EXPERIENCES
HOME
EVENTS 2007
EVENTS 2008
EVENTS 2009
EVENTS 2010
EVENTS 2011
EVENTS 2012
IMAGES INDEX
NEWS
LATEST NEWS
NEWS BLOG
NEWS RSS
INDUSTRY NEWS
WEATHER RADAR
TRACKS
CTMP
C. M. SPEEDWAY
SPORTS CAR
ALMS
CTCC
GT3 CUP CANADA
GT CHALLENGE
ONT GT SPRINTS
OPEN WHEEL
FORMULA 1200
FORMULA LIBRE
TTFC
STOCK CAR
CAN VINTAGE MOD
LATE MODEL
LOSC
MODIFIED
NCATS
ONT LEGENDS
PURE STOCK
PRO CHALLENGE
SPORTSMAN
MISCELLANEOUS
BMW M1 PROCAR
MEDIA
AUTOSPORTBLOG
BLEACHER
GREEN AUTO
INSIDE TRACK
JALOPNIK
MOTORSPORT
TRENDS
ARCHIVES
ARCHIVES INDEX
SERVICES
CONTACT US
LINKS
GIFT STORE
RSS
LINKS
|
MOTORSPORTS RACING NEWS- A1GPNEWS FROM THE WORLD CUP OF MOTORSPORTS- A1GP
Photos on this page courtesy of A1GP
The A1GP Series: This is exciting and fast open wheel racing
It's an entirely new concept in motor racing:
A1GP pits nation against nation in the 'World Cup of Motorsport'
A level playing field:
Drivers from 22 nations compete as equals without financial or technological advantage
Inclusive not exclusive:
Despite its glamorous profile, A1GP is both accessible and affordable to everyone
Speed and glamour combined:
A1GP offers a series of fast, adrenaline fuelled weekends set in sensational locations across the world
High speed action at every turn:
Tight, twisty street circuits and world-famous venues guarantee excitement
A wider audience:
In addition to the traditional motorsport fan base, A1GP attracts a new audience passionate about their country and heritage
Interaction with teams & drivers:
Over three days of on-track action A1GP builds a close affinity between fans, teams and drivers
A new medium for national & international brands:
A1GP offers a unique opportunity for brand exposure on a global scale
The Car:
The chassis is based on the design of the highly successful F2004 chassis, powered by a V8 Ferrari engine producing in the region of 600 bhp.
THE 2008- 2009 A1GP SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
______________________________________
Sunday 05 Oct, 2008 Zandvoort, Netherlands
Sunday 09 Nov, 2008 Chengdu International Circuit, China
Sunday 23 Nov, 2008 Sepang, Malaysia
Sunday 25 Jan, 2009 Taupo, New Zealand
Sunday 8 Feb, 2009 Jakarta, Indonesia CANCELLED
Sunday 22 Feb, 2009 Johannesburg, South Africa
Sunday 12 Apr, 2009 Algarve, Portugal
Sunday 03 May, 2009 Great Britain, Brands Hatch
Sunday 24 May, 2009 Mexico City, Mexico CANCELLED*
Note: Mugello, Italy will be rescheduled from Sunday 21 Sep, 2008
to a later date to be determined.
* Apr. 29, 2009/ A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has been forced to cancel round eight of the 2008/09 season, A1GP Mexico City, Mexico on 22-24 May after the recent outbreaks of swine flu and the advisory from the UK Foreign Office to cancel non essential travel to the country.
FINAL SEASON STANDINGS AFTER MAY 3, 2009 BRANDS HATCH, GREAT BRITAIN RACES:
POS NATION POINTS
1 Ireland 112
2 Switzerland 95
3 Portugal 92
4 Netherlands 75
5 France 47
6 Malaysia 43
7 New Zealand 36
8 Australia 36
9 Monaco 35
10 Great Britain 28
11 USA 24
12 India 19
13 Mexico 19
14 South Africa 19
15 Brazil 18
16 Italy 17
17 Lebanon 8
18 China 7
19 Korea 4
20 Indonesia 3
21 Germany 2
- Canada 0
- Pakistan 0
Worst number of points from an event,
dropped from the final points' standings.
FIRST PICTURE: The new A1GP car
Monday, May 12, 2008
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has revealed the first image of its brand new "Powered by Ferrari" car for use in season four (2008/09).
The CAD drawing was released ahead of the car's inaugural shakedown test in Southern England.
____________________________________
FIRST SHAKEDOWN FOR A1GP 'POWERED BY FERRARI' CAR
May 25, 2008/ London, Great Britain - The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport car for the 2008/09 season had its first shakedown at Fiorano, the Ferrari test track in Italy, last weekend. The Powered by Ferrari car was driven by, Andrea Bertolini.
Following the first laps the initial feedback was positive. At Fiorano for this were A1GP Technical Director, John Travis, A1GP General Manager, Technical and Operations, John Wickham, and A1GP Lead Consultant on Electronic Development, Anton Stipinovich, all of whom were delighted with the shakedown results, which are very encouraging for a car that is running for the first time.
The team will now undertake an intensive test programme at both the Fiorano test track and the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.
A1GP AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
London, Great Britain.A1GP World Cup of Motorsport fans have chosen their winners from the 2008/09 season. After a series of accolades were put up for grabs on the series' website, A1GP.com, fans from across the globe voted to decide who they thought should be rewarded in four special categories.
