A1GP (BRNO) - Drivers Nominated for Qualifying

A1 Team New Zealand took control in this morning's third and final practice session at Brno circuit ahead of this afternoon's qualifying for the A1GP Brno, Czech Republic. Last year's pole-sitter, Jonny Reid, set a fastest lap of 1m46.469s just under half way through the session, knocking Irish new boy Adam Carroll off the top spot.

The drivers were greeted by blue skies and sunshine as they took to the track but were forced to be cautious as the ambient temperature registered a cool nine degrees centigrade and the track remained relatively damp and slippery due to early morning rain.

Reid was closely followed by A1 Team Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen, who clocked the second fastest time ahead of Ireland's Adam Carroll. The 24-year-old from Portadown seemed happier with the balance of the Irish car today, finishing the session third fastest, just one thousands of a second off the Dutch car. Switzerland's Neel Jani rounded out the top four nations who were in a class of their own for the majority of the session, separated by just under half a second.

A1 Team France finished the morning in fifth place with Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel, almost a second off fourth placed Switzerland. As most teams chose to conserve their Cooper tyres ahead of qualifying this afternoon, a late charge from Michel Jourdain on new rubber moved the Mexican car up to an impressive sixth place ahead of Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr in seventh.

Eric Janis finished 12th for the home nation while yesterday's fastest man on track, Germany's Christian Vietoris, finished the morning in an uncharacteristically low 14th position.

The teams now have to decide on their set ups before qualifying for the Sprint and Feature races starts 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.