McIntosh Will Start from Row Five in Malaysian A1GP (z04)

McIntosh Ninth Fastest for Canada in Malaysian A1GP Qualifying


Saturday 25 November, 2006 - Sean McIntosh 
ensured A1 Team Canada kept its top-ten 
qualifying record intact Saturday as he posted 
the ninth fastest aggregate lap time at the 
Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia ahead of 
Round 4 of the 12-round 2006-07 A1GP World Cup of 
Motorsport, starting with Sunday morning's 
20-minute Sprint race.

McIntosh (21), competing for A1 Team Canada for 
the first time this season, was keen to keep the 
team's streak of top-ten starts going following 
James Hinchcliffe's excellent qualifying 
performances in the Canadian car over the opening 
rounds in Holland, the Czech Republic and China. 
The 21-year-old from Vancouver failed to 
disappoint as he reacquainted himself with the 
550bhp, V8-powered A1GP car that he drove to 
victory in Indonesia in the inaugural A1GP 
Championship last season.

Straight out on a brand new set of tires for the 
first of four timed runs, the fastest two being 
used to set the aggregate qualifying time and the 
grid order for Sunday's Sprint race, McIntosh 
lapped the 5.54km Sepang International Circuit in 
1m 53.142s. His next lap would be faster as he 
made the most of another set of new tires to post 
a time of 1m 52.210s, the sixth fastest lap of 
the second session.

Sean's third run, and final outing on fresh 
rubber, was less fruitful as he admitted he might 
have pushed a little too hard for the lap, 
setting a 1m 53.424s, ninth fastest from the 
22-strong field of nations. The Canadian's last 
run of the session, this time on old tires, was a 
competitive 1m 53.398s and a faster lap than his 
previous one. With his first two laps being the 
fastest of the four, and therefore forming his 
aggregate lap time of 3m 45.352s, McIntosh ended 
Saturday's qualifying session ninth overall to 
secure a top-ten grid slot for Sunday's Sprint 
race. Pole went to Switzerland's Neel Jani with 
New Zealand's Jonny Reid lining up alongside on 
the front-row for the rolling start.

Encouraged to be starting 13 spots higher up the 
grid from last season's rain-soaked A1GP 
qualifying session in Malaysia, McIntosh's 
competitive edge meant he was still left wanting 
more. "The car certainly had pace today," he 
commented. "I didn't get the best from my first 
set of tires but the second run was more 
promising. The track had warmed up by the third 
outing and I probably pushed a little too hard. I 
didn't come here to qualify ninth, I wanted to be 
higher than that on my return with the team but 
compared to last season's start position at 
Sepang it's a definite improvement!"

A1GP Round 4 Qualifying - Aggregate time from two fastest laps

1	Switzerland	Neel Jani	3:43.014
2	New Zealand	Jonny Reid	3:43.305
3	Germany	Nico Hülkenberg	3:43.381
4	Great Britain	Robbie Kerr	3:43.941
5	China	Congfu Cheng	3:44.884
6	Netherlands	Jeroen Bleekemolen	3:44.932
7	Malaysia	Alex Yoong	3:45.068
8	South Africa	Adrian Zaugg	3:45.238
9	CANADA	SEAN MCINTOSH	3:45.352
10	France	Nicolas Lapierre	3:45.410

Sunday's 20-minute Sprint race starts at 11 am 
local time (10 pm EST Saturday) with the 
70-minute Feature race starting at 3 pm in 
Malaysia (2 am EST Sunday). The races can be 
watched live in Canada or on demand later via the 
A1GP website - www.a1gp.com.