First off well done schedulers.

Putting F1 and A1 at the time practically

Anyway I am sure Jos Verstappen will want to win in front of his home crowd.

.... or maybe not......

Dutchman Jos Verstappen will not drive for his country in their home A1 GP event at Zandvoort this weekend.

A fallout between Verstappen's camp and team chief Jan Lammers appears to be the reason for the change, which will disappoint the crowd of more than 100,000 people this weekend.

A statement from A1 Team Netherlands said that Verstappen's manager Huub Rothengatter wanted guarantees from the team and A1 GP, after there was a delay in payments last season.

Lammers admitted to feeling bad about the situation just days before the first ever A1 GP race in the Netherlands, but added that Verstappen was as much to blame as his manager.

"We have to be straight here," he said. "This is also Jos and if you are a fan of Jos you also have to be a fan of Huub Rothengatter. Last year I was the first one to call Jos to get him into the car and we all benefited from that.

"But we also need enthusiasm and passion, now it's too much and only about the money.

"Our focus for this moment is on trying to achieve the maximum performance in front of a big crowd. That's the difficult task that our reserve driver Jeroen Bleekemolen is facing right now but we have a lot of faith in his capacities.

"We will miss Jos, but nevertheless we expect a good weekend, and it wouldn't be the first time if Jeroen wins at Zandvoort."

www.autosport.com

Sister teams Canada and Great Britain fired a warning shot at their rivals on the first day of the second A1 GP season at Zandvoort.

Series debutant James Hinchcliffe put Canada at the top of the timesheets, just a fraction ahead of Britain's Darren Manning.

Hinchcliffe had the Canadian entry in the top five throughout Friday's first practice before topping the times with a 1:28.994 lap in the fastest session late in the afternoon.

"It's an amazing result for the team," said the Champ Car Atlantic star. "They just gave me a good car."

British F3 front-runner Oliver Jarvis put forward his bid for the Great Britain drive with third fastest time in the morning before Manning took over in the main session.

Star of the 'Rookie Sessions' (held in two parts early in the afternoon), however, was Loic Duval.

Having only driven the car briefly last year, Duval set the pace for France on the Rookie timesheets, finishing 0.6 seconds ahead of the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen, who stepped in to replace Jos Verstappen.

The French entry fell to eighth in the final session in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre, but Duval was still confident the car would be a contender.

"The set-up was already good this morning," he said. "I'm happy to hand the car to Nicolas because I don't know this championship and I am confident for him."

DAMS's continued presence at the front of A1 GP was also emphasised by the pace of the South African team. Now with DAMS support, Adrian Zaugg took the car to third with a time of 1:29.267, over half a second clear of Germany's Niko Hulkenberg.

Switzerland's chances appear healthy, despite the loss of DAMS and the absence of Neel Jani from Zandvoort.

Sebastien Buemi was fifth fastest in the early session and was able to maintain that pace later on, ahead of Mexico's Salvador Duran.

Bleekemolen ended the day in seventh and could not hold back his enthusiasm for the Dutch fans, who turned out in their thousands despite the absence of Jos Verstappen.

"It's incredible to see how many people have turned up," Bleekemolen said. "You can hear them when you're in the car and I could see all the flags."

Official practice results:

Pos Team Driver Time Laps
1. Canada James Hinchcliffe 1:28.994 23
2. Great Britain Darren Manning 1:29.040 + 0.046 3
3. South Africa Adrian Zaugg 1:29.267 + 0.273 20
4. Germany Niko Hulkenberg 1:29.873 + 0.879 25
5. Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 1:30.059 + 1.065 24
6. Mexico Salvador Duran 1:30.339 + 1.345 21
7. Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 1:30.382 + 1.388 19
8. France Nicolas Lapierre 1:30.844 + 1.850 16
9. New Zealand Matt Halliday 1:31.123 + 2.129 22
10. Brazil Tuka Rocha 1:31.462 + 2.468 19
11. China Congfu Cheng 1:31.568 + 2.574 23
12. Ireland Michael Devaney 1:31.602 + 2.608 20
13. USA Philip Giebler 1:31.898 + 2.904 24
14. Malaysia Alex Yoong 1:32.172 + 3.178 22
15. Australia Ryan Briscoe 1:32.271 + 3.277 19
16. Czech Republic Tomas Kostka 1:32.483 + 3.489 26
17. Italy P. G. Alessandro 1:32.737 + 3.743 21
18. India Armaan Ebrahim 1:33.865 + 4.871 13
19. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1:33.922 + 4.928 17
20. Lebanon Basil Shaaban 1:34.448 + 5.454 4
21. Singapore Denis Lian 1:37.508 + 8.514 13
22. Pakistan Nur Ali 1:45.461 + 16.467 16
23. Greece Stelios Nousias No time 1

I think A1 GP is just as dull as F1.

