2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain

The 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain was an A1 Grand Prix race at Brands Hatch, England. It was set to be the penultimate round of the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season, but became the season finale, due to the cancellation of the Mexican round due to the 2009 swine flu pandemic.[1][2] Ultimately, it would be the last race for A1GP as bankruptcy followed later in the year.

2008-09 A1GP of Great Britain
Race Details
Race 7 of 7 in the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season
Date	May 3, 2009
Location	Brands Hatch Kent, England
Weather	Clear, 16°C
Sprint race
Qualifying
Pole	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time	1:11.615
Podium
1st	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
2nd	India (Narain Karthikeyan)
3rd	Mexico (Salvador Durán)
Fastest Lap
FL	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time	1:12.276, (Lap 8)
Feature race
Qualifying
Pole	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time	1:10.902
Podium
1st	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
2nd	Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen)
3rd	Switzerland (Neel Jani)
Fastest Lap
FL	Australia (John Martin)
Time	1:12.698, (Lap 36)
Official Classifications
PDF Booklet

A1 Team Ireland became the fourth A1 Grand Prix champions, with a double pole position, and double victory, to take Ireland's first international motor racing championship.

Title Battle

With the British round now becoming the season finale, this left the championship in a three-way battle for the title.[3]

Switzerland lead going into the event with 88 points, with four points to drop; followed by Ireland with 86, and Portugal with 82. The Netherlands are currently too far behind to win the title with 66 points, as even though 27 points are on offer for maximum score, the team has to drop 6 points from their worst event.

Also, even if all the teams finish equal of points, the tie-breaker rules would come into play. Currently Switzerland would win the title with four wins, to Ireland's three, and Portugal's one.

Drivers

Team	Main Driver	Rookie Driver(s)	Reserve Driver
Australia	John Martin
Brazil	Felipe Guimarães
Canada	Did Not Participate
China	Congfu Cheng[4]		Ho-Pin Tung
France	Nicolas Prost	Nicolas Prost
Germany	Michael Ammermüller[5]
Great Britain	Dan Clarke	Aaron Steele[6]
India	Narain Karthikeyan	Parthiva Sureshwaren
Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto
Ireland	Adam Carroll	Niall Quinn
Italy	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Korea	Did Not Participate
Lebanon	Daniel Morad	Jimmy Auby
Malaysia	Aaron Lim
Mexico	Salvador Durán	Juan Pablo Garcia
Monaco	Clivio Piccione	Hubertus Bahlsen
The Netherlands	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Dennis Retera
New Zealand	Earl Bamber[7]
Pakistan	Did Not Participate
Portugal	Filipe Albuquerque
South Africa	Alan van der Merwe[8]	Cristiano Morgado
Switzerland	Neel Jani	Alexandre Imperatori
USA	J. R. Hildebrand[9]

Qualifying

Sprint race qualifying Pos Team Time Gap 1 Ireland 1:11.615 - 2 Mexico 1:11.653^† + 0.038 3 Netherlands 1:11.992 + 0.377 4 USA 1:11.994^† + 0.379 5 Portugal 1:12.040^† + 0.425 6 New Zealand 1:12.108^† + 0.493 7 India 1:12.109^† + 0.494 8 Switzerland 1:12.212 + 0.597 9 Indonesia 1:12.658^† + 1.043 10 Australia 1:12.745 + 1.130 11 Lebanon 1:12.889^† + 1.274 12 France 1:13.011 + 1.396 13 Great Britain 1:13.019 + 1.404 14 Monaco 1:13.260 + 1.645 15 Germany 1:13.329 + 1.714 16 Italy 1:13.549^† + 1.934 17 Brazil 1:13.584 + 1.969 18 Malaysia 1:13.686^† + 2.071 19 South Africa 1:13.854 + 2.239 20 China 1:13.861 + 2.246

Feature race qualifying Pos Team Time Gap 1 Ireland 1:10.902^† - 2 Monaco 1:11.085^† + 0.183 3 Netherlands 1:11.146^† + 0.244 4 Switzerland 1:11.338^† + 0.436 5 France 1:11.543^† + 0.641 6 New Zealand 1:11.633 + 0.731 7 Australia 1:11.930^† + 1.028 8 China 1:12.180^† + 1.278 9 Portugal 1:12.270 + 1.368 10 India 1:12.397 + 1.495 11 USA 1:12.662 + 1.760 12 South Africa 1:12.730^† + 1.828 13 Mexico 1:12.740 + 1.838 14 Great Britain 1:12.756^† + 1.854 15 Lebanon 1:12.766 + 1.864 16 Germany 1:12.797^† + 1.895 17 Brazil 1:13.048^† + 2.146 18 Italy 1:13.131 + 2.229 19 Indonesia 1:13.560 + 2.658 20 Malaysia 1:14.203 + 3.301

^† Team utilized Powerboost "joker" qualifying lap.

