By A1GP
Qualifying for Round 6 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport proved to be dramatic for A1 Team Canada with Robert Wickens collecting a 15th place Sprint start followed by 21st on the grid for Sunday's Feature race after a penalty for blocking dropped him from eighth at Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway.
With Canada sitting 12th overall in the A1GP Nations Standings and Toronto's Wickens collecting two podium finishes in his first six race starts, the team was hoping for another strong qualifying outing to target two points scoring finishes at the 3.93km track tomorrow.
Sprint qualifying initially looked promising with Robert sixth fastest after his first run but he'd ultimately drop back to 15th on the grid after his second run with the pole going to France's Loic Duval.
"We were struggling a lot more than expected and now we have two very tough grid slots. We made improvements through the whole session but we obviously still have some work to do.
"It just seemed we couldn't quite get a hold on track conditions like some others could, struggling with overall grip. The balance was pretty decent it was just the grip level wasn't there." said Wickens.
Qualifying for Round 6 of the 2007-08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport proved to be dramatic for A1 Team Canada with Robert Wickens collecting a 15th place Sprint start followed by 21st on the grid for Sunday's Feature race after a penalty for blocking dropped him from eighth at Australia's Eastern Creek International Raceway.
With Canada sitting 12th overall in the A1GP Nations Standings and Toronto's Wickens collecting two podium finishes in his first six race starts, the team was hoping for another strong qualifying outing to target two points scoring finishes at the 3.93km track tomorrow.
Sprint qualifying initially looked promising with Robert sixth fastest after his first run but he'd ultimately drop back to 15th on the grid after his second run with the pole going to France's Loic Duval.
"We were struggling a lot more than expected and now we have two very tough grid slots. We made improvements through the whole session but we obviously still have some work to do.
"It just seemed we couldn't quite get a hold on track conditions like some others could, struggling with overall grip. The balance was pretty decent it was just the grip level wasn't there." said Wickens.