Simpson stripped of his pole
South Africa's Stephen Simpson has been stripped of his first A1 Grand Prix pole position just over an hour before the start of the sprint race in Monterrey over a minor technical infringement
The 22-year-old will now start from third on the grid after losing his fastest time. Team France's Alexandre Premat will now start the race from pole.
The infringement regards duct tape being stuck over the set-up adjustment screw holes on the exterior side of both front wing endplates.
Tape has also been applied to the slot gap between the front wing endplate and the front wing endplate horizontal shelf, contravening article 3.1.4 of the A1 GP technical regulations.
The team has also fallen foul of another regulation. A statement said: "The type of fixing joining the rear lower wing flap to the rear crushable structure has been changed form the standard specification - the supplied fixing is a bolt and k-nut, a bolt and captive nut has been fitted."
Brazil's Christian Fittipaldi has also lost two places on the grid for an infringement and will now start the sprint race from 11th.
His anti-rear rollbar was disconnected in qualifying, as allowed in the regulations, but the anti rollbar link had been removed, which is against the rules.
Fittipaldi also lost his fastest time from qualifying. This would not have cost him a place, so it was decided to dock him two grid slots to match the punishment handed to South Africa.
Revised grid for the sprint race:
Pos Driver Team 1. Alexandre Premat France 2. Neel Jani Switzerland 3. Stephen Simpson South Africa 4. Enrico Toccacelo Italy 5. Bryan Herta USA 6. Tomas Enge Czech Republic 7. Jos Verstappen Netherlands 8. Ralph Firman Ireland 9. Alvaro Parente Portugal 10. Alex Yoong Malaysia 11. Christian Fittipaldi Brazil 12. Timo Scheider Germany 13. Matt Halliday New Zealand 14. Salvador Duran Mexico 15. Robbie Kerr Great Britain 16. Graham Rahal Lebanon 17. Hayanari Shimoda Japan 18. Patrick Friesacher Austria 19. Patrick Carpentier Canada 20. Ananda Mikola Indonesia 21. Christian Jones Australia 22. Qinghua Ma China
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