Saw the very first race in the pub. zzzzzz

2nd Practise results

Team USA recorded the fastest time in the final practice session for Sunday's A1 GP season opener at Zandvoort.

Philip Giebler spent much of the session on the fringes of the top ten but put in a stormer in the last few seconds to pip the impressive Congfu Cheng of China to top spot.

Before teams started fitting new tyres to prepare for their qualifying runs, the fastest cars appeared to be those of Great Britain's Darren Manning, Adrian Zaugg (South Africa) and the Australian entry of Ryan Briscoe.

Zaugg set the early pace, South Africa's improvement this season again being apparent, until Manning went ahead with a time of 1:30.358.

Team GB's position seemed all the stronger because Manning was able to lap consistently under 1:31, but Briscoe was also fast and knocked Manning off top spot with less than half the session to go.

The Australian car stayed on top until the final moments when first Cheng and then Giebler pushed it down to third.

Behind Manning came Brazil's Tuka Rocha in fifth. Rocha had struggled to get into the top ten for most of the session and suffered a spin before a late charge resulted in an improvement to 1:30.430, just ahead of Zaugg - who failed to improve on the mark he set early on.

Salvador Duran was another to set a quick early time then gradually fall down the order as others improved.

The Mexican car nevertheless held off Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi and France's Nicolas Lapierre.

The Frenchman ran in the top five initially, but never improved on his early 1:30.862. Team France, however, remain confident and are much more likely to show their true pace come qualifying this afternoon.

Friday's pacesetter James Hinchcliffe finished down in 12th for Team Canada, just behind Germany's Nik Hulkenberg.

The home team's Jeroen Bleekemolen, another star on Friday, was 14th quickest, but the competitiveness of the field was emphasised by the fact that just 1.3 seconds separated him from Briscoe in third.

Final practice times:

Pos Team Driver Time
1. USA Philip Giebler 1:29.605
2. China Congfu Cheng 1:29.686 + 0.081
3. Australia Ryan Briscoe 1:30.284 + 0.679
4. Great Britain Darren Manning 1:30.323 + 0.718
5. Brazil Tuka Rocha 1:30.433 + 0.828
6. South Africa Adrian Zaugg 1:30.515 + 0.910
7. Mexico Salvador Duran 1:30.753 + 1.148
8. Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 1:30.779 + 1.174
9. France Nicolas Lapierre 1:30.861 + 1.256
10. New Zealand Matt Halliday 1:30.964 + 1.359
11. Germany Niko Hulkenberg 1:31.224 + 1.619
12. Canada James Hinchcliffe 1:31.362 + 1.757
13. Malaysia Alex Yoong 1:31.431 + 1.826
14. Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 1:31.558 + 1.953
15. India Armaan Ebrahim 1:31.968 + 2.363
16. Italy PG Alessandro 1:31.973 + 2.368
17. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1:32.157 + 2.552
18. Czech Republic Tomas Kostka 1:32.672 + 3.067
19. Singapore Christian Murchison 1:33.371 + 3.766
20. Lebanon Basil Shaaban 1:33.423 + 3.818
21. Greece Vasilis Papafilippoy 1:34.540 + 4.935
22. Pakistan Nur Ali 1:36.116 + 6.511
23. Ireland Michael Devaney no time


Qualifying Results

South Africa took pole position for the A1 Grand Prix season opener at Zandvoort with a sensational final lap by Adrian Zaugg.

The DAMS-run team were in the hunt throughout the four qualifying sessions, but looked set for fourth until Zaugg recorded a 1:27.349 lap, the fastest of the weekend, to take the aggregate pole by just 0.105 seconds from Mexico's Salvador Duran.

Going into the fourth and final session, Duran and impressive German rookie Nico Hulkenberg were at the top of the pile, with the latter just 0.016 seconds ahead.

