Estoril: Team USA qualifying report

Speed struggles to tame Estoril

CIRCUITO ESTORIL, Portugal -- On a sunny day at the Circuito Estoril, A1 Team USA struggled to tame the twists and turns with a qualifying time of 3'05.024. That time put A1 Team USA into 15th place at the end of Saturday's qualifying session at the 2005 A1 Grand Prix in Portugal.

"After a strong morning practice session, Team USA is disappointed with the outcome of qualifying," said team owner Rick Weidinger. "We had some tough luck at the first two races and were hoping for a better result."

"We had to replace a rear shock on the car," said A1 Team USA Driver Scott Speed. "The car was getting faster as qualifying went on but we just ran out of time."

"We started in the middle of the pack at Brands Hatch and Scott drove his way to the front before an accident took us out of the race" said Weidinger. "I expect that same level of driving from Scott tomorrow."

Qualifying position is determined by the aggregate time of the best two of four qualifying laps the team is allowed to take. The final position in relation to the other teams then determines where A1 Team USA is positioned on the grid at Sunday's initial sprint race. The finish of the sprint race then determines where each team starts for the main feature race, which is also on Sunday.

The Sprint race will be contested over 50 miles lasting up to 30 minutes in duration. With a rolling start at 13.30 BST, tomorrow's race will be run over 18 laps at the Circuito Estoril near Lisbon, Portugal. The outcome of the race determines the grid position for the Feature race which will start at 15.00 BST with a standing start. The Feature race will be run over 100 miles (36 laps) lasting up to 60 minutes in duration.

-a1teamusa.com