France endured a tough day of qualifying in the Algarve ahead of the latest rounds of the A1GP season in Portugal.

Nicolas Prost suffered a broken exhaust pipe during the first segment of qualifying, which also forced him to sit out the second segment and left him down in 18th place on the grid for the sprint race as a result.

Unfortunately, things didn't get any better in the two segments making up qualifying for the feature race and braking issues on the car meant he could only manage 19th fastest – leaving the Le Mans Series racer with work to do on race day.

“It's been very frustrating,” he said. “Our performance at the start of the weekend was pretty good, even if it's difficult to tame the track conditions here in Portimao. Unfortunately, a broken exhaust and then a problem with the brakes dashed our hopes. There was nothing we could do.

“In the first case we lost three seconds per lap and in the second it was almost impossible to slow the car. We've just got to put this disappointment behind us, and even if it'll be difficult to score points starting from so far back, I'll do my utmost to take advantage of the tiniest opportunity.”