The competitiveness of this season's field was emphasised by the fact that the top 10 teams had recorded aggregate times of their best two laps within one second of Germany's 2:56.454 provisional pole.

Hulkenberg improved his second best time in the final session to move the aggregate mark to 2:55.805, but almost immediately Duran became the first man to record two laps under 1:28s and took Mexico to the top of the standings. Duran was denied pole, however, when Zaugg came out in the closing stages, his aggregate mark being 2:55.531s.

Team Germany were pipped for third by a last-gasp run by France's Nicolas Lapierre. The French challenge grew steadily throughout qualifying and Lapierre went into the final session in fifth. A final run of 1:27.757s was enough to lift him above Germany and local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen.

The Dutch team were the biggest losers of the final session. Bleekemolen had been third going into it, but he was punished for failing to improve when the track was at its best and fell to ninth.

Between Germany and the Netherlands were the Swiss, British, American and Canadian teams.

Sebastien Buemi improved Switzerland's times with every lap, allowing him to jump ahead of Team GB's Darren Manning at the end. Manning was one of several drivers who proved capable of lapping under 1:28, but was only able to do it once after a sideways moment in the final session limited him to 1:28.310.

America's Philip Giebler stunned the field in the second session by being the first to get into the 1:27s bracket. He was subsequently unable to get within half a second of his 1:27.884 mark, however, leaving the USA entry in seventh, just ahead of Canada's James Hinchcliffe, who was the last driver to get under 1:28s.

Reigning champions France may have been kept off the front row, but Lapierre was still confident after qualifying.

"We can't get a pole position everywhere, but we have a good set-up for the race," he said.

With the top eight covered by less than 0.8 seconds after two flying laps, it will be interesting to see how many others have found strong race pace.

Qualifying times:

Pos Nation Driver Agg. time
1. South Africa Adrian Zaugg 2:55.531
2. Mexico Salvador Duran 2:55.636 + 0.105
3. France Nicolas Lapierre 2:55.688 + 0.157
4. Germany Niko Hulkenberg 2:55.805 + 0.274
5. Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 2:56.075 + 0.544
6. Great Britain Darren Manning 2:56.080 + 0.549
7. USA Philip Giebler 2:56.288 + 0.757
8. Canada James Hinchcliffe 2:56.307 + 0.776
9. Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 2:56.618 + 1.087
10. New Zealand Matt Halliday 2:56.645 + 1.114
11. Malaysia Alex Yoong 2:56.896 + 1.365
12. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 2:57.188 + 1.657
13. Australia Ryan Briscoe 2:57.309 + 1.778
14. China Congfu Cheng 2:57.447 + 1.916
15. Ireland Michael Devaney 2:58.165 + 2.634
16. Brazil Tuka Rocha 2:58.418 + 2.887
17. Italy PG Alessandro 2:58.467 + 2.936
18. India Armaan Ebrahim 2:58.987 + 3.456
19. Lebanon Basil Shaaban 3:00.008 + 4.477
20. Singapore Christian Murchison 3:00.626 + 5.095
21. Greece Vasilis Papafilippoy 3:01.382 + 5.851
22. Czech Republic Tomas Kostka 3:01.573 + 6.042
23. Pakistan Nur Ali 3:07.812 + 12.281

6th aint bad we should be able to do something out of that

Then you have the feature race and we always do bad in that

Meeting Report Later about 5ish

5???????


Do you know what I think???



I think you should of gone to bed earlier

Had my sleep so report coming up

So here it is Merry Christmas, everybodys having fun





When the snowman brings the snow







I had to venture to the A1 website to find the results

davida1 is giving up on everything. Funhouse quiz looks over too.


You can't stop NEVER I TELL YOU

Nah FunHouse quiz will still carry on.

Tonight 8pm the reopening

He's still tired


Plus hes stuck doing me a forum game so he might not see this for a while



EDIT - WRONG!!!

He's still tired

What gave you that impression

5am next weekend

You noticed My MSN Incorrect then

The race doesnt start till 6 so just get up at 10 to 6 like i did this weekend

I am staying up all night again

But 10 minutes of pre race coverage is not enough.

I will be on at 5am for sure though.

Any other motorsport on this weekend?

V8 Supercars, F1, NASCAR Nextel Cup, WTCC, A1