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Shanghai: Team Pakistan Saturday notes

Disappointment for Pakistan in Shanghai 12 April 2008.../ A1 Team Pakistan took part in qualifying for the penultimate round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. Joining nations from around ...

Disappointment for Pakistan in Shanghai

12 April 2008.../ A1 Team Pakistan took part in qualifying for the penultimate round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. Joining nations from around the globe at the ninth round of this 2007/08 season, Adam Khan was behind the wheel to qualify for tomorrow's races. Having struggled for pace in the earlier practice sessions, the team were disappointed to qualify 19th and 16th for the Sprint and Feature races respectively.

After studying data from yesterday's practice session, A1 Team Pakistan made a number of changes to the car ahead of final practice this morning. Khan completed 29 laps around the circuit in final preparation for the all-important qualifying session.

Having made a number of small changes to the car before the qualifying sessions, Khan was eager to set the best possible time over the first two qualifying segments - the quickest of which would set the team's position on the Sprint race grid. Khan's first attempt put the team provisionally 19th on the Sprint race grid. Pushing hard on his second attempt, Khan made up a significant amount of time, but it wasn't enough to push the team up the grid, as the other A1GP nations also improved. With the first two qualifying segment completed, the team will line up 19th for the Sprint race.

With the final two qualifying segments deciding the team's grid slot for the Feature race, Khan was on the pace in the third qualifying segment, to put the team provisionally in 15th place. As the A1GP cars took to the track for the final qualifying attempt, Khan was keen to defend or improve his position for the Feature race. With other teams improving their pace, the team were 16th by the end of the lap, the position Khan will take on the Feature race grid - out qualifying the home nation, China and previous race winners Brazil and the Netherlands.

Reflecting on qualifying, Khan said, "It was very difficult today, I didn't feel like had a lot of grip which made it quite difficult to push. A lot of teams have struggled here, but it doesn't mean I'm not disappointed to have qualified 16th and 19th. Being in the middle or at the back of the grid isn't a great position to be in; you can be susceptible to damage, especially on the first lap. But we'll have to make the most of it and do our best tomorrow."

Driver coach Bruce Jouanny added, "This is a very long and technical circuit which a lot of the drivers have struggled with this weekend. The positive thing from today is that the team and Adam continue to make progress. We were two seconds off the front runners this morning, whereas now that gap has come down to 1.6 seconds. I think that trend will continue tomorrow. We will go through the data with Adam to see where we might be able to improve our lap times, which should put us in a stronger position ahead of the races tomorrow."

A1 Team Pakistan team manager John Allen said, "Qualifying was a little disappointing, we struggled for pace in practice, and I think that carried on into qualifying. Adam was struggling a little for grip and I think there are areas on the circuit where we can make up more time. We tend to do well in the races, we have good pace and Adam is great at making up positions. However, qualifying seems to be a little bit of a weakness, and one we have to work on in the future."

The Chinese round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will be shown in Pakistan on Geo Super.

Credit: a1gp.pk

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