Swiss ace takes double pole

Jani heads the grid for both races in Malaysia

By Simon Dilger   Last updated: 25th November 2007

neel jani a1 team switzerland 24/11/2007

Jani: on top www.a1gp.com

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Sensational qualifying drives from Neel Jani have secured him pole positions for both the Sprint and Feature races in Sunday's Sepang A1GP in Malaysia.

The Swiss star toppled Loic Duval of A1 Team France from the top spot for the Sprint before clocking a sensational 1m 47.648s to snatch pole in the closing minutes of qualifying for the Feature race.

Duval lines up second on the grid for the opening race, with Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis and German rookie Michael Ammermuller behind and Canada's Robert Wickens on the third row with championship leader Jonny Reid of New Zealand.

During qualifying for the Feature Jani went on to lap almost a second quicker than nearest rival Jarvis, who begins the race alongside him on the front row.

Ammermuller and Duval line up in third and fourth respectively, with Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen and Brazilian rookie Sergio Jimenez a row back in fifth and sixth.

"I thought that my 1m 48.4s lap, which I did on old tyres, might already be enough for pole position," Jani told www.a1gp.com.

"So on my last round I just went out and thought I'd just go easy, and suddenly there was a 1m 47.7s lap so maybe that was the solution.

"James, my engineer, and the team adjusted the car for each segment - we made some little adjustments on the tyres with ride heights and each time I went out the car was better and everything was just perfect.

"I hope we do tomorrow what we didn't do the last two years - get both race wins."

Oversteer

Jarvis said he had experienced difficulty with the set up of his car during Saturday's qualifying sessions.

"We put on a new set of tyres for Qualifying one and the difference was amazing," he said.

"Unfortunately it just caught me out as the car had a lot of oversteer.

"I turned into the double right hander and the car turned in immediately and I clipped the curb and nearly went off.

"So we didn't really set a competitive time in Q1 which meant we had to take qualifying two quite cautiously.

"It would have been possible to get pole for the Sprint but we didn't have the pace.

"So congratulations to Neel and the team, they did a fantastic job to take pole in both."

Duval, who knows the Sepang track well, said that he too had struggled with his car.

He said: "I've raced here before in a different category so it wasn't so difficult for me to learn the track.

"The braking points are a bit different in an A1GP car but it was enough to be at the front this weekend.

"We had quite a bit of understeer during the first three qualifying segments, so we tried something different in the last one to try to take pole.

"But then I suffered from big oversteer so it wasn't good actually. We're not quick enough to beat Neel this weekend - in qualifying anyway."

The hopes of the host nation rest with Alex Yoong who, after a difficult qualifying session, will start the Sprint race in 19th position and the Feature race in 15th.

Sprint race qualifying:

1 Switzerland 1'48.630 -
2 France 1'48.845 0.215
3 Great Britain 1'48.864 0.234
4 Germany 1'49.219 0.589
5 Canada 1'49.252 0.622
6 New Zealand 1'49.330 0.700
7 Brazil 1'49.376 0.746

8 South Africa 1'49.525 0.895
9 China 1'49.535 0.905
10 Netherlands 1'49.677 1.047
11 USA 1'49.758 1.128
12 Australia 1'49.898 1.268
13 Ireland 1'49.915 1.285
14 India 1'50.226 1.596
15 Portugal 1'50.329 1.699
16 Mexico 1'50.364 1.734
17 Czech Republic 1'50.401 1.771
18 Italy 1'50.546 1.916
19 Malaysia 1'50.653 2.023
20 Lebanon 1'50.775 2.145
21 Indonesia 1'51.618 2.988
22 Pakistan 1'51.819 3.189

Feature race qualifying:

1 Switzerland 1'47.648 -
2 Great Britain 1'48.608 0.960
3 Germany 1'48.736 1.088
4 France 1'48.807 1.159
5 Netherlands 1'49.021 1.373
6 Brazil 1'49.110 1.462
7 Ireland 1'49.248 1.600
8 China 1'49.308 1.660
9 South Africa 1'49.324 1.676
10 New Zealand 1'49.353 1.705
11 India 1'49.543 1.895
12 Canada 1'49.642 1.994
13 USA 1'49.818 2.170
14 Australia 1'49.868 2.220
15 Malaysia 1'49.997 2.349
16 Czech Republic 1'50.020 2.372
17 Portugal 1'50.109 2.461
18 Italy 1'50.193 2.545
19 Indonesia 1'50.651 3.003
20 Mexico 1'50.869 3.221
21 Pakistan 1'50.871 3.223
22 Lebanon 1'51.161 3.513