2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa

The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa was an A1 Grand Prix race which was held at Kyalami, South Africa.

2008–09 A1GP of South Africa
Race Details
Race 5 of 7 in the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season
Date22 February 2009
LocationKyalami
Midrand, South Africa
WeatherClear, 27°C
Sprint race
Qualifying
Pole Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen)
Time1:27.717
Podium
1st Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen)
2nd Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque)
3rd Switzerland (Neel Jani)
Fastest Lap
FL Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque)
Time1:29.072, (Lap 9)
Feature race
Qualifying
Pole Monaco (Clivio Piccione)
Time1:27.269
Podium
1st Switzerland (Neel Jani)
2nd Brazil (Felipe Guimarães)
3rd Monaco (Clivio Piccione)
Fastest Lap
FL Malaysia (Fairuz Fauzy)
Time1:28.306, (Lap 15)
Official Classifications
PDF Booklet

Pre-race

A1 Team Korea failed to participate the race as the organiser of the series could not supply electrical units and fuel tank due to mistake of the transportation from New Zealand.[1][2] The team had planned the debut of 2008 Macau Grand Prix winner Keisuke Kunimoto (Lee Gyeong-Woo), a Japanese driver of Korean descent, as rookie driver on the weekend.[3]

Drivers
Team Main Driver Rookie Driver(s)[4] Reserve Driver
Australia John Martin Ashley Walsh
Brazil Felipe Guimarães
Canada Did Not Participate
China Ho-Pin Tung Congfu Cheng
France Nicolas Prost[5] Nicolas Prost
Germany Michael Ammermüller Michael Ammermüller
Great Britain Danny Watts[6] Danny Watts James Winslow
India Narain Karthikeyan Parthiva Sureshwaren
Indonesia Zahir Ali Zahir Ali Satrio Hermanto
Ireland Adam Carroll
Italy Edoardo Piscopo
Korea Did Not Participate
Lebanon Daniel Morad Daniel Morad Jimmy Auby
Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy Aaron Lim
Mexico Salvador Duran Juan Pablo García
Monaco Clivio Piccione Hubertus Bahlsen
The Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen Dennis Retera
New Zealand Earl Bamber[7] Earl Bamber Chris van der Drift
Pakistan Did Not Participate
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque António Félix da Costa
South Africa Adrian Zaugg Gavin Cronje Cristiano Morgado
Switzerland Neel Jani Alexandre Imperatori
USA Marco Andretti J.R. Hildebrand

Qualifying
Sprint race qualifying
Pos Team Time Gap
1 Netherlands 1:27.717 –
2 Portugal 1:28.072 + 0.355
3 Switzerland 1:28.153 + 0.436
4 Monaco 1:28.417 + 0.700
5 India 1:28.431 + 0.714
6 Ireland 1:28.437 + 0.720
7 France 1:28.531 + 0.814
8 South Africa 1:28.890 + 1.173
9 Malaysia 1:28.904 + 1.187
10 Italy 1:29.253 + 1.536
11 Germany 1:29.337 + 1.620
12 New Zealand 1:29.364 + 1.647
13 Great Britain 1:29.567 + 1.850
14 Brazil 1:29.726 + 2.009
15 China 1:29.758 + 2.041
16 Mexico 1:29.884 + 2.167
17 USA 1:29.916 + 2.199
18 Lebanon 1:30.136 + 2.419
19 Australia 1:30.414 + 2.697
20 Indonesia no time
Feature race qualifying
Pos Team Time Gap
1 Monaco 1:27.269 –
2 Malaysia 1:27.405 + 0.136
3 New Zealand 1:27.569 + 0.300
4 Australia 1:28.439 + 1.170
5 Switzerland 1:28.521 + 1.252
6 Ireland 1:28.593 + 1.324
7 Portugal 1:28.773 + 1.504
8 Brazil 1:28.878 + 1.609
9 Netherlands 1:28.926 + 1.657
10 Great Britain 1:29.092 + 1.823
11 France 1:29.155 + 1.886
12 China 1:29.158 + 1.889
13 Mexico 1:29.343 + 2.074
14 USA 1:29.487 + 2.218
15 Germany 1:29.565 + 2.296
16 South Africa 1:29.884 + 2.615
17 Italy 1:30.063 + 2.794
18 India 1:30.505 + 3.236
19 Indonesia no time
20 Lebanon no time

