Asian Motor Sports

Robbie Kerr gave the home crowd something to cheer about at Brands Hatch by qualifying first for Sunday’s sprint race.

The Great Britain driver roared home in a time of one minute 14.424 seconds to pip USA to top spot in the qualifying session.

Kerr will start from second in the feature race behind Team India, who claimed their first ever pole thanks to the work of Narain Karthikeyan.

Needing a seventh-place finish in either race at the Kent circuit to seal the title, Switzerland put themselves in a great position to do so by twice qualifying in third.

Neel Jani appeared to have sealed a first-place start for Sunday’s feature before Karthikeyan recorded a time of one minute 14.628secs to overhaul him.

Kerr also then beat Jani’s time to move second. Ireland ended the session in fourth, just as they did in the sprint qualifying earlier.

It was a bad day for New Zealand. With victories in both races required to pip the Swiss, they could only qualify 10th and 17th respectively.

France also struggled, meaning Team GB could still claim second spot in the final overall standings if Kerr can repeat his performances from last year when he won the sprint race and came second in the feature.

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