Taupo: Team Mexico Saturday notes

TAUPO, New Zealand (January 24th, 2009) -- Salvador Duran qualified 12th and 13th for Sunday's A1GP Sprint and Feature races, respectively.

Duran was in charge for the qualifying session where his best lap time was 1'15.972 to place the car on the 12th spot on the grid for tomorrow's Sprint race.

"We had a new set of tires for the qualifying sessions for the Sprint race, we used same set on the first session for the Feature race and then a fresh set for the final session", said the Mexican driver.

Later on, the Mexican driver clocked 1'15.892 and placed the car on the 13th spot of the starting grid for the Feature race.

It is important to mention that Duran arrived to New Zealand without having previously tested the car and that it is also his first time with the mechanic and technical team, for which it is very gratifying to see him progress every time he drives the snake eyed car.

"I think we have shown a good progress as a team. There are other teams that have two or three races more experience than us, and some of them even trained before the season began", added Duran.

The first three spots for both races ended up in the same three countries. A1 Team Ireland Adam Carroll clinched both pole positions, while Netherlands driver Robert Doornbos was 2nd and Portugal's driver Filipe Albuquerque was 3rd.

-credit: mexico