France - 1st

The eighth round of the 2006-07 A1GP takes place at Durban (South Africa) this weekend and A1 Team France's Loic Duval was on the pace from the very start,
finishing fastest in every session on Friday.

Duval clocked the fastest time during the first part of the rookie session (1.20.490) after completing 10 laps. In the second part of the session, Loic Duval clocked an even faster 1.19.836 before the red flag caused by A1GP Team Singapore's crash brought an end to the eventful rookie session.

Duval went faster still in the afternoon's official practice session. The conditions on the track had improved despite a number of red flags and the French car finished in 1.18.620, ahead of Ireland's Richard Lyons (1.19.179) and Germany's Nico Hülkenberg (1.19.360).

Loic Duval commented: "I first saw the track on Thursday afternoon with my engineers. I was pleased to be so quick during the rookie session. I made a had a slight contact with the wall as I was exploring the limits, but it was nothing serious. The car had a minor transmission problem that prevented me driving many laps, but it did not end up being a major problem. In the afternoon session, it went well again for us and I was fastest although I had a contact with Australia. I had thought that he would have seen me in his mirrors. Fortunately it was only a slight contact and there was not significant damage to my car. Even if I completed only 15 laps today, it is really enjoyable to drive here. I am fascinated with the flags hanging out of every window, the life around the track and the
passion of the fans. The track is good fun to drive and it just keeps getting quicker and quicker."

Eric Boullier, Managing Director, A1 Team France commented: "Loic is really good at learning new tracks as we could see today. We managed to get some good preparation done have a solid set-up for the rest of the weekend. If it remains dry, like we hope, we are well into our working schedule."

Ireland - 2nd

A1 Team Ireland's Richard Lyons today set the 2nd fastest time in practice for Sunday's A1GP of South Africa, the 27 year old from Hillsborough confident that there is more to come from the car after challenging France for the top slot and pushing championship leader Nico Hulkenberg of Germany down to third.

Team Ireland's day started steadily with Lyons experiencing his first ever practice session on a street circuit, setting the 6th fastest time in the first part of Rookie Testing and running 2nd in the second part until stopping to make changes to the car's set up. In official practice Lyons made the most of his car's performance over the bumpy but spectacular Durban track to set the 2nd quickest time on his first flying lap.

Richard Lyons: "It was a slightly scrappy lap but it worked out fine and there's more speed to come. The track is very bumpy in places so we are having to run the car to cope with that, but I think we've started off pretty well here and just need to keep working for tomorrow when it matters in qualifying. The track is good fun to drive but mentally demanding because it requires complete concentration to stay away from the walls and get the most performance out of the car."

Gary Anderson, Technical Director: "The track here is bumpier that I expected so we have to run the car quite soft to cope with the conditions. We know what we want to do with the set-up and Richard will also find more time as the track conditions improve and he gains more experience around here."

Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "It's been a good start to the weekend but we have to remain focused getting the result we want in qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday. Once again the organizers here in Durban have done a fantastic job with this track – probably one of the best street circuits in the world, and certainly one of the best locations."

Germany - 3rd