row by Neel Jani for Team Switzerland.

Commenting at the end of the day Sean remarked:

"Our goal heading into today's sessions was to qualify in the top-ten so I'm satisfied with the outcome. It was a bit of a mixed session, the track was still pretty greasy but not half as slippery as it was yesterday in practice. All four of my qualifying runs were fairly smooth and I went as high as fifth overall on my final run on fresh rubber. It's encouraging for us as a team to be moving up the grid order each time we qualify, we just missed out on the top-ten in Germany but we're there today!

"We'll probably make a few small changes to the car to dial in the set-up a bit more before the sprint race but overall I'm really pleased with the handling today and I'm optimistic of a good showing tomorrow. The forecast looks good and the plan, as always, is to keep out of trouble in the sprint race and go for it in the feature race!"

Tomorrow's sprint race starts at 1:30pm CET followed by the feature race at 3:30pm CET. Both races can be viewed live on the official A1 Grand Prix website -- www.a1gp.com

-www.seanmcintosh.com