Kerr sprints to the front

Home fans have plenty to cheer as Swiss close in on A1GP title

Last updated: 6th October 2008

Robbie Kerr

Kerr: Delighted the home fans at Brands Hatch

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Robbie Kerr gave the home crowd something to cheer about at Brands Hatch by qualifying first for Sunday's sprint race.

The Great Britain driver roared home in a time of one minute 14.424 seconds to pip USA to top spot in the qualifying session.

Kerr will start from second in the feature race behind Team India, who claimed their first ever pole thanks to the work of Narain Karthikeyan.

Needing a seventh-place finish in either race at the Kent circuit to seal the title, Switzerland put themselves in a great position to do so by twice qualifying in third.

Late changes

Neel Jani appeared to have sealed a first-place start for Sunday's feature before Karthikeyan recorded a time of one minute 14.628secs to overhaul him.

Kerr also then beat Jani's time to move second. Ireland ended the session in fourth, just as they did in the sprint qualifying earlier.

It was a bad day for New Zealand. With victories in both races required to pip the Swiss, they could only qualify 10th and 17th respectively.

France also struggled, meaning Team GB could still claim second spot in the final overall standings if Kerr can repeat his performances from last year when he won the sprint race and came second in the feature.

Kerr admitted his team got it wrong in their pursuit of pole in the feature race.

"We've got to be happy with the result but it's just a shame we're not one place higher on the feature race grid," he said.

Caught out

"We got a bit caught out by waiting right until the last moment before we went out. We wait so late to go out in the session purely so that other cars have driven round the circuit before us - they clean it up and put some rubber down which gives us the opportunity to get that extra bit of grip and a faster lap time.

"Everyone does the same though so it's a hard call to get it right every time and unfortunately we didn't get it quite right."

India's Karthikeyan meanwhile hoped to continue his sensational performance in front of a large support in Sunday's feature.

"I've always done well here at Brands Hatch and it's one of my favourite circuits," said the ex-Formula One driver.

"The car has been up there all weekend. We put the lap together and the team has done a great job and the set up is not too far off.

"I think there will be a lot of Indian fans here tomorrow so we'll see what we can do."

Leading positions after Final Qualifying:

1 Great Britain (Kerr) 1min 14.424secs, 2 USA (Summerton) 1:14.426, 3 Switzerland (Jani) 1:14.772, 4 Ireland (Carroll) 1:14.935, 5 India (Karthikeyan) 1:15.040, 6 Portugal (Albuguergue) 1:15.077, 7 South Africa (Zaugg) 1:15.142, 8 France (Montagny) 1:15.216, 9 Germany (Ammermuller) 1:15.306, 10 New Zealand (Reid) 1:15.312, 11 Netherlands (Bleekemolen) 1:15.338, 12 Australia (Martin) 1:15.344, 13 Czech Republic (Salaquarda) 1:15.357, 14 Malaysia (Fauzy) 1:15.439, 15 Canada (Hinchcliffe) 1:15.470, 16 China (Congfu) 1:15.954, 17 Italy (Piscopo) 1:16.049, 18 Pakistan (Khan) 1:16.086, 19 Brazil (Negrao) 1:16.117, 20 Lebanon (Beschir) 1:17.394, 21 Mexico (Martinez) 1:17.403, 22 Indonesia (Hermanto) 1:17.553