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
DateMay 3, 2009
LocationBrands Hatch
Kent, England
WeatherClear, 16°C
Sprint race
Qualifying
Pole Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time1:11.615
Podium
1st Ireland (Adam Carroll)
2nd India (Narain Karthikeyan)
3rd Mexico (Salvador Durán)
Fastest Lap
FL Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time1:12.276, (Lap 8)
Feature race
Qualifying
Pole Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time1:10.902
Podium
1st Ireland (Adam Carroll)
2nd Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen)
3rd Switzerland (Neel Jani)
Fastest Lap
FL Australia (John Martin)
Time1:12.698, (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.
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