Motorsport: Scott Speed favoured to take first A1 Grand Prix

American Scott Speed is the early favourite for the inaugural A1 Grand Prix races at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Speed was fastest in all three test sessions in the south of France and is emerging as a strong candidate for Formula One next season.

He is contracted to the Red Bull team as a Formula One test driver and is in contention for a drive in the Minardi team, bought by Red Bull as a development vehicle for their squad of junior drivers.

This season Speed drove in the GP2 championship, recognised as the training ground for Formula One. He finished third.

Matt Halliday is likely to drive the New Zealand entry, with Jonny Reid taking over for the next two rounds in Germany and Portugal.

But teams can change drivers at any time.

The 25 countries signed up for the series present a Who's Who of prominent motor-racing names. Nelson Piquet's son will drive for Brazil, Niki Lauda's son will take the wheel for Austria and Christian Jones, son of 1980 world champion Alan, is in the frame for Australia.

Jos Verstappen, the Dutchman who drove a Formula Pacific car in New Zealand as a youngster, has already had a Formula One career and will bring great experience to the Netherlands entry. Malaysian Alex Yoong has had drives in Formula One, IndyCars and Australian V8 Supercars.

Halliday and Reid were in the top five at testing in the south of France and they have both had considerable single-seater experience.

Halliday has competed extensively in Australia, the United States and Europe, while Reid had success in European Formula 3000 and has been contesting the Japanese Formula Three championship this year.

Neither of the two Kiwi drivers has raced at Brands Hatch, described by team chief executive Bob McMurray as tricky.

But the pair have been given a crash course in the track's nuances by British driver Danny Watts and can also rely on the intimate track knowledge of the team's engineers from West Surrey Racing.

Competitors will have two practice sessions on the Friday and one on Saturday.

Qualifying will be on Saturday in four 15-minute periods, during which cars may complete only three laps.