Most Improved Team
Winner: A1 Team Malaysia
Nominated: A1 Teams Australia, Lebanon, Portugal, Mexico, Netherlands
Best Overtaking Move
Winner: Earl Bamber (NZL)
Nominated: Marco Andretti (USA), Daniel Morad (LEB), Filipe Albuquerque (POR), Dan Clarke (GBR)
A1GP.com Readers' Favourite Team
Winner: A1 Team Netherlands
Best Rookie or New Driver
Winner: Robert Doornbos (NED)
Nominated: Zahir Ali (INA), Marco Andretti (USA), Earl Bamber (NZL), Felipe Guimaraes (BRA), Daniel Morad (LEB), Clivio Piccione (MON), Danny Watts (GBR)
The annual A1GP end-of-season awards are a chance to reward the outstanding performances of the season, and not just those who finished at the top of the points' tables.
While we already knew that A1 Teams Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal were the gold, silver and bronze medal winners for the season, these other gongs rewarded the other outstanding performances of the season.
A1 Team Malaysia has scooped the award for Most Improved Team in the 2008/09 season in a closely contested vote. Despite tough opposition from teams including Lebanon and Australia, Malaysia's was judged to be most deserving of being rewarded for their season of hard work. After a dismal 2007/08 season, finishing 16th, they vaulted the highest number of positions in the standings of any team nominated, ending Season Four in sixth.
Fairuz Fauzy became the team's second ever driver to win a race, taking victory in the season opener at Zandvoort in the pouring rain, and the team also became the first squad to lead the title standings going into its home event. A medal in the Algarve was also well deserved as the team looks to become championship contenders in Season Five.
"We are delighted to have won this award and would like to thank all the fans for recognising our achievements this past season," said Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia.
"As a team we have worked hard to make improvements, strengthening ourselves in some areas, putting in as much preparation as we could pre-season and maintaining the focus and commitment throughout it. Both Fairuz and Aaron contributed to our success and we've definitely proved that strong teamwork is essential and our success is the result of the efforts of every single member of our team. This award is a great way to end our fourth season of racing. We thank all our loyal fans around the world for voting for us. The hard work continues for Season Five."
A1 Team New Zealand's Earl Bamber was a runaway winner to take the plaudits for Best Overtaking Move of the Season. He won it for his manoeuvre on home favourite Jeroen Bleekemolen during the Zandvoort Sprint race in The Netherlands.
In many ways, it was actually the sheer nerve of it as the 18-year-old, driving his first A1GP race, attempted to pass local hero Bleekemolen on a track the Dutch driver had been racing on since he was a kid. In torrential rain, Bamber's skill shone through as he initially went to pass Bleekemolen on the outside of the Audi-S Bocht chicane, but Bleekemolen reacted by making a slight mistake, and drifted off course on the exit of the corner. Bamber went to the outside on the exit, only for Bleekemolen to immediately come across his path and block him on his return to the track. However, undeterred, Bamber's extra momentum allowed him to dart back to the inside to take the lead early in the race.
"It's a real honour to be recognized for a passing move from my first ever weekend racing for New Zealand in A1GP," said Bamber. "At the time I never expected to be racing let alone passing someone as experienced as Jeroen at his home A1GP track - it was a really special moment personally and for all our Black Beauty supporters!"
A1 Team Netherlands was able to celebrate two award successes. The squad was voted A1GP.com Readers' Favourite Team while Robert Doornbos was also named Best Rookie or New Driver of the 2008/09 season.
A1 Team Netherlands has always had one of the most passionate and enthusiastic fan bases in A1GP. Despite the atrocious weather, tens of thousands of orange-clad fans turned out to cheer on their local team in Zandvoort and there support has carried through to the very end of the season to make sure their team was acknowledged in the end-of-season awards.
There were high hopes for Robert Doornbos as he came into A1GP with a strong Formula One and Champ Car pedigree and he did not disappoint. Three medals in five starts was a solid beginning to his A1GP career, and the team seemed to effortlessly swap between himself and stalwart Jeroen Bleekemolen. From starting on the front row in his maiden race in Chengdu, to dominating proceedings in the Sprint race in the Algarve, he was always impressive. His only mistake all year was that his failed getaways when the lights went out to launch Chengdu's Feature race, but his raw pace was there for all to see whenever he took to the track.
Jan Lammers, A1 Team Netherlands seat holder, said: "We are honored that the fans rewarded us with their approval. Ultimately, that is all that we are worth; how many people watch us, follow us and read about us, the bigger those numbers are the more value we have to offer to our sponsors. That is why we take this award with great pride and are extremely grateful to our fans. We hope to be able to offer them much more in the future."
Commenting on driver Doornbos' award he added: "It goes beyond saying what a great driver and talent Robert Doornbos is, he definitely contributed to the spirit in our team and drove all of us, including Jeroen Bleekemolen, to the best of our abilities. He truly deserves this award and we are proud that he was able to do it with our team."
GREAT BRITAIN
BRANDS HATCH - MAY 3, 2009
EVENT #7 / LAST RACE OF SEASON
IRELAND WINS A1GP TITLE IN STYLE
Brands Hatch, Great Britain - A1 Team Ireland lifted the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport trophy high above Brands Hatch today after the perfect weekend for the team and its driver, Adam Carroll. They completely dominated the weekend from the time they took to the track on Friday. Two poles, victory in the Sprint race and then another lights-to-flag win in the Feature race was the perfect end for them to the 2008/09 championship.
After an aborted start when South Africa's Alan van der Merwe stalled on the grid, the race finally got underway with Carroll getting off the line to lead into Paddock Hill Bend. As the field came through the first corner an incident involving China, USA and India left China and India in the gravel and out the race and brought out the Safety Car as the cars came round to complete the first lap. USA's John R Hildebrand Jr limped back to the pits for a new nose cone but rejoined the race.
The order behind the Safety Car was Ireland from Monaco, Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, France, Great Britain and Italy.
