2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain

The 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain was an event for the A1 Grand Prix motor racing championship, held over 23–25 September 2005 at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England. This was the first of eleven rounds in the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season, and the first A1 Grand Prix event outright.[1]

2005–06 A1GP of Great Britain
Race Details
Race 1 of 11 in the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season
Date25 September 2005
LocationBrands Hatch
Kent, England
WeatherFine
Qualifying
Pole Brazil (Nelson Piquet, Jr.)
Time2:30.789 (1:15.824, 1:14.965)
Sprint Race
1st Brazil (Nelson Piquet, Jr.)
2nd France (Alexandre Prémat)
3rd New Zealand (Matthew Halliday)
Main Race
1st Brazil (Nelson Piquet, Jr.)
2nd Australia (Will Power)
3rd Mexico (Salvador Durán)
Fast Lap
FL Brazil (Nelson Piquet Jr.)
Time1:16.547, (Lap 30 of Main Race)
Official Classifications
Layout of the Brands Hatch circuit.

Report

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Practice

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There were eight red flags in practice due to incidents. In the first session, A1 Team India's Karun Chandhok crashed into Jos Verstappen at a hairpin, sending him airborne and damaging his car to such an extent that he was unable to set a time in the second session. Rain affected the second session, causing slower speeds and spins. Free Practice 3, held on Saturday, saw A1 Team France top the timesheets with a 1:15.421 courtesy of Alexandre Prémat. Matthew Halliday set the second quickest time for A1 Team New Zealand, which was good enough to see him nominated for qualifying.

Qualifying

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Nelson Piquet, Jr. took A1GP's first ever pole position for A1 Team Brazil. Piquet set the fastest time over the entire session, with a 1:14.965 on his third run. Combined with the best first-lap time, he produced an aggregate time of 2:30.769, leading the results by over three tenths of a second ahead of Halliday. Brazil did not attempt a time in the final run, which was topped by Prémat, placing them third on the grid for the sprint race. Fourth position went to Will Power of A1 Team Australia, followed by the home team A1 Team Great Britain. The A1 Grand Prix rules allowed teams to use one driver for qualifying and another for the race, provided the race driver's best practice time is within 102% of the team's best qualifying lap – resulting in Lebanon's Basil Shaaban and China's Qinghua Ma replaced with Khalil Beschir and Tengyi Jiang respectively.[2]

Sprint race

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A1 Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr finished 5th in the Sprint race.

Scheduled for 18 laps or 30 minutes (whichever came first), the first ever A1GP sprint race began with a rolling start. Prémat got the best start of the front-runners, slipping inside Halliday to move into second place. Power retained his fourth position, slightly ahead of Robbie Kerr for A1 Team Great Britain. Piquet made it through the first turn with no trouble, and quickly began building a sizeable lead. Jos Verstappen in the Dutch car suffered damage to his car after a collision with Stephen Simpson of South Africa, forcing him to limp back to the pits and retire from the race. Simpson was also required to pit at the end of the first lap to repair damage from the collision. The field remained in almost the same order for the remainder of the race, as Piquet, Prémat and Halliday produced a gap back to Power, who pulled away from Kerr to secure fourth place. A1 Team USA's Scott Speed moved from 17th to 11th on the opening lap and held that position until the end of the race. A1 Team Mexico remained 6th, ahead of the Pakistani car in 7th – which spent most of the race holding up PortugalSwitzerland and Ireland behind him.[3]

Main race

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Piquet took the first position on the grid for the feature race, thanks to his comprehensive victory in the sprint race. Prémat suffered a battery problem between the two races which required some frantic work by the pit crew, resulting in Premat leaving the pit lane with 45 seconds to spare. This time the race started with a standing start, however Halliday stalled from third spotand had to start from the pits. Prémat stalled on the race start proper, putting him out of the race immediately. Piquet led from Power on the opening lap. Further back in the field, Michael Devaney of Ireland collided with Neel Jani of Switzerland, putting both cars out of the race. Beschir spun off the track, hitting a wall on the outside and then coming back across the track narrowly in front of four cars. The Lebanese driver was able to continue the race, which was not the case for A1 Team India's Karun Chandhok and A1 Team Indonesia's Ananda Mikola who both did not complete lap 1. Portugal soon joined the ever-growing list of retirees when Álvaro Parente retired with a battery problem on lap two. Having started in 16th, Enrico Toccacelo of Italy climbed to a surprising 5th after taking an early compulsory pitstop.

Piquet continued to lead and open and impressive gap back to Power, who was being hounded by Kerr for second. Several battles were emerging throughout the field, involving Pakistan and Italy for 4th place, Germany and Malaysia for 6th, as well as Canada and South Africa for 9th. Speed rejoined the race after having to pit for a new nose cone earlier in the race, now lying several laps behind the leaders. With Germany taking its compulsory pitstop, Verstappen moved into 7th having started last. Malaysia lost time in the pit cycle as the mechanics struggled to fit a wheel, a common occurrence in early A1GP races. Pakistan, who had been held up by A1 Team Austria while trying to lap them, also lost out to the Netherlands when both teams pitted.

On lap 13, Toccacelo and Beschir collided at Paddock Hill Bend, resulting in the Lebanese car barrel-rolling through the gravel. The top three pitted as the Safety Car came out for the first time, but Brazil also had problems changing tyres Great Britain and Australia past. The British car then suffered another battery failure under the safety car, forcing Kerr to retire and promoting Power to the lead. Power led Piquet and Salvador Durán of Mexico on the restart. Only a few laps later, A1 Team Russia driver Aleksey Vasilyev spun off the track and forced the safety car to come out again. On the second restart, Piquet passed Power and drove away to win by 11 seconds over Australia, followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada and Germany. Piquet's win finished a clean-sweep for Brazil, claiming pole position, both race wins and the bonus point for the fastest race lap of the weekend to give the team the maximum 21 points.[4]

Results

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Qualification

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Qualification took place on Saturday, 24 September 2005. Lap times in blue (the two fastest times from a country) counted towards a countries' aggregate.

Pos. Team Driver Sessions Agg. Gap
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
1   Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. 1:15.824 1:16.070 1:14.965 No time 2:30.789
2   New Zealand Matthew Halliday 1:16.359 1:16.032 1:15.389 1:15.728 2:31.117 +0.328
3   France Alexandre Prémat 1:17.278 1:16.185 1:16.043 1:15.163 2:31.206 +0.417
4   Australia Will Power 1:16.056 1:16.360 1:15.774 1:15.614 2:31.388 +0.599
5   Great Britain Robbie Kerr 1:16.612 1:15.878 1:16.097 1:15.836 2:31.714 +0.925
6   Switzerland Neel Jani 1:17.907 1:16.435 1:16.142 1:15.587 2:31.729 +0.940
7   Mexico Salvador Durán 1:17.639 1:16.283 1:16.251 1:16.056 2:32.307 +1.518
8   Pakistan Adam Khan 1:17.020 1:16.457 1:16.481 1:16.139 2:32.596 +1.807
9   Malaysia Alex Yoong 1:18.507 1:16.362 1:16.448 1:16.270 2:32.632 +1.843
10   Japan Ryō Fukuda 1:17.017 1:16.544 1:16.694 1:16.145 2:32.689 +1.900
11   Portugal Álvaro Parente 1:17.199 1:16.528 No time 1:16.177 2:32.705 +1.916
12   Ireland Michael Devaney 1:16.803 1:16.576 1:16.863 1:16.235 2:32.811 +2.022
13   Germany Timo Scheider 1:16.965 1:16.624 1:16.639 1:16.357 2:32.981 +2.192
14   Netherlands Jos Verstappen 1:16.882 1:17.510 1:16.472 1:16.603 2:33.075 +2.286
15   South Africa Stephen Simpson 1:17.432 1:16.612 1:16.647 1:16.474 2:33.086 +2.297
16   Italy Enrico Toccacelo 1:16.888 1:16.402 1:16.832 1:17.616 2:33.234 +2.445
17   United States Scott Speed 1:17.625 1:17.638 1:16.950 1:16.367 2:33.317 +2.528
18   Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1:20.253 1:17.267 1:16.864 1:16.560 2:33.424 +2.635
19   India Karun Chandhok 1:18.272 1:18.286 1:17.341 1:16.785 2:34.126 +3.337
20   Czech Republic Jan Charouz 1:18.318 1:17.813 1:18.743 1:16.973 2:34.786 +3.997
21   Canada Sean McIntosh 1:19.902 1:18.485 1:18.189 1:18.467 2:36.656 +5.867
22   Austria Mathias Lauda 1:18.977 1:19.148 1:18.186 1:18.692 2:36.878 +6.089
23   Lebanon Basil Shaaban 1:18.671 1:18.433 No time 1:19.282 2:37.104 +6.315
24   China Qinghua Ma 1:20.465 1:19.071 1:19.820 1:19.679 2:38.750 +7.961
25   Russia Aleksey Vasilyev 1:21.615 1:21.298 1:20.597 1:20.706 2:41.303 +10.514
Source:[5]

Sprint Race results

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The Sprint Race took place on Sunday, 25 September 2005

