Nelson lords it in A1

Nelson Piquet Jr obliterated the Eastern Creek lap record to set the pace in practice for the A1 Grand Prix round in Australia this weekend.

The ex-British Formula Three champion, racing for Brazil, sliced three seconds off the previous best at the Sydney-based circuit, which is seldom used for top-class racing.

His lap of one minute 19.266 seconds was more than a second faster than his nearest challenger, Mexico’s Salvador Duran, another British Formula Three graduate.

France, who lead the championship after four consecutive race wins, were close behind in third place, with Nicolas Lapierre lapping 1.361secs slower than Piquet.

The Brazilian admitted his lap had been a flat-out qualifying-style effort on a track he accused of being dangerous.

He said: “It was a good lap. The car seemed very good and I did a good lap with no traffic. We did a qualifying simulation and just went for it and it was good.

“Eastern Creek is quite a good circuit, and it’s not that easy. It’s quite abrasive on the tyres so we have to make sure we get a good set-up for the races so we can make the tyres last throughout the races.

“Some of the corners are a bit dangerous as there is not a lot of space and not much run-off so it’s quite tough which is how I like it.”

Switzerland’s Neel Jani was fourth fastest, over two seconds off Piquet’s pace, while New Zealander Jonny Reid was fifth and Dutchman Jos Verstappen sixth.

Ireland’s Michael Devaney, stepping in for Ralph Firman, was 14th. Great Britain’s entry continued to struggle after their torrid weekend in Portugal last time out. Robbie Kerr was down in 10th, nearly three seconds slower than Piquet.

Japan made their return to A1GP after missing the Estoril round due to financial problems. Hayanari Shimoda was 19th.