Ireland had a good run out of the final corner on the restart to come across the line 0.653-seconds ahead of the chasing pack. Further down the field Mexico's Salvador Duran took tenth from Italy's Vitantonio Liuzzi.
By the end of lap five Carroll had a 1.424-second lead before New Zealand's Earl Bamber spun Black Beauty into the gravel and out of the race at Westfield.
As the pit window opened for the first round of stops race-leader Ireland was the first to dive in, closely followed by Portugal. Another slick pit stop from the Irish crew saw Carroll safely back out in the lead. Switzerland and Netherlands came in a lap later with Monaco opting to stay out a lap extra. The strategy didn't work, however, as Clivio Piccione fell to fifth after the stops.
Mexico had a good stop to get out in front of Australia with the order on lap fifteen now Ireland 6.956-seconds from Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, Monaco, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain, Italy and Lebanon.
Great Britain's Dan Clarke was flying on home soil placing his car perfectly on the inside of Paddock hill Bend to take seventh from John Martin. He then began attacking Mexico for sixth while Netherlands started to close the gap to Ireland up ahead.
On lap 26 Germany's Michael Ammermueller rolled to a halt bringing his season to an early end. Ireland was now being held up by USA's Hildebrand as Carroll came round to lap the American car.
Malaysia Aaron Lim ran wide and crashed out at druids bringing a disappointing end to his weekend just as the second mandatory pit window opened.
Ireland was first to come in again to get a new set of tyres along with South Africa, Lebanon, Indonesia and Mexico. Great Britain and the Netherlands made their stops a lap later with orange car remaining in second despite Ireland having a slightly slower stop this time around.
John Martin was flying in Jackeroo giving Australia the fastest lap, with a 1m 12.754s, which he beat a couple of laps later recording a 1m 12.698s.
Ireland was in control at the front but there was a great battle for third with Switzerland holding off Monaco and Portugal. Great Britain's' Dan Clarke was also putting pressure on Mexico for sixth.
With five laps to go the order was Ireland from Netherlands, Switzerland, Monaco, Portugal, Mexico, Great Britain, Australia, Italy and France.
Carroll held his nerve to bring the Celtic Tiger across the line to take victory by 10.156-seconds from the Netherlands and Switzerland, and with it sealed the team's maiden A1GP title. Irelandhad been in control all weekend, claiming two pole positions yesterday which were both converted into wins today.
After an amazing season of A1GP racing the title went right down to the final race with A1GP Chairman, Tony Teixeira, presenting A1 Team Ireland's seat holder Mark Gallagher and an elated Adam Carroll with the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport trophy in front of the cheering crowds. Neel Jani's third place finish secured the runner-up spot in this year's championship. Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque came home in fifth to give them third place in the final championship rankings.
Ireland's Adam Carroll said: "It was a perfect weekend for us, it's what we needed to come here to do, it was the plan so it really did come through. We knew by the pace we set in Portugal that if we came here and everything worked out ok we would be really hard to beat, and that was the way it worked out so it couldn't have been better.
"I didn't get a great start again, it's really hard to start from pole, but I knew if I stayed where I was there wouldn't be any bumping in to each other.
"In the second pit stop the team were nothing to do with why we were slow, the guys did their job but had to hold me because Switzerland was coming in and if they had let me go it would have been very dangerous so we lost some time.
"The team are just unbelievable, they are the best team on the face of this earth in motorsport and I believe that fully. Their commitment is second to none and we are the best in this pit lane. These guys left on Friday night after 29 hours in the pit lane, that says it all."
Jereon Bleekemolen, who came in second today said: "We started working together with Ireland this season and obviously they are very strong, but I think we have a great group of people too. It was great working with them and I think we both took advantage of that. We have had some bad luck and I've been sharing a car with Robert Doornbos. If it goes your way you are fighting for the championship, but we've had a few races that didn't go our way although we can be happy with the season."
Switzerland's Neel Jani said: "It was bad luck in the Feature, but on the other hand I am happy because we finally found some pace this weekend as we have been struggling since Friday. This morning we were way too slow to win any championship in the world so I am really happy that in the end this afternoon we were somewhere around even though we had a broken exhaust.
"It had been interesting, lots of close battles, especially within the points. I knew it would be hard to win the title here against Ireland because last year they were very quick and we struggled. I would have liked to have come here with a bigger points lead and I think one of the biggest mistakes was in Malaysia in the Feature race when I spun it. Ireland did a great job though, they had a fantastic year and if I don't win, I don't mind if they win."
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- May 3, 2009, A1GP BRANDS HATCH, GREAT BRITAIN (Round 7)
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 Ireland Adam Carroll 49 1:04'14.970
2 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 49 1:04'25.126 10.156
3 Switzerland Neel Jani 49 1:04'28.534 13.564
4 Monaco Clivio Piccione 49 1:04'29.263 14.293
5 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 49 1:04'31.454 16.484
6 Mexico Salvador Duran 49 1:04'36.780 21.810
7 Great Britain Dan Clarke 49 1:04'38.379 23.409
8 Australia John Martin 49 1:04'39.463 24.493
9 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi 49 1:05'00.974 46.004
10 France Nicolas Prost 49 1:05'04.064 49.094
11 South Africa Alan van der Merwe 49 1:05'28.875 1'13.905
13 Indonesia Satrio Hermanto 48 1:04'16.252 1 lap
14 USA J.R. Hildebrand 48 1:04'19.441 1 lap
15 Malaysia Aaron Lim 27 37'36.390 22 laps
16 Germany Michael Ammermueller 26 36'04.588 23 laps
17 New Zealand Earl Bamber 6 10'09.420 43 laps
18 China Cheng Cong Fu 0 49 laps
19 India Narain Karthikeyan 0 49 laps
- Brazil Felipe Guimaraes 0
Fastest lap: A1 Team Australia set the fastest lap (1m12.698s) of the Feature race with a speed of 183.4kph on lap 36.
