Wickens: feature race pole www.a1gp.com

Related links

Teams

• Canada

Also see

• 2007/08 A1GP Schedule
• A1GP Live on Sky Sports

Canada's Robert Wickens has taken pole position for the feature race at round eight of the A1GP season in Mexico City, with South Africa's Adrian Zaugg on pole for Sunday's sprint race.

Wickens waited until the closing minutes of the final qualifying segment to secure the top slot, emerging just thousandths of a second ahead of Switzerland's Neel Jani.

Wickens, who took victory in the sprint race last time out in Durban, later said he was delighted with his maiden feature race pole.

"Everyone always wants to win the feature over the sprint because in my opinion it's a better race - it's longer and there are pit stops and more variables," he said.

"Canada did a great job and the car was phenomenal. We struggled a bit in practice but we were able to overcome our difficulties. It was a pretty solid qualifying effort."

Germany's Michael Ammermuller qualified in third position ahead of Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis.

Ireland's Adam Carroll took the fifth spot ahead of New Zealand's Jonny Reid, the USA's Jonathan Summerton and Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque.

With France currently lying second in the championship 10 points behind Switzerland, Jonathan Cochet will start from 14th alongside the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen.

Fourth pole for Zaugg

Meanwhile, Zaugg claimed the sprint race pole - his fourth of the season - by setting the fastest lap on new tyres during the second 15-minute qualifying segment.

"It wasn't actually very difficult to get a good time," the 21-year-old said. "The times are very close so each and every little error costs you a position.

"We tried go out late because usually the track is at its best at the end of the session and I'm really happy with the result."

Reid, who topped the time sheets in the first segment, will start second, with Summerton leaping up the order at the end of the session to qualify third ahead of Jani.

Jarvis and Wickens will start the sprint race from fifth and sixth respectively, while Carroll and Brazil's Bruno Junqueira will line up behind them on the fourth row of the grid.

Local hero David Garza of A1 Team Mexico will start the sprint race from a disappointing 21st position after a frustrating qualifying session, while Cochet will start from 16th.

Feature race grid:

1 Canada 1'20.278 -
2 Switzerland 1'20.320 0.042
3 Germany 1'20.646 0.368
4 Great Britain 1'20.705 0.427
5 Ireland 1'20.708 0.430
6 New Zealand 1'20.743 0.465
7 USA 1'20.783 0.505
8 Portugal 1'20.825 0.547
9 China 1'20.859 0.581
10 South Africa 1'20.870 0.592
11 Malaysia 1'20.939 0.661
12 Italy 1'20.953 0.675
13 Netherlands 1'21.263 0.985
14 France 1'21.310 1.032
15 Australia 1'21.358 1.080
16 Lebanon 1'21.441 1.163
17 Pakistan 1'21.484 1.206
18 Brazil 1'21.675 1.397
19 Indonesia 1'21.788 1.510
20 India 1'21.909 1.631
21 Czech Republic 1'22.333 2.055
22 Mexico 1'22.371 2.093

Sprint race grid:

1 South Africa 1'20.315 -
2 New Zealand 1'20.397 0.082
3 USA 1'20.426 0.111
4 Switzerland 1'20.518 0.203
5 Great Britain 1'20.556 0.241
6 Canada 1'20.621 0.306
7 Ireland 1'20.769 0.454
8 Brazil 1'20.842 0.527
9 Portugal 1'20.940 0.625
10 Italy 1'20.961 0.646
11 Netherlands 1'21.005 0.690
12 China 1'21.028 0.713
13 Germany 1'21.054 0.739
14 Malaysia 1'21.099 0.784
15 Pakistan 1'21.176 0.861
16 France 1'21.417 1.102
17 Australia 1'21.789 1.474
18 India 1'21.799 1.484
19 Lebanon 1'22.012 1.697
20 Indonesia 1'22.044 1.729
21 Mexico 1'22.370 2.055
22 Czech Republic 1'22.373 2.058