The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China was an A1 Grand Prix race, held at Chengdu Goldenport Circuit, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
All proceeds from this race were donated to the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund, following the earthquake which devastated the region in May 2008.
Drivers After missing the first race due to a lack of cars, A1 Teams Great Britain, India and Mexico took part in this race. Both A1 Team Pakistan and A1 Team Germany will not make their season debut until the fourth round at Taupo. Team Pakistan require more changes to their chassis to render it suitable for their lead driver Adam Khan, while Team Germany is undergoing management restructuring.
The status of A1 Team Canada was not announced, but they were removed from the race's drivers list on the A1GP website front page, and did not make an appearance. Their status for future events is still unknown.
TeamMain DriverRookie Driver2008/09, Chengdu, China, Rookies combined forix.com AustraliaJohn Martin BrazilFelipe GuimarãesFelipe Guimarães CanadaDid Not Participate ChinaHo-Pin Tung FranceNicolas ProstNicolas Prost GermanyDid Not Participate Great BritainDanny WattsDanny Watts IndiaNarain KarthikeyanNarain Karthikeyan↑ IndonesiaSatrio HermantoZahir Ali IrelandAdam CarrollNiall Quinn ItalyEdoardo PiscopoChristian Montanari KoreaHwang Jin-WooHwang Jin-Woo LebanonDaniel MoradDaniel Morad MalaysiaFairuz FauzyAaron Lim MexicoDavíd Garza PérezDavíd Garza Pérez MonacoClivio Piccione The NetherlandsRobert DoornbosDennis Retera New ZealandChris van der DriftChris van der Drift PakistanDid Not Participate PortugalFilipe Albuquerque South AfricaAdrian Zaugg SwitzerlandNeel JaniAlexandre Imperiatori USAMarco AndrettiMarco Andretti↑ ↑ Karthikeyan and Andretti were granted special dispensation to participate in the rookie session as neither team had completed as many testing miles as the other teams with the new car. Karthikeyan (F1) and Andretti (IRL ICS) are veteran drivers in one of the four series (F1, GP2, FN, IRL-ICS) which their drivers may not compete as A1GP rookies.
Qualifying Due to a delay in recovering the Italian car after spinning into a gravel trap during the first qualifying session, the second qualifying session was cancelled, meaning all times from Q1 set the field for Q1, with Ireland taking their first ever pole position, ahead of The Netherlands and Switzerland.
Q4 was stopped briefly after a spin for France. The session was resumed with teams able to make a run in time. Danny Watts for Great Britain took pole ahead of Ireland and Portugal. Sprint race qualifying2008/09, Chengdu, China, Sprint: starting grid forix.comPosTeamTimeGap1 Ireland1'15.423 –2 Netherlands1'15.492 +0.0693 Switzerland1'15.683 +0.2604 Great Britain1'15.799 +0.3765 Portugal1'16.124 +0.7016 France1'16.164 +0.7417 South Africa1'16.268 +0.8458 New Zealand1'16.505 +1.0829 India1'16.553 +1.13010 Monaco1'16.794 +1.37111 Australia1'17.054 +1.63112 Brazil1'17.131 +1.70813 Lebanon1'17.143 +1.72014 Malaysia1'17.171 +1.74815 Italy1'17.288 +1.86516 USA1'17.437 +2.01417 Mexico1'18.025 +2.60218 China1'18.128 +2.70319 Indonesia1'19.479 +4.05620 Korea1'20.102 +4.679Feature race qualifying2008/09, Chengdu, China, Feature: starting grid forix.comPosTeamTimeGap1 Great Britain1'15.325 –2 Ireland1'15.356 +0.0313 Portugal1'15.400 +0.0754 Switzerland1'15.621 +0.2965 South Africa1'15.947 +0.6226 Malaysia1'15.963 +0.6387 Monaco1'16.016 +0.6918 Netherlands1'16.124 +0.7999 Australia1'16.289 +0.96410 Brazil1'16.403 +1.07811 USA1'16.557 +1.23212 France1'16.604 +1.27913 Lebanon1'16.702 +1.37714 Mexico1'16.965 +1.66015 New Zealand1'17.176 +1.85116 India1'17.218 +1.89317 China1'17.299 +1.97418 Indonesia1'17.759 +2.43419 Italy1'17.845 +2.52020 Korea1'18.875 +3.550
Sprint Race For safety reasons, a pit stop was not required for the Sprint Race. In lap 2, Brazil is slowing and the Safety car is on while Felipe Guimarães reach the pits. In the same lap 2, China spun and lost some positions but finally catch up and pass Korea on lap 7. when the Safety car is out, the order was Ireland, Netherlands, Great Britain, Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, New Zealand and France. Those positions remain until the end of the race with the fastest lap for Adam Carroll. PosTeamDriverLapsTimePoints1 IrelandAdam Carroll1822'58.74010 +12 NetherlandsRobert Doornbos18+2.03783 Great BritainDanny Watts18+14.36164 SwitzerlandNeel Jani18+14.61955 South AfricaAdrian Zaugg18+20.10846 PortugalFilipe Albuquerque18+20.47537 New ZealandChris van der Drift18+27.22428 FranceNicolas Prost18+27.92319 MonacoClivio Piccione18+30.37810 IndiaNarain Karthikeyan18+32.26811 AustraliaJohn Martin18+33.19812 LebanonDaniel Morad18+34.29313 MalaysiaFairuz Fauzy18+34.66514 ItalyEdoardo Piscopo18+36.54115 USAMarco Andretti18+38.10216 MexicoDavíd Garza Pérez18+42.51117 ChinaHo-Pin Tung18+49.61118 IndonesiaSatrio Hermanto18+1'04.12819 KoreaHwang Jin-Woo18+1'06.17120 BrazilFelipe Guimarães14+4 laps
Feature Race The second pit-stop window for the Feature Race was set for Laps 24–32. PosTeamDriverLapsTimePoints1 PortugalFilipe Albuquerque511:11'23.179152 IrelandAdam Carroll51+0.571123 Great BritainDanny Watts51+4.802104 SwitzerlandNeel Jani51+7.15785 MalaysiaFairuz Fauzy51+13.30266 AustraliaJohn Martin51+15.54457 MonacoClivio Piccione51+16.23648 USAMarco Andretti51+16.69039 South AfricaAdrian Zaugg51+18.030210 IndiaNarain Karthikeyan51+18.579111 New ZealandChris van der Drift51+19.67512 ChinaHo-Pin Tung51+20.12613 LebanonDaniel Morad51+22.58014 IndonesiaSatrio Hermanto51+31.28515 MexicoDavíd Garza Pérez50+1 lap16 NetherlandsRobert Doornbos50+1 lap +117 KoreaHwang Jin-Woo50+1 lapRet FranceNicolas Prost37SpinRet ItalyEdoardo Piscopo30MechanicalRet BrazilFelipe Guimarães13Mechanical
Notes It was the 34th race weekend (68 starts). It was the 6th race in China, and the first at Chengdu Goldenport Circuit. It was the first race weekend as main driver for Marco Andretti, Robert Doornbos, Nicolas Prost, Chris van der Drift and Danny Watts. It was the first race weekend as rookie driver for Zahir Ali, Christian Montanari and Dennis Retera. Records: Adam Carroll, Danny Watts, and Ireland scored their first pole position. Filipe Albuquerque and Portugal scored their first victory. Adam Carroll and Ireland scored their first Sprint Race victory.
References
External links Oh Danny boy! (Qualifying analysis) Ireland bounces back in Chengdu Sprint race: as it happened Sprint race results Portugal storms to first victory Feature race: as it happened Feature race results