AUTODROMO INTERNACIONAL DO ALGARVE, PORTUGAL
VODAFONE A1GP ALGARVE - APRIL 12, 2009
EVENT #6
NEEL JANI WINS CRASH FILLED RACE
Here is the lap by lap race from portugal:
Lap 42 But Switzerland hold on and wins - another victory for Neel Jani. Jani is now the driver who has won the most races in A1GP history.
Lap 41 Final lap - and it's close at the front.
Lap 40 India's Narain Karthikeyan spins out and retires.
Lap 40 Australia retires in the pits.
Lap 40 The gap is down to 0.6 seconds down between Switzerland and Ireland. Suddenly Ireland is in with a shout of winning this race again! Two laps to go.
Lap 37 Ireland are not going to have to serve their drive-through it seems - it is going to be discussed after the race. How bizarre!
Lap 36 Indonesia's Zahir Ali has had a spin.
Lap 35 Ireland are putting the hammer down, trying to get fastest lap before having to serve the penalty.
Lap 33 Switzerland has now pulled out a 4.2-second lead.
Lap 32 Mexico pit from the lead.
Lap 32 Ireland has got another drive-through penalty for overtaking behind the safety car. This race just twists and turns!
Lap 29 Mexico, Australia, France and Great Britain are the top four, and none of them have made their second stops yet.
Lap 28 Switzerland now makes its stop. It gets out just ahead of Portugal to effectively take the lead.
Lap 27 Ireland has a great stop and leaves the pits right behind Portugal!
Lap 27 Portugal come into the pits for its mandatory pit stop.
Lap 26 The surprise of the race is Mexico - running an impressive third after great pit strategy.
Lap 25 Portugal now has a 0.7-second advantage over Switzerland.
Lap 23 Jani uses a PowerBoost to have a go at Portugal's Albuquerque, but Albuquerque is an expert defender.
Lap 23 Germany and Netherlands are under investigation.
Lap 22 Filipe Albuquerque is defending hard from Neel Jani and Switzerland. This is great A1GP racing.
Lap 21 Restart.
Lap 20 Tonio Liuzzi tries to seize the initiative when the USA's Marco Andretti slides at Turn 8. Liuzzi goes down the inside at Turn 9 and the USA and Italian car made contact. The Italian car spins into the innocent car of Monaco and all three are damaged and retire.
Lap 19 Safety car is out again. There has been a three-car crash with Monaco, USA and Italy.
Lap 18 What a restart! Portugal's Felipe Albuquerque sends the crowd absolutely wild by grabbing the lead from Switzerland around the outside at the first corner.
Lap 17 So the order behind the safety car is Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, USA, Mexico (timed pit stop to perfection) Monaco, Malaysia, India, Germany, Ireland.
Lap 15 South Africa's Adrian Zaugg defended well coming down the main straight. However, going into Turn 3 Black Beauty's Earl Bamber appeared to lock up and crashed into the rear of South Africa.
Lap 15 The safety car is out. There has been a crash between South Africa and New Zealand at Turn Three.
Lap 15 Mexico and Australia still have to stop.
Lap 14 South Africa is holding up a chain of six cars, including New Zealand, Portugal, Italy, USA and Monaco.
Lap 14 Monaco comes in, but coming out on cold tyres, Clivio Piccione makes an error and lets USA's Marco Andretti through.
Lap 12 A few teams have yet to make their stops, including, Mexico, Monaco, Australia.
Lap 11 New Zealand makes its stop, and gets out ahead of Portugal, which is a good boost up in the pits.
Lap 11 Ireland makes its real stop now.
Lap 11 Switzerland makes its stop.
Lap 10 Ireland has done its drive through penalty, not its pit stop.
Lap 8 Dan Clarke has a spin in the British car.
Lap 8 Ireland, Portugal, and South Africa come into the pits. All get out in the same order as they came in.
Lap 7 Albuquerque looks like he is going to be one of the first teams to pit in a minute.
Lap 5 Drive-through penalty for Ireland. It looks like they have jumped the start.
Lap 3 Ireland now has a 1.8-second advantage over the rest of the field.
Lap 2 There have been a few accidents at the start of the race. Lebanon has had a puncture and has gone off at Turn 6. Australia's John Martin had a problem at the first turn and is running last.
Lap 2 The order is Ireland, Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, USA, New Zealand, Italy, Malaysia.
Lap 1 Ireland now has pole effectively, and grabs the lead at the start.
14:59 Robert Doornbos is out of the car! The Netherlands driver didn't make the start and has retired!
14:50 What a shame. Brazil's Felipe Guimaraes will not start the Feature race, because the team have not been able to repair the car after the Sprint race accident. He was due to start fifth.
