A1 Team Brazil picked up two points today when Felipe Guimarães was classified in the Sprint race in seventh place. However, in an unfortunate twist of fate, Felipe, who qualified in his best grid slot to date for the Feature race in fifth, was unable to take part in the afternoon race due to accident damage sustained in an incident that red-flagged the Sprint event.

In the morning Sprint, Felipe began from 14th on the grid. He made good progress and worked his way through the field over eleven laps and was running in a strong seventh position when he suffered a brake problem, which caused him to crash into South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg, resulting in damage to both cars. The race was red-flagged and the result counted back a lap, therefore Brazil was classified seventh and collected two points.

The seventh round of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will take place on 3 May at the Brands Hatch circuit in the UK.

Felipe Guimarães: “The Sprint race was going really well and I was running in seventh but then I lost the rear brakes which caused me to crash with South Africa. Unfortunately we had a problem with the chassis, which meant we couldn’t fix the car in time for the Feature race. I’m really quite upset because I should have started fifth and I didn’t get to race. Now I have to look forward to Brands Hatch and hope everything goes well there.”

Sprint Race
1. Netherlands (Robert Doornbos)
2. Ireland (Adam Carroll)
3. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque)
7. Brazil (Felipe Guimarães)

Feature Race
1. Switzerland (Neel Jani)
2. Ireland (Adam Carroll)
3. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque)