Motor Racing: Ralph's on a mission

RALPH FIRMAN has qualified third on the grid for today's Dubai A1 Grand Prix of Nations.

The A1 Team Ireland driver produced a strong performance finishing one thousandth of a second in front of Nelson Piquet Jr driving for Brazil and just behind pace setters France and Switzerland.

Firman, who qualified in 3mins 32.626secs, said: "I did a good final lap as we had made some changes to the car.

"We got caught out with the first qualifying session being cancelled but we made good progress on the two laps to follow.

"I'm looking forward to racing for Ireland and getting a good result.

"My aim is to further narrow the gap between France and Switzerland I've been on their tail all weekend so I hope to bypass them."

Mark Gallagher, Team Principal, said: "Ralph did everything that was asked of him and the engineering side worked very well, ensuring he was able to squeeze that last run out of the car."

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