_____________________________
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- April 12, 2009, A1GP Algarve, Portugal (Round 6)
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 42 10'45.011
2 PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 42 10'51.797 6.786
3 MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 42 10'54.716 9.705
4 MEXICO Salvador DURAN 42 11'01.343 16.332
5 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 42 11'10.422 25.411
6 France Nicolas Prost 42 1:11'12.333 27.322
7 Great Britain Dan Clarke 42 1:11'14.891 29.880
8 China Ho-Pin Tung 42 1:11'19.597 34.586
9 Germany Andre Lotterer 42 1:11'28.981 43.970
10 Indonesia Zahir Ali 42 1:11'59.004 1'13.993
11 India Narain Karthikeyan 39 1:06'18.915 3 laps
12 Australia John Martin 38 1:05'15.599 4 laps
13 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi 18 30'33.518 24 laps
14 USA Marco Andretti 18 30'33.604 24 laps
15 Monaco Clivio Piccione 18 30'34.044 24 laps
16 South Africa Adrian Zaugg 15 24'18.166 27 laps
17 New Zealand Earl Bamber 15 24'18.264 27 laps
18 Lebanon Daniel Morad 1 1'42.800 41 laps
19 Brazil Felipe Guimaraes 0 42 laps
20 Netherlands Robert Doornbos 0 42 laps
Following a stewards' investigation tonight at the track, Adam Carroll was
judged to have passed the Australian car of John Martin under safety car
conditions at the second safety car restart of the race.
The team was given a 25-second penalty for the infringement, which drops
them three places to fifth position.
GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA
FEBUARY 22, 2009
EVENT #5
The Gauteng 4.26 km, 11 turn circuit, is located at Kyalami, approximately 20km north of central Johannesburg, South Africa.
_____________________________
TOP 3 DRIVERS COMMENT AFTER RACE:
Switzerland's Neel Jani said: "It was a little bit of a replay start from Taupo, from fifth to second. I was a bit worried starting from fifth, because I knew the first two turns would be very close and you could get knocked off easily, so my strategy was to just try the outside and it really worked and was a fantastic start. I then tried to follow Clivio (Piccione) and I struggled a bit. But then we had a great pit stop and I had good pace. I think Monaco had a bit of bad luck in the pit stop so that helped us too. But after it I could really keep up my pace."
Brazil's Felipe Guimaraes said: "I am so happy as it's the first time I have been on the podium. Yesterday I had the big crash in qualifying and I didn't think that today I would finish on the podium! But I had a great start then during the race the car was good. It was a bit worrying at the end because the engine was losing power, but we managed to keep going to the finish thankfully. I was pushing hard but not taking any risks and we brought it home in second. I really wanted to do a good job today and I have."
Third placed Clivio Piccione commented: "At first we got in the lead and I kept a distance from Switzerland. The car felt pretty good as well. We got into our first stints and then comes the tricky bit - the pit stop. For now, we're not the quickest team in the pit stops and we know it. But the team did the best they could and we know we're going to work it out. Our second stint was a bit of a struggle as I suffered with a lot of understeer and I think my tyres were not at their best. I made a slight mistake and Brazil got through. Then we went for our last pit stop where we knew we had new tyres. We had a problem on the back wheel but got out in third. From there on I could push pretty hard and we were catching Brazil because they struggled as well. Still overall it's a good result - I'm pleased with the final ending."
_____________________________
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- Febuary 22, 2009, A1GP Gauteng, South Africa (Round 5 of 9)
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 40 02:24.617 -
2 BRAZIL Felipe GUIMARAES 40 02:37.793 13.176
3 MONACO Clivio PICCIONE 40 02:38.810 14.193
4 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 40 02:41.641 17.024
5 PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 40 02:42.612 17.995
6 LEBANON Daniel MORAD 40 02:55.827 31.210
7 GREAT BRITAIN Danny WATTS 40 02:58.945 34.328
8 USA Marco ANDRETTI 40 03:23.617 59.000
9 INDONESIA Zahir ALI 40 03:28.612 1:03.995
10 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 40 03:29.473 1:04.856
11 GERMANY Michael AMMERMULLER 40 03:33.220 1:08.603
12 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 40 03:33.767 1:09.150
13 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 40 03:45.162 1:20.545
14 CHINA Ho Pin TUNG 22 39:35.335 18 Laps
15 MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 17 57:24.109 23 Laps
16 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 15 24:11.627 25 Laps
17 NEW ZEALAND Earl BAMBER 3 04:49.816 37 Laps
18 FRANCE Nicolas PROST 3 04:55.939 37 Laps
19 MEXICO Salvador DURAN 3 04:57.129 37 Laps
20 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 0 40 Laps
Fastest lap: A1 Team Malaysia set the fastest lap (1m28.306s) of the Feature
race with a speed of 173.8kph on lap 15.
LAKE TAUPO, NORTH ISLAND
TAUPO, NEW ZEALAND JANUARY 25, 2009, 2009
EVENT #4
About Taupo circuit:
The new Taupo Motorsport Park racetrack complex, built by MIT Development Ltd, took over the original site used for the existing Taupo Car Club. The old 1.4-kilometre circuit underwent an upgrading and lengthening, to create the new international layout in 2006.
The complex now also includes a motorsport business park and driver training centre. The track includes three alternative configurations, with two separate pit areas and start/finish lines, to allow simultaneous use of two tracks. The international circuit, used for A1GP, features an 830-metre straight, which also doubles as a drag strip. The circuit was altered slightly for 2008, with a tighter chicane introduced at the end of the back straight. This was instrumental in providing more overtaking opportunities at last season's events.
