Talking to the official A1GP website A1 Team Portugal racer Filipe Albuquerque says he is not giving up on the A1GP title tomorrow, despite a disappointing performance in qualifying this afternoon.

Portugal is effectively four points adrift of Ireland in the title race, and while the Celtic Tiger will line up from pole position for tomorrow’s races, Portugal could only manage 5th and 9th.

However, Albuquerque is doing his best to point out that the championship will only be mathematically decided once tomorrow’s Feature race chequered flag has fallen.

“It’s important to realise that I didn’t lose one single point to anybody else yet,” he told A1GP.com. “Yes, my odds are shorter because with two pole positions Ireland have the best chance.

“But tomorrow we have two long races. The first will be hard because there isn’t much time but anything can happen as we all saw in the Algarve. Everything happened in the Feature race. We still have tomorrow; I need to believe about tomorrow.

“Crashes can happen, it is easy to make a mistake on this track, if you just go a little too wide you could spin. So Adam will keep his eyes on us and he will stay very informed but the pressure is now on him. We will focus as best we can and see what comes.

“I am not giving up, although I am realistic.”