The 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season was the inaugural season for the A1 Grand Prix series. It began on 25 September 2005, and finished on 2 April 2006 after eleven races.
Calendar The first A1 Grand Prix season consisted of 11 rounds, all held in different countries. Each event ran over a three-day weekend, including a practice session on each of Friday and Saturday before a qualifying session on Saturday and two races on Sunday. Round Event Circuit Dates 1 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain Brands Hatch 23–25 September 2005 2 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Germany EuroSpeedway Lausitz 7–9 October 2005 3 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Portugal Circuito do Estoril 21–23 October 2005 4 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia Eastern Creek Raceway 4–6 November 2005 5 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Malaysia Sepang International Circuit 18–20 November 2005 6 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, United Arab Emirates Dubai Autodrome 9–11 December 2005 7 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa Durban Street Circuit 27–29 January 2006 8 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Indonesia Sentul International Circuit 10–12 February 2006 9 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Mexico Fundidora Park 24–26 February 2006 10 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, United States Laguna Seca 10–12 March 2006 11 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China Shanghai International Circuit 31 March–2 April 2006 Cancelled events – A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Brazil Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba 10–12 February 2006 Map Source:
Calendar changes A race was scheduled to be held in Brazil at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba over the weekend of 10–12 February 2006, but was later cancelled. The Indonesian round had originally been scheduled to be held over 13–15 January 2006, but was postponed due to the death of Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The replacement date was set as 10–12 February 2006.
Entry list 25 teams, each representing a different country, signed up for the first A1 Grand Prix season. All teams used a control chassis (Lola A1GP), engine (Zytek) and tyre (Cooper Avon). The following teams competed in the 2005–06 championship:
Entrant (Team) Driver Events A1 Team Australia Will Power 1 Christian Jones 2, 6, 9 Will Davison 3–7 Marcus Marshall 8 Ryan Briscoe 10–11 A1 Team Austria Mathias Lauda 1–8, 10–11 Patrick Friesacher 9 A1 Team Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. 1–7 Christian Fittipaldi 8–11 A1 Team Canada Sean McIntosh 1–8 Patrick Carpentier 9–11 A1 Team China Tengyi Jiang All Qinghua Ma 1, 9, 11 Jan Charouz 1 Tomáš Enge 2–11 A1 Team France Alexandre Prémat Nicolas Lapierre 2, 4, 6, 8, 10–11 A1 Team Germany Timo Scheider 1–2, 5, 7–10 Adrian Sutil 3–4, 6 Sebastian Stahl 11 A1 Team Great Britain Robbie Kerr 1–10 Darren Manning 11 A1 Team India Karun Chandhok 1–2 Armaan Ebrahim 3–8 A1 Team Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1–3, 5–11 A1 Team Ireland Michael Devaney 1, 4, 11 Ralph Firman 2–3, 5–10 A1 Team Italy Enrico Toccacelo 1–6, 9, 11 Massimiliano Busnelli 7–8 Max Papis 10 A1 Team Japan Ryo Fukuda 1 Hideki Noda 2 Hayanari Shimoda 4–6, 8–9 A1 Team Lebanon Khalil Beschir 1–2, 5 Basil Shaaban 1, 3–4, 6–8 Graham Rahal 9–11 A1 Team Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 1, 3, 5 Alex Yoong 1–2, 4–11 A1 Team Mexico Salvador Durán 1, 3–4, 6, 8–11 David Martínez 2, 7 Luis Díaz 5 A1 Team Netherlands Jos Verstappen All A1 Team New Zealand Matthew Halliday 1, 3, 5–11 Jonny Reid 2, 4 A1 Team Pakistan Adam Khan 1–7, 10–11 7 A1 Team Portugal Álvaro Parente 1–10 César Campaniço 11 A1 Team Russia Aleksey Vasilyev 1 Mikhail Aleshin 3 Roman Rusinov 4 A1 Team South Africa Stephen Simpson 1, 4–11 Tomas Scheckter 2–3 A1 Team Switzerland Neel Jani 1–9 Giorgio Mondini 10–11 A1 Team USA Scott Speed 1–3 Bryan Herta 4–5, 9–10 Philip Giebler 6–8, 11Source:
Mid-season changes Enrico Toccacelo replaced Adam Khan at A1 Team Pakistan in Durban after the latter was injured in a practice session. As Toccacelo is not Pakistani, he was ineligible to score points for the team. A1 Team Indonesia was unable to participate in Australia as the team did not find a replacement driver for Ananda Mikola.
