Switzerland and Ireland took a pole position apiece for tomorrow's races in Sepang, Malaysia for round three of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. In an afternoon which resulted in two of the most diverse grids to date, Neel Jani (right) put in a phenomenal time of 1m 47.154s to give the Swiss the Sprint race advantage. Adam Carroll went even faster in Feature race qualifying, setting a 1m 47.124s. However, the big surprise of the exciting qualifying session was Daniel Morad securing Lebanon's best ever grid position with third in the Feature race.

In heat of 30 degrees Celsius with humidity of 66%, the A1GP drivers were pushed to their limits this afternoon as they took to the demanding Sepang International Circuit.

The A1 teams also had the first chance to play a PowerBoost 'joker' in qualifying today, with a new rule aimed at adding a new strategic element to Saturdays. The functionality of the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car allows for the PowerBoost button to be available for an entire lap of Qualifying, and teams will be allowed to use it for one of their four flying laps. The PowerBoost button gives an extra 60bhp on application, so the ability to use it throughout a lap is likely to make a significant difference to the car's capability.

The first segment of qualifying was interrupted by a red flag when Korea's Jin Woo Hwang stopped out on track. The clock continued to tick down while the car was moved, resulting in a frantic rush in the dying seconds of the session as the rest of the field attempted to get over the line to start a flying lap before the chequered flag came out.

Monaco, Mexico, Malaysia and Brazil missed the cut while France took the initial advantage with a 1m 49.173s. In the second Sprint qualifying segment, New Zealand used the PowerBoost to take provisional pole position with a strong lap from Earl Bamber of 1m 47.779s.

Switzerland's Neel Jani then put in a great lap to grab the Sprint race pole position, recording a 1m 47.154s without the help of the PowerBoost button.

France's Loïc Duval will start alongside him on the front row with New Zealand's Earl Bamber taking advantage of the new qualifying PowerBoost system to post the third fastest time. Portugal will start fourth and Italy fifth, in its best qualifying performance of the season.

With about two and a half minutes of the first session of Feature qualifying remaining, all the teams piled out of the pits. Ireland took provisional pole position, ahead of France, Australia and Monaco with Switzerland down in fifth.

In the final segment, Ireland's Adam Carroll put in a fantastic lap on PowerBoost to keep his place at the top while Great Britain, also on PowerBoost, went second quickest. As the rest of the field recorded their times, Ireland remained on top thanks to beating last year's best time by half a second. In the final seconds Daniel Morad put in a staggering performance to take third on the grid with a 1m 47.645s; the best ever grid position for Lebanon, by some margin.

"It's nice to bring Lebanon forward seeing how they have struggled in the past," said Morad, "but it's just another race and I'm going to try to do the best I can. I know the team is going to do great and we are one of the quickest during the pit stops so I think we can actually move forward from this position. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow, it could rain, it could be dry, but I'm just really excited to be so high up."

Sprint pole-sitter Jani will start 16th for the Feature race making for two completely different looking grids for tomorrow's races.

Sprint race pole-sitter, Switzerland's Neel Jani said: "We had some troubles in Q1 with traffic, but we did a better lap in Q2 which was enough for my sixth pole here so I'm pretty happy about that.

"Unfortunately, with this new rule allowing PowerBoost on one of the qualifying segments, I used it in Q2 and some used it in Q4. The ones using it in Q4 would be ahead so it was pretty clear that I wouldn't get pole for that one.

"It was good for the Sprint race but not as good for the Feature race, I think I'm as far back as I've ever been in my A1GP career."

France's Duval, also on the front row for the Sprint race and ninth for the Feature said: "It was not so bad, I mean the first qualifying for the Sprint race I did quite a good lap, I just made some mistakes at the end because of the car set up, so we improved a bit and at the end it was quite good. We're not fast enough without the PowerBoost but we are still ninth for the Feature race so we still have a good chance."