Brazil

A1 Team Brasil suffered a terrible day today at round six of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations in Dubai when Nelson Piquet Jr was forced to retire from both races with an electrical problem.

The team had a positive start to the morning, confirming the speed shown in yesterday's practice and qualifying, by finishing second fastest in this morning's warm-up session. Unfortunately, the team's hopes of a possible win from its second row grid position in the 15-lap Sprint race were short-lived after an electrical issue ended Nelson's race on the first lap.

The team's bad luck continued into the 30-lap Feature race. After a great start from Nelson, in which he moved up five places to 17th at the beginning of the first lap, he made his compulsory pitstop at the end of the lap. The team experienced another slow pitstop, but things got worse on lap five when Nelson was once again forced to retire the Team Brasil car after he suffered from the same problem which put an end to the first race.

Nelson Piquet Jr: "We had the same problem in both races. In the first race I didn't know what the problem was, all the power just suddenly went from the car and I stopped. I thought maybe I had gone over a kerb too aggressively and dislodged something but then afterwards we found it was an electrical problem. The boys worked really hard between the races and we got back to the grid for the second race but then we had the same thing happen again after just a few laps. It's disappointing but sometimes these things happen."

Austria

A1 Team Austria scored its best result of the season in today's A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Dubai Feature race, when Mathias Lauda finished the race in seventh position, scoring four championship points. It was a brilliant drive from the Austrian, who had started the race from 17th position.

In the first of this afternoon's races, the 15-lap Sprint race, Mathias began 21st on the grid, following a difficult qualifying session yesterday. He retained his position during lap one, and then climbed two further places by
lap five. On lap nine, Mathias, who had been enjoying a good battle with Salvador Duran, overtook the Team Mexico car for 17th position, and retained that place until the end.

Following his finish in the Sprint race, Mathias began the 30-lap Feature race on the ninth row of the grid. He got a good start and made his compulsory pitstop on lap two. After everyone had made their pitstops, Mathias was in a strong 7th place, which he maintained until the end.

Mathias Lauda: "I am really happy. The first race was quite good, I overtook two cars including Mexico, who had a really strong car and then I started the second race from 17th. I could actually have been 5th but the Pakistan car spun in front of me and I lost two positions. The team did a really good job. We decided to come in
early for our pitstop and that was good. Then we had the safety car, and eventually finished 7th. I was really fast today and we have made a big step forward. Now I have to work on my qualifying pace and hope it all comes together."

New Zealand

The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix team has dropped to fifth on the points table after failing to score any points at this weekend's 6th Round of the World Cup of Motorsport in Dubai.

After qualifying 17th on the grid, the team's worst effort of the season, Matt Halliday drove to 15th place in the Sprint Race and 13th place in the Feature Race.

Switzerland, capitalising on its second pole position of the season, halted France's 8-race winning streak to win the Sprint Race ahead of Italy and the Czech Republic, becoming only the third winner in A1GP history after Brazil and France.

France struck back immediately to win the Feature Race from 7th on the grid, edging out Great Britain and a jubilant South Africa, which earned its first podium finish two rounds out from its home event.

The Dubai event was notable for the number of surprise results. China scored its first ever points with 5th place in the Feature Race and Canada collected the second-highest haul for the weekend, gaining 11 points, to move into the top 10 on the points table.

France once again extended its lead on the ladder and now has 106 points, a commanding 31 point buffer over second placed Switzerland (75) while Brazil remains third (60) despite failing to add to its tally in Dubai.

An impressive 11-point haul propelled Great Britain to 49 points, relegating New Zealand to 5th place with 42 points, just three points ahead of Portugal.

A1 Team.NZL chief executive Bob McMurray says it was a frustrating weekend, but he is still proud of New Zealand's effort in the first half of the inaugural season.

"We're doing better than we thought we would," McMurray said. "We would've been happy to be in the top ten at this point and there are some serious nations behind us.