Sprint Race

Pos	Team	Driver	Laps	Time	Points
1	Ireland	Adam Carroll	18	22:32.704	10+1
2	India	Narain Karthikeyan	18	+ 7.230	8
3	Mexico	Salvador Durán	18	+ 12.340	6
4	USA	J. R. Hildebrand	18	+ 12.689	5
5	Portugal	Filipe Albuquerque	18	+ 13.018	4
6	Netherlands	Jeroen Bleekemolen	18	+ 13.783	3
7	Australia	John Martin	18	+ 15.208	2
8	Switzerland	Neel Jani	18	+ 22.220	1
9	France	Nicolas Prost	18	+ 22.945
10	Italy	Vitantonio Liuzzi	18	+ 27.062
11	Germany	Michael Ammermüller	18	+ 31.947
12	Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto	18	+ 33.159
13	Great Britain	Dan Clarke	18	+ 33.541
14	China	Cheng Congfu	18	+ 34.963
15	South Africa	Alan van der Merwe	18	+ 40.488
16	Malaysia	Aaron Lim	18	+ 41.528
17	Lebanon	Daniel Morad	13	Spin
18	New Zealand	Earl Bamber	13	Spin
19	Monaco	Clivio Piccione	8	Fire
20	Brazil	Felipe Guimarães	Did Not Start

Feature Race

Pos	Team	Driver	Laps	Time	Points
1	Ireland	Adam Carroll	49	1:04:14.970	15
2	Netherlands	Jeroen Bleekemolen	49	+ 10.156	12
3	Switzerland	Neel Jani	49	+ 13.564	10
4	Monaco	Clivio Piccione	49	+ 14.293	8
5	Portugal	Filipe Albuquerque	49	+ 16.484	6
6	Mexico	Salvador Durán	49	+ 21.810	5
7	Great Britain	Dan Clarke	49	+ 23.409	4
8	Australia	John Martin	49	+ 24.493	3+1
9	Italy	Vitantonio Liuzzi	49	+ 46.004	2
10	France	Nicolas Prost	49	+ 49.094	1
11	South Africa	Alan van der Merwe	49	+ 1:13.905
12	Lebanon	Daniel Morad	49	+ 1:16.257
13	Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto	48	+ 1 Lap
14	USA	J. R. Hildebrand	48	+ 1 Lap
15	Malaysia	Aaron Lim	27	Spin
16	Germany	Michael Ammermüller	26	Exhaust
17	New Zealand	Earl Bamber	6	Spin
18	India	Narain Karthikeyan	0	Accident
19	China	Cheng Congfu	0	Collision
20	Brazil	Felipe Guimarães	Did Not Start

Notes

• It was the 39th race weekend (78 starts).
• It was the fourth race to be held in Great Britain at Brands Hatch, as well as the third time the track has hosted the season finale.
• It was the first race as main driver for J. R. Hildebrand and Aaron Lim.
• It was the first race as rookie driver for Aaron Steele.
• Ireland scored their second double pole-position of the season, and the only double win of the season.

References

1. "A1GP Mexico City cancelled". a1gp.com. 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
2. "A1GP makes Mexico statement". a1gp.com. 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
3. "Title to be won at Brands Hatch". a1gp.com. 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
4. "Cheng returns for China at Brands". a1gp.com. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
5. "Ammermuller back for Germany". a1gp.com. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
6. "Clarke's Kent". a1gp.com. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
7. "New Zealand names Bamber again". a1gp.com. 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
8. "South Africa's driver swap". a1gp.com. 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
9. "USA names Hildebrand for Brands". a1gp.com. 2009-04-24. Retrieved 2009-04-28.

External links

Previous race 2008-09, Portugal

A1 Grand Prix 2008-09 season

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