Results and standings Results summary
Round Event Pole position Fastest lap Winner Report 1S Great Britain Nelson Piquet Jr. Alexandre Prémat Nelson Piquet Jr. ReportF Nelson Piquet Jr. Nelson Piquet Jr. 2S Germany Nicolas Lapierre Nelson Piquet Jr. Nicolas Lapierre ReportF Nelson Piquet Jr. Nicolas Lapierre 3S Portugal Nelson Piquet Jr. Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat ReportF Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat 4S Australia Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre ReportF Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre 5S Malaysia Neel Jani Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat ReportF Jos Verstappen Alexandre Prémat 6S United Arab Emirates Neel Jani Neel Jani Neel Jani ReportF Ralph Firman Nicolas Lapierre 7S South Africa Alexandre Prémat Ralph Firman Alexandre Prémat ReportF Nelson Piquet Jr. Jos Verstappen 8S Indonesia Robbie Kerr Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre ReportF Ralph Firman Sean McIntosh 9S Mexico Alexandre Prémat Jos Verstappen Alexandre Prémat ReportF Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat 10S United States Salvador Durán Salvador Durán Salvador Durán ReportF Nicolas Lapierre Salvador Durán 11S China Alex Yoong Alex Yoong Alex Yoong ReportF Salvador Durán Tomáš EngeSource:
Championship standings PosTeamDriversGBRGERPORAUSMYSUAERSAINAMEXUSACHNPtsSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSF 1 FranceAlexandre Prémat2DNS111118117 172Nicolas Lapierre111171182Ret6 2 Switzerland Neel Jani9Ret253263221Ret325523 121 Giorgio Mondini1613RetRet 3 Great Britain Robbie Kerr5RetRet2Ret12523Ret922Ret21011643 97 Darren Manning215 4 New Zealand Matthew Halliday3414166615136487Ret881284 77 Jonny Reid44148 5 Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy138Ret8 74 Alex Yoong561685QO510RetRetRet42711Ret1012 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr.113Ret2839410RetRetRet9 71 Christian Fittipaldi204141213Ret10Ret7 Netherlands Jos VerstappenRet7Ret74Ret74516119161764214RetRet1769 8 Ireland Michael Devaney10Ret4144Ret 68 Ralph Firman96193794Ret4Ret6RetRetRet56 9 Portugal Álvaro Parente8RetRet116527918848319RetRet1034 66 César Campaniço1312 10 Mexico Salvador Durán63RetRetRetRet1883RetRetRet1138 59 David Martínez81310Ret Luis Díaz1915 11 Canada Sean McIntosh199737Ret9Ret15Ret561210Ret1 59 Patrick Carpentier91565Ret7 12 Jan Charouz18Ret 56 Tomáš Enge11Ret59RetRet1633Ret5Ret10135718Ret61 13 Australia Will Power42 51 Christian Jones1514 QO16Ret Will DavisonRet6116Ret1121109Ret Marcus Marshall163 Ryan Briscoe10893 14 Italy Enrico Toccacelo16Ret17Ret11710Ret17421134169 46 Ret614Ret Max Papis197 15 Germany Timo Scheider14105101287Ret12128572 38 Adrian Sutil12RetRetRetRet12 Sebastian Stahl1518 16 United States Scott Speed11RetRetRet134 23 Bryan Herta15101076139Ret Philip Giebler13Ret13Ret1591410 17 South Africa Stephen Simpson246RetRetRet12123Ret5Ret11Ret1811Ret1114 20 Tomas Scheckter12Ret10Ret18 Indonesia Ananda Mikola17Ret1489RetRet146RetRetRet11141216RetRet5Ret16 19 Austria Mathias Lauda20111315161019Ret18Ret17716713Ret129Ret13 14 Patrick Friesacher109 20 Pakistan Adam Khan713Ret12Ret15121113Ret16Ret WD1511125 10 11Ret 21 Japan Ryo Fukuda128 8 Hideki Noda109 18Ret141314159RetRetRet 22 China Tengyi Jiang21121817Ret1416Ret20Ret195RetRetRetRet151717Ret QO 6 Qinghua Ma QO QO1416 23 Lebanon Khalil Beschir22RetRet18Ret17 0 Basil Shaaban QO1811Ret12Ret1617Ret17Ret Graham Rahal1314RetRet1811 24 India Karun Chandhok15DNS16Ret 0 Armaan Ebrahim1713171311 EXC201414Ret1815 25 Russia Aleksey Vasilyev23Ret 0 Mikhail Aleshin1517 Roman Rusinov13Ret Pos Team DriversSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSF PtsGBRGERPORAUSMYSUAERSAINAMEXUSACHNSources:
References
External links
Officials season standings and results at results.a1gp.com