The disappointment in the Indian team was very evident with Narain Karthikeyan qualifying in ninth and 17th places for the sprint and feature races in the A1 Grand Prix here on Sunday.

The car had been behaving well and the general feel-good factor was there in the team during the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday morning. That was till Karthikeyan crashed into the tyre barrier at the second corner and sustained damage on the soft tissues between his wrist and knuckles. This when the car was looking good and at one point was even leading the timecharts with a timing of one minute, 20.791 seconds.

Despite the injury, the native of Coimbatore put up a brave front and did his best to try and get the highest position possible on the starting grid. His qualifying times were 1:19.213 seconds for the sprint and 1:18.932 for the feature race. "I am not happy with the way things have turned out. I feel a lot of pain when the car goes over the bumps and kerbs. I have more pain on my left hand," said Karthikeyan after the qualifying session.

"I don't think I will be able to drive in the race tomorrow. It will also be very risky because such injuries take about three weeks to heal and the next race in Mexico is after three weeks. I want to be fit for that," he added.
In case Karthikeyan does not drive, it will be left to Parthiva Sureshwaren to drive in both races. However, Sureshwaren will have to start from the back of the grid since his times are outside 102 percent of Karthikeyan's time.

For the feature race, Switzerland's Neel Jani will start from pole position as he clocked a time of 1:17.688 in the second session of the feature race qualifying. Canada's Robert Wickens (1:17.810) will start second, while New Zealand's Johny Reid (1:17.880) will begin from the third spot. Meanwhile, Canada's Wickens took the first pole position of the season for his team for the sprint race. He timed 1:18.150 to book his place at the head of the starting grid. Brazil's Bruno Junqueira was second with 1:18.168, while Reid will start in third place in 1:18.229.
Reid spun out during the second session of qualifying for the sprint race. However, he kept the car running and then came out in the second session to take third spot.

It was disappointing for local driver Adrian Zaugg as he spun out during the second qualifying session and will start from the back of the starting grid. He qualified for 15th place for the feature race.

Qualifying results (top five): Sprint: Canada (Robert Wickens, 1:18.150) 1; Brazil (Bruno Junqueira, 1:18.168) 2; New Zealand (Johny Reid, 1:18.229) 3; Great Britain (Oliver Jarvis, 1:18.410) 4; Switzerland (Neel Jani, 1:18.470) 5.

Feature: Switzerland (Neel Jani, 1:17.688) 1; Canada (Robert Wickens, 1:17.810) 2; New Zealand (Johny Reid, 1:17.880) 3; Great Britain (Oliver Jarvis, 1:17.916) 4; Brazil (Bruno Junqueira, 1:17.951) 5.