_____________________________
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- January 25, 2009, A1GP Taupo, New Zealand (Round 4 of 9)
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 50 06:19.574
2 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 50 06:20.621 1.047
3 PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 50 06:21.953 2.379
4 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 50 06:30.167 10.593
5 NETHERLANDS Robert DOORNBOS 50 06:33.976 14.402
6 FRANCE Loic DUVAL 50 06:36.997 17.423
7 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 50 06:39.789 20.215
8 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 50 06:42.730 23.156
9 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 50 06:42.921 23.347
10 MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 50 06:46.406 26.832
11* USA Marco ANDRETTI 50 07:05.373 45.799
12 GREAT BRITAIN Daniel CLARKE 49 06:32.633 1 Lap
13 NEW ZEALAND Chris VAN DER DRIFT 49 06:43.944 1 Lap
14 CHINA Congfu CHENG 49 06:45.245 1 Lap
15**BRAZIL Felipe GUIMARAES 49 06:57.238 1 Lap
16 MEXICO Salvador DURAN 43 58:11.542 7 Laps
17 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 42 57:36.757 8 Laps
18 MONACO Clivio PICCIONE 33 46:53.801 17 Laps
19 LEBANON Daniel MORAD 1 01:45.294 49 Laps
* 25-second penalty applied for crossing the line on the pit lane exit
** 25-second penalty applied for causing an avoidable collision
_____________________________
SWITZERLAND TAKES FEATURE RACE IN NEW ZEALAND
Taupo, New Zealand/ A1 Team Switzerland claimed its second win of the season in this afternoon's Feature race in A1GP Taupo, New Zealand. Neel Jani finished ahead of Ireland's Adam Carroll and Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque with Ireland retaining its position at the top of the A1GP championship standing.
Ireland had a clean getaway from pole position but the Netherlands' Robert Doornbos was slow off the mark from the front row, allowing Portugal to take advantage, and so dropping back to fifth. Albuquerque was right on the gearbox of Ireland as the field headed into turn one, tapping the Irish car and briefly losing momentum allowing a quick-starting Jani to move up from fourth on the grid to second.
Australia's John Martin made an aggressive start to his Feature race, getting Jackeroo ahead of the Netherlands after first dropping behind Switzerland but remaining in fourth. New Zealand's Chris van der Drift had a problematic start having to pit with a puncture after a collision with Lebanon's Daniel Morad. Morad retired in the pit lane, but New Zealand was able to rejoin, albeit a lap down.
By the end of lap one Ireland led from Switzerland, Portugal, Australia, Netherlands, France and Malaysia, Brazil, USA and India.
Ireland began to pull out a small gap at the front, which was 0.874-seconds from Jani by the end of lap four. Carroll continued to record fastest laps while Monaco's Clivio Piccione capitalised on a mistake from India's Narain Karthikeyan to take ninth.
On lap eight the first pit stop window opened and the emerald green far was first in the pit lane. A good stop from the Irish squad saw the Celtic Tiger retain the lead, while another great stop from the Australian squad got Martin out closer to the leader. Switzerland pitted but wasn't able to take the lead, while Portugal stayed out deep into the pit window in an attempt to make up ground. After recording the fastest lap Albuquerque dived into the pit lane, but with Carroll's new tyres working well he rejoined in third place.
On lap 10 Monaco and Brazil were running wheel-to-wheel when the young Brazilian seemingly closed the door causing the pair to touch, with the result being Brazil spinning across the track and Piccione losing his front wing and running off-track.
After the first round of pit stops the order settled and was Ireland from Switzerland, Portugal, Australia, France, Netherlands, Malaysia, India., USA and Great Britain. Ireland now had a comfortable 3.773-second lead over Switzerland.
On his return to A1GP action China's Congfu Cheng had a spin shortly before Great Britain's Dan Clarke spun under braking into turn 11 on his race debut for the British team. The 25-year-old kept the engine running and rejoined in fifteenth.
On lap 22, the second mandatory pit stop window opened with Australia being first in this time around. Ireland and Switzerland both pitted on the same lap with the Irish team getting their man away a fraction quicker than the Swiss. However, after Carroll had pulled away from his pit box and looked to have retained his lead the anti-stall system kicked in and halted his progress. The car then stalled and as Carroll got his machine moving again Switzerland took the opportunity to get ahead and snatched the lead of the race. Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal was now the top three after Albuquerque had another clean stop to retain position. China had a problematic second stop with Cheng leaving the pits with the rear jack still attached, resulting in a drive-through penalty a few laps later.
On lap 29 the order was now Switzerland leading from Ireland., Portugal, Australia, France, Netherlands, Malaysia, India, Italy, USA and South Africa.
Switzerland had a 1.6-second advantage over Ireland and Portugal was continuing to push, with Albuquerque setting the fastest lap of the race, a 1m 14.898s on lap 30.
On lap 37, Clivio Piccione went off at Turn 11 and beached the Monaco car at the gravel resulting in the Safety Car being deployed. As the field closed back up the scene was set for the final exciting laps of the race. Switzerland controlled on the re-start on Lap 41 as the field made its way through Turn 1 incident-free.
USA's Marco Andretti moved ahead of Italy to take ninth before Indonesia's Satrio Hermanto spun at Turn 12, closely followed by Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy, who lost seventh and a solid-points finish at the same time at the same corner. While the action at Turn 12 was going on, Netherlands' Robert Doornbos took advantage and made a move to pass France's Loïc Duval.
As the chequered flag came out the top three crossed the line only a few seconds apart. An extremely happy Jani took victory for Switzerland, an even more remarkable achievement given that he was rushed into hospital last week with suspected meningitis, and only came back to full fitness today.
Ireland's points haul means it retains the championship lead with 65 points while Switzerland (52) move up to second ahead of Portugal (49).
"What a weekend in the end," said race-winner Neel Jani. "On Monday I still felt really bad, but I just got better every day with the warm weather in New Zealand, and it looks like the clean, fresh air helped me as well, so that is good.
"The first race was already good, a great pit stop put me up to second, but here coming up from fifth to first was nothing we had ever thought of. I had a great start from fifth to second and I was already next to Adam. I settled for second, but then we had a little problem on the first pit stop as I didn't really get off well as I had a problem with the clutch, and then the second pit stop was fantastic, very quick from the guys. I saw Adam next to me and heard his engine revving on the limiter and thought there must be a problem, and I just kept on my side then and was able to take him like that. Then I was just able to control the race.