Sprint Race
Jeroen Bleekemolen won the race from pole position for A1 Team the Netherlands, his first win in the series.
Pos Team Driver Laps Time Points
1 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 14 21:35.105 10
2 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 14 + 4.407 8+1
3 Switzerland Neel Jani 14 + 10.600 6
4 Ireland Adam Carroll 14 + 12.925 5
5 Monaco Clivio Piccione 14 + 14.363 4
6 India Narain Karthikeyan 14 + 18.474 3
7 South Africa Adrian Zaugg 14 + 21.178 2
8 New Zealand Earl Bamber 14 + 26.539 1
9 Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 14 + 26.925
10 France Nicolas Prost 14 + 28.101
11 Italy Edoardo Piscopo 14 + 32.081
12 Australia John Martin 14 + 34.474
13 China Ho-Pin Tung 14 + 37.804
14 Germany Michael Ammermüller 14 + 39.068
15 Brazil Felipe Guimarães 14 + 39.717
16 Mexico Salvador Durán 14 + 45.006
17 USA Marco Andretti 14 + 55.636
18 Indonesia Zahir Ali 14 + 1:17.724
19 Great Britain Danny Watts 9 Accident
20 Lebanon Daniel Morad 6 + 8 Laps

Feature Race
A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani won the race, and after Adam Carroll's earlier error, acquired the championship lead.
A1 Team Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy recorded the fastest lap of the race.
Pos Team Driver Laps Time Points
1 Switzerland Neel Jani 40 1:02:24.617 15
2 Brazil Felipe Guimarães 40 + 13.176 12
3 Monaco Clivio Piccione 40 + 14.193 10
4 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 40 + 17.024 8
5 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 40 + 17.995 6
6 Lebanon Daniel Morad 40 + 31.210 5
7 Great Britain Danny Watts 40 + 34.328 4
8 USA Marco Andretti 40 + 59.000 3
9 Indonesia Zahir Ali 40 + 1:03.995 2
10 Italy Edoardo Piscopo 40 + 1:04.856 1
11 Germany Michael Ammermüller 40 + 1:08.603
12 India Narain Karthikeyan 40 + 1:09.150
13 Australia John Martin 40 + 1:20.545
14 China Ho-Pin Tung 22 Electrics
15 Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 17 + 23 Laps 0+1
16 South Africa Adrian Zaugg 15 Electrics
17 New Zealand Earl Bamber 3 Accident
18 France Nicolas Prost 3 Accident
19 Mexico Salvador Durán 3 Accident
20 Ireland Adam Carroll 0 Spin

Post-race

Following the race, the team principals of both Ireland and Malaysia issued statements regarding the on-track incident on the first lap of the Feature Race, which resulted in Ireland spinning out into retirement, and subsequently losing the championship lead to Switzerland.[8]

Frankly, I'm disgusted. We're pushing to win a championship and it's not the only time that this driver has caused incidents, doing the same thing to New Zealand later in the race. That's cost us the championship points lead that we fought so hard to create. We were on course to consolidate our points lead today but for a piece of poor driving. A1 Team Malaysia is one of the very best in A1GP, but today their driver has cost us dearly.

— Mark Gallagher, A1 Team Ireland team principal

It's understandable that A1 Team Ireland was feeling emotional and frustrated after this incident, considering also that they lost the lead in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. However, to blame Fairuz for the incident is unfair and we think the Irish team should stick to trying to win races rather than blaming others for their misfortune. A1 Team Ireland is a highly respected team, but on this occasion their comments are ill-judged.

— Jack Cunningham, A1 Team Malaysia chief executive

Notes

References
  1. "사진 스위스, A1GP 5R 우승 '단독선두'" (in Korean). A1 Team Korea official website. 24 February 2009. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  2. "달려보지도 못한 A1 "나 원~"" (in Korean). chosun.com. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  3. "자동차경주 A1 팀코리아, 이경우 영입" (in Korean). A1 Team Korea official website. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  4. "2008/09, Kyalami, South Africa, Rookies". a1gp.com. 20 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
  5. "Prost gets surprise France recall". a1gp.com. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  6. "Watts to return to A1GP at Kyalami". autosport.com. 13 February 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  7. "Black Beauty's Bamber boost". a1gp.com. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  8. "War of words". a1gp.com. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
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