 
Mexico leads New Zealand
Pos. Team Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts.
1   Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. 18 23:15.682 1 10
2   France Alexandre Prémat 18 +2.440 3 9
3   New Zealand Matthew Halliday 18 +2.899 2 8
4   Australia Will Power 18 +11.457 4 7
5   Great Britain Robbie Kerr 18 +12.797 5 6
6   Mexico Salvador Durán 18 +17.273 7 5
7   Pakistan Adam Khan 18 +18.032 8 4
8   Portugal Álvaro Parente 18 +18.189 11 3
9   Switzerland Neel Jani 18 +20.851 6 2
10   Ireland Michael Devaney 18 +21.056 12 1
11   United States Scott Speed 18 +23.866 17
12   Japan Ryō Fukuda 18 +25.192 10
13   Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 18 +25.351 9
14   Germany Timo Scheider 18 +25.905 13
15   India Karun Chandhok 18 +27.793 19
16   Italy Enrico Toccacelo 18 +35.521 16
17   Indonesia Ananda Mikola 18 +40.333 18
18   Czech Republic Jan Charouz 18 +40.346 20
19   Canada Sean McIntosh 18 +42.621 21
20   Austria Mathias Lauda 18 +55.293 22
21   China Tengyi Jiang 18 +58.194 24
22   Lebanon Khalil Beschir 18 +59.092 23
23   Russia Aleksey Vasilyev 17 +1 Lap 25
24   South Africa Stephen Simpson 17 +1 Lap 15
DNF   Netherlands Jos Verstappen 0 Crash damage 14
Source:[6]

Main Race results

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The Main Race also took place on Sunday, 25 September 2005.

Pos. Team Driver Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts.
1   Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. 38 55:01.910 1 10
2   Australia Will Power 38 +11.330 4 9
3   Mexico Salvador Durán 38 +23.125 6 8
4   New Zealand Matthew Halliday 38 +23.705 3 7
5   Malaysia Alex Yoong 38 +24.352 13 6
6   South Africa Stephen Simpson 38 +24.852 24 5
7   Netherlands Jos Verstappen 38 +25.630 25 4
8   Japan Ryō Fukuda 38 +26.219 12 3
9   Canada Sean McIntosh 38 +27.179 19 2
10   Germany Timo Scheider 37 +1 Lap 14 1
11   Austria Mathias Lauda 37 +1 Lap 20
12   China Tengyi Jiang 37 +1 Lap 21
13   Pakistan Adam Khan 35 +3 Laps 7
DNF   Czech Republic Jan Charouz 24 +14 Laps 18
DNF   Russia Aleksey Vasilyev 18 Spun out 23
DNF   Great Britain Robbie Kerr 17 Engine 5
DNF   United States Scott Speed 14 Withdrew 11
DNF   Lebanon Khalil Beschir 13 Crash 22
DNF   Italy Enrico Toccacelo 13 Crash 16
DNF   Portugal Álvaro Parente 1 Battery 8
DNF   Switzerland Neel Jani 1 Crash 9
DNF   Ireland Michael Devaney 0 Crash 10
DNF   Indonesia Ananda Mikola 0 +38 Laps 17
DNS   France Alexandre Prémat Stalled
DNS   India Karun Chandhok
Source:[7]

Points

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Event and Championship standings
Pos. Team SR MR Total
1   Brazil 1 11 21
2   Australia 4 2 16
3   New Zealand 3 4 15
4   Mexico 6 3 13
5   France 2 DNS 9
6   Malaysia 13 5 6
7   Great Britain 5 DNF 6
8   South Africa 24 6 5
9   Pakistan 7 13 4
10   Netherlands DNF 7 4
11   Japan 12 8 3
12   Portugal 8 DNF 3
13   Canada 19 9 2
14   Switzerland 9 DNF 2
15   Germany 14 10 1
16   Ireland 10 DNF 1
17   Austria 20 11 0
18   United States 11 DNF 0
19   China 21 12 0
20   India 15 DNS 0
21   Italy 16 DNF 0
22   Indonesia 17 DNF 0
23   Czech Republic 18 DNF 0
24   Lebanon 22 DNF 0
25   Russia 23 DNF 0
  • ^1A1 Team Brazil received a bonus point for setting the fastest race lap of the weekend.

References

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  1. ^ "Chaotic Start to A1GP". Retrieved 23 September 2005.
  2. ^ "Brazil takes pole at Brands Hatch". Retrieved 25 September 2005.
  3. ^ "Piquet puts Brazil on top". Retrieved 26 September 2005.
  4. ^ "Brazil completes Brands Hatch 'double'". Retrieved 26 September 2005.
  5. ^ "A1GP Timing Results – BRANDS HATCH, GREAT BRITAIN , SEASON 2005-06 (Page 34)". Alkamel Systems. 12 September 2007.
  6. ^ "A1GP Timing Results – BRANDS HATCH, GREAT BRITAIN , SEASON 2005-06 (Page 42)". Alkamel Systems. 12 September 2007.
  7. ^ "A1GP Timing Results – BRANDS HATCH, GREAT BRITAIN , SEASON 2005-06 (Page 52)". Alkamel Systems. 12 September 2007.
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