"It was a great, great weekend and a fantastic car. This was the most points we have scored on a weekend this season and so now it is starting to come good for us, but there are still a lot of points needed to catch up Ireland."
Commenting on the first corner tap from Portugal, Ireland's Adam Carroll commented: "I needed just a little push to get off the line from behind, and Felipe (Albuquerque) gave me that.
"It was all a bit close and quite interesting," he continued."But everything was going well until the second pit stop. Basically as I left the engine just went. It didn't stall immediately as to begin with it was okay. Actually the anti-stall system came in, then it stalled completely and I had to bump start it and go again. I don't really know what happened. I was actually lucky not to lose more places. It was unfortunate but second place is still good.
"I pushed hard and got some decent times in. Then the guys did a fantastic job in the pits for the first stop and we were able to come out with a good gap, which I was maintaining until the second stop where it all went wrong."
Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque said:"I think the race pace and our speed this weekend was really there, but it was just a question of being in front. It was interesting to see the gaps between us when Adam was leading and I would have liked to be in front to see if I could have gone at the same pace. I need to congratulate Neel for a good start. I could not do much as I was pushing a lot and here you never rest.
"Offline was really dirty, and once I almost disappeared as it was so grippy on the normal track, but if you went off there was no grip. But I think it was just whoever didn't make a mistake would get third place."
Home favourite Chris van der Drift had a disappointing weekend, ending the Feature race in thirteenth:"The first lap was what gave us the problems during the whole race. We had the anti-stall problem at the start which was unfortunate. Then on the first lap, I don't know who it was, but someone ran into the back of me. It was unfortunate as after that you can't really do much when you are a lap down.
"It was just a pity we couldn't have a better result here for team New Zealand."
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, SEPANG, MALAYSIA NOVEMBER 23, 2008
EVENT #3
TEAM IRELAND WINS FEATURE RACE
A1 Team Ireland became the first nation to score two victories this season, as Adam Carroll dominated the Sepang Feature race in Malaysia. Filipe
MARCO ANDRETTI, ADAM CARROLL, FILIPE ALBERQUERQUE
|
Albuquerque took an excellent second place for Portugal while Marco Andretti finished a great third for the USA from eighth on the grid. Ireland now leads the championship heading into the Christmas break.
As the chequered flag came out, Ireland claimed its second victory of the season ahead of Portugal. USA's Marco Andretti and Australia's John Martin both put in great drives to come through the field to finish a commendable third and fourth respectively.
Adam Carroll completed the perfect race taking the win, pole position and fastest lap to give the team an eight-point lead at the top of the championship.
He said: "We were starting from pole position and I just concentrated on getting a good start, which allowed me to control the race from there. It's a long race, the car's heavy at the start so you just run as fast as you can and be smooth and it allowed us to open up quite a good gap.
"It's all team work though, it doesn't just come down to one person as everybody works extremely hard. It's been hard for the guys to be out here since Tuesday at the circuit in this heat and humidity, but they practiced pit stops every night to make sure they did a good job.
"We planned to come here and try and come away leading the championship and we have. Winning the race is just a good bonus and I'm going to fight hard to keep it."
_____________________________
2nd PLACE FILIPE ALBERQURQUE FOR PORTUGAL
Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque said: "I achieved our goals. Actually, I went better than what we were expecting. We wanted to go to the first pit stop in third, but it was even better as we were in second. I was doing whatever I could to keep the pace, but it all needs to be perfect, and Ireland did a good pit stop and we didn't. We are also missing one guy from our crew who's in hospital, so I wish him the best. In the end it was good to just take the points. You cannot win every time and they were just perfect and I'm really happy with the second place."
_____________________________
3rd PLACE MARCO ANDRETTI FOR THE USA
A1 Team USA's Marco Andretti said: "The start was a bit of survival and I used the PowerBoost when everybody was close together and we needed the track position. The boys did a good job in the pits and then we weren't threatened from behind, but I had nothing on these guys in front so I was just enjoying the car and Sepang. It's a lovely circuit."
_____________________________
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- November 23, 2008, A1GP Sepang, Malaysia (Round 3 of 10)
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 34 05:52.205
2 PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 34 06:08.201 15.996
3 USA Marco ANDRETTI 34 06:39.842 47.637
4 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 34 06:43.884 51.679
5 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 34 06:44.311 52.106
6 NEW ZEALAND Earl BAMBER 34 06:46.559 54.354
7 BRAZIL Felipe GUIMARAES 34 06:49.574 57.369
8 NETHERLANDS Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN 34 06:49.695 57.49
9 CHINA Ho Pin TUNG 34 06:51.363 59.158
10 MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 34 06:56.093 1:03.888
11 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 34 06:58.350 1:06.145
12 LEBANON Daniel MORAD 34 07:07.195 1:14.990
13 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 34 07:07.966 1:15.761
14 FRANCE Loic DUVAL 34 07:08.668 1:16.463
15 MEXICO David GARZA 34 07:22.206 1:30.001
16 GREAT BRITAIN Danny WATTS 28 06:01.563 6 Laps
17 MONACO Clivio PICCIONE 2 48:45.374 32 Laps
18 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 0 34 Laps
19 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 0 34 Laps
CHENGDU INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, CHINA NOVEMBER 9, 2008
EVENT #2
TEAM PORTUGAL TAKES MAIDEN AIGP VICTORY
Chengdu, China - Filipe Albuquerque claimed A1 Team Portugal's maiden victory in the A1GP Chengdu, China Feature race this afternoon. Portugal took the lead after the first round of pit stops and held off the charge from A1 Team Ireland's Adam Carroll in the closing stages. Great Britain's Danny Watts took the final podium position after starting on pole but dropping back after his two mandatory pit stops.
