Wickens Leads Canada to Feature Pole

Mexico City, Mexico (Saturday 15 March, 2008) - Robert Wickens captured A1 Team Canada's second pole position of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season today as the Toronto-born racer topped the timesheets in Feature qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez in Mexico City, home to Sunday's eighth round of the nation versus nation championship.

Wickens, who became the youngest ever A1GP pole winner at the previous round in South Africa, collected his third front-row start in four races courtesy of a flying lap of 1m20.278s in this afternoon's Feature race qualifying session. The 19-year-old, whose pole came with the top twelve nations separated by less than a second, hopes to convert P1 into victory tomorrow as he did in Durban last month in the Sprint race - Canada then climbing to eighth overall in the A1GP Nations Standings.

The earlier Sprint qualifying session proved to be an even tighter affair at the 4.42km track with the top fifteen entries split by less than a second - Wickens powering Canada to a third row grid slot with the sixth fastest time, a 1m20.621s. South Africa's Adrian Zaugg claimed the Sprint pole ahead of fellow A1GP race winner, New Zealand's Jonny Reid.

Robert fired himself into immediate pole contention with his first tour in Feature qualifying, a 1m20.812s, second fastest for the session. Going quicker still on his final run, Robert set the fastest third sector time on his way to a 1m20.278s lap. Wickens duly trumped the field to claim both his and A1 Team Canada's second-ever A1GP pole position.

"Getting my first Feature pole is definitely a great accomplishment," said Wickens. "Everyone wants to win the Feature race as it's longer with pit stops and more variables. The team did a great job; the car was phenomenal in qualifying. We struggled a bit in practice but overcame those difficulties in time for a competitive qualifying showing!"

"Another great performance from the team and particularly Robert," reflected Mark Gallagher whose Status Grand Prix operation runs A1 Team Canada. "After the win in South Africa, another pole here, this time in the Feature, is very satisfying and a further indication of the team's strength in depth. Daniel Morad played his part this weekend by performing well in the rookie session yesterday so all in all it's a very satisfying team effort."