Al Ain's bid runs dry at Donington

The Al Ain F team qualify in ninth place for today's inaugural Superleague Formula event, hampered by an empty fuel tank.

CASTLE DONINGTON // How ironic that a lack of petrol was the problem for a race team from the UAE. The Al Ain F team, running in the inaugural Superleague Formula event at Donington Park in England, qualified in ninth spot for today's first race after the fuel tank ran dry on a flying lap. "We were close to catching the first and second," said Andreas Zuber, the Al Ain driver, "We were in a very strong group. But we ran out of fuel and had to come into the pits. "

Under qualifying rules of the new league, which features cars sponsored by football clubs from around the world, the teams are divided up by draw into two groups, A and B. Al Ain fell into Group B, and though Zuber managed to finish in fifth spot in his group - and despite his final time bettering all drivers in Group A - he will start in ninth spot on the grid. Davide Rigon of Italy, driving for Beijing Guoan, took pole from the Spanish driver Borja Garcia of Sevilla.

The finishing order of the first race will be reversed for the starting order of a second. Despite starting mid-pack, Zuber, a resident of Dubai who also races in GP2, is confident of a good showing. "It's a long race - 50 minutes - so I hope I can work with the temperatures in the tires and move up the pack. I hope I can do a podium." The SuperLeague Formula series is new, and not without its own share of problems. The 750-horsepower, V12-powered formula cars have been plagued by bugs which teams have been struggling to iron out.

But organisers have vowed to work through them for the next event in Germany. Robin Webb, the series' competition director, admitted preparations for the event were rushed. "We are not where we can be yet. We go to Neurbergring in three weeks and hopefully we do a better job," he said. [e-mail]