_____________________________
Race winner Albuquerque said: "The lap times were getting faster and faster. In the second stint, I was really fast, faster than anyone else. I was pulling away and had four seconds and everything was under control. But then Ireland was way too fast with the new tyres. I could not go any faster so I just had to keep the car on the track, not make any mistakes and get the win."
_____________________________
SPRINT RACE RESULTS:
The top 3 teams and drivers in the Sprint Race were Ireland - Adan Carroll, Netherlands - Robert Doornbos and Great Britain - Danny Watts.
_____________________________
PODIUM, Filipe Albuquerque (POR) Lebanese Canadian Daniel Morad (LEB)
_____________________________
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- November 9, 2008, A1GP Chengdu, China (Round 2 of 10)
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 51 11:23.179
2 IRELAND Adam CARROLL 51 11:23.750 0.571
3 GREAT BRITAIN Danny WATTS 51 11:27.981 4.802
4 SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 51 11:30.336 7.157
5 MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 51 11:36.481 13.302
6 AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 51 11:38.723 15.544
7 MONACO Clivio PICCIONE 51 11:39.415 16.236
8 USA Marco ANDRETTI 51 11:39.869 16.69
9 SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 51 11:41.209 18.03
10 INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 51 11:41.938 18.759
11 NEW ZEALAND Chris VAN DER DRIFT 51 11:42.854 19.675
12 CHINA Ho Pin TUNG 51 11:43.305 20.126
13 LEBANON Daniel MORAD 51 11:45.759 22.58
14 INDONESIA Satrio HERMANTO 51 11:54.464 31.285
15 MEXICO David GARZA 50 11:37.063 1 Lap
16 NETHERLANDS Robert DOORNBOS 50 11:40.217 1 Lap
17 KOREA Jin Woo HWANG 50 11:58.454 1 Lap
18 FRANCE Nicolas PROST 37 50:48.185 14 Laps
19 ITALY Edoardo PISCOPO 30 42:26.221 21 Laps
20 BRAZIL Felipe GUIMARAES 13 19:28.502 38 Laps
Fastest lap: A1 Team NED set the fastest lap (1m15.212s) of the Feature race with a speed of 159.4 kph on lap 33.
ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS OCTOBER 5, 2008
EVENT #1
The A1GP starts their 2008- 2009 racing season at Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
_____________________________
A1 TEAMS GIVEN GREEN LIGHT FOR ZANDVOORT RACE
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will have a maximum of 18 cars on the grid for its first race of the 2008/09 season, A1GP Zandvoort, The Netherlands.
"We cannot blame any of the missing teams for a lack of effort. They all burnt the midnight oil and worked as hard as humanly possible to make the grid, but the car build delays just beat them," said A1GP CEO, Pete da Silva.
The good news for the Dutch fans is their own A1 Team Netherlands car will be there with Jeroen Bleekemolen at the wheel. The teams also definitely racing, some of whom are testing at Snetterton this week, are from Australia, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Monaco, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and the USA. The final group of teams who are still working flat out and will have to head straight to Zandvoort are Brazil, China, France, Portugal and Switzerland. Meanwhile Canada, Germany, Great Britain, India and Mexico will have to wait for the second event of the season for their race debuts.
While all the missing teams are obviously disappointed, they appreciate this will not seriously dent their championship ambitions. This is due to the change in the sporting regulations that means they can now drop their worst weekend score and just count their best nine results from the ten events.
_____________________________
SPORTING REGULATION CHANGES FOR ZANDVOORT
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will be making changes to its race weekend format for A1GP Zandvoort, The Netherlands with qualifying and the Sprint race being affected.
In place of the four separate qualifying segments there will now be just a one hour session, with no restriction on the number of laps each car can complete. These times will determine the grid for the Sprint race. The Sprint race will not have the mandatory pit stop and its results will determine the Feature race grid.
The qualifying format has been changed due to the late arrival of the A1 teams from Brazil, China, France and Portugal, who have been unable to shake down their cars. The mandatory pit stop has been dropped from the Sprint race to conserve equipment, however, this will not affect the two pit stops in the Feature race.
_____________________________
Zandvoort Podium, Loic Duval (FRA), Fairuz Fauzy (MAL), and Earl Bamber (NZL)
_____________________________
FEATURE RACE RESULTS- October 5, 2008, A1GP Zandvoort, The Netherlands (round 1 of 10)
______________________________
POS TEAM DRIVER LAPS TIME GAP
1 Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 10 19'44.533
2 New Zealand Earl Bamber 10 19'48.007 3.474
3 France Loic Duval 10 19'50.803 6.270
4 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 10 19'57.966 13.433
5 Switzerland Neel Jani 10 20'01.429 16.896
6 South Africa Adrian Zaugg 10 20'05.458 20.925
7 Italy Fabio Onidi 10 20'06.747 22.214
8 USA Charlie Kimball 10 20'08.683 24.150
9 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 10 20'13.960 29.427
10 Lebanon Daniel Morad 10 20'23.462 38.929
11 Australia John Martin 10 21'12.004 1'27.471
12 China Ho-Pin Tung 9 18'09.652 1 lap
13 Brazil Felipe Guimaraes 9 19'24.409 1 lap
14 Korea Jin-Woo Hwang 3 7'27.249 7 laps
15 Indonesia Satrio Hermanto 2 5'27.400 8 laps
16 Ireland Adam Carroll 2 5'58.094 8 laps
17 Monaco Clivio Piccione 1 2'48.422 9 laps
|
