Italy claim pole position in A1GP

Formula One test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi today claimed Italy’s first pole position in A1GP to start tomorrow’s sprint race in Portugal from the front of the grid.

Liuzzi, who is a test driver for Force India, marked his A1GP debut with a fine drive in the qualifying session on the Algarve.

Ireland’s Adam Carroll took second on the grid for the feature race to make up for problems he encountered during practice on Friday.

Robert Doornbos also took his first pole position after putting Team Netherlands top of qualifying for the feature race in round six of the series which sees Switzerland leading the points standings.

The two segments of the sprint race qualifying were halted by red flags but Liuzzi timed his best run to perfection with the fastest time of one minute 30.875 seconds.

Doornbos made it a fine day for the Dutch team as he qualified second on the grid for the sprint race to add to his feature race pole.

Doornbos recorded a fastest lap of 1:30.415 to take pole with Ireland second and Switzerland’s Neel Jani in third.

Switzerland had encountered difficulties during sprint qualifying when their car stopped and the team failed to record a lap time.

South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg scored the team’s best qualifying result of the season to start fourth in the feature race.