2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season

2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations
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Competing countries (orange), race locations (squares)

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.

This first season was won by A1 Team France on 12 March 2006.

Teams

25 teams, each representing a different country, signed up for the first A1 Grand Prix season. All teams used a control chassis (Lola), engine (Zytek) and tyre (Cooper Avon). The following teams competed in the 2005–06 championship:

Race Team	Team	Seat holder	Race drivers	Rounds	Others drivers
Akbar Ebrahim	A1 Team India	Atul Gupta[1]	Karun Chandhok	1-2
			Armaan Ebrahim	3-8
Alan Docking Racing[1]	A1 Team Australia	Alan Jones[1]	Will Power	1	Karl Reindler
			Christian Jones	2, 9
			Will Davison	3-7
			Marcus Marshall	8
			Ryan Briscoe	10-11
Arden International[1]	A1 Team Great Britain	Tony Clements John Surtees[1]	Robbie Kerr	1-10	Alex Lloyd Katherine Legge
			Darren Manning	11
ASM F3[1]	A1 Team Brazil	Ronaldo[1] Emerson Fittipaldi[1]	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	1-7	Fabio Carbone João Paulo de Oliveira Tuka Rocha
			Christian Fittipaldi	8-11
BCN Competicion[2]	A1 Team South Africa	Tokyo Sexwale[2]	Stephen Simpson	1, 4-11	Gavin Cronje
			Tomas Scheckter	2-3
Carlin Motorsport[1][1][3]	A1 Team Japan	conglomerate[1]	Ryo Fukuda	1
			Hideki Noda	2
			Hayanari Shimoda	4-6, 8-9
	A1 Team Lebanon	Tameem Auchi[1]	Kalil Beschir	1-2, 5
			Basil Shaaban	3-4, 6-8
			Graham Rahal	9-11
	A1 Team Portugal	Luís Figo[1] Carlos Queiroz[1]	Álvaro Parente	1-10	João Urbano João Barbosa
			César Campaniço	11
Charouz Racing System	A1 Team Czech Republic	Antonin Charouz[1]	Jan Charouz	1	Jaroslav Janiš
			Tomáš Enge	2-11
DAMS[4][5]	A1 Team France	Jean Paul Driot[1]	Alexandre Prémat	1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
			Nicolas Lapierre	2, 4, 6, 8, 10-11
	A1 Team Mexico	Juan Cortina[1] Julio Jáuregui[6]	Salvador Durán	1, 3-4, 6, 8-11
			David Martínez	2, 7
			Luis Diaz	5
	A1 Team Switzerland	Max Welti[1]	Neel Jani	1-9
			Giorgio Mondini	10-11
David Price Racing[7]	A1 Team USA	Rick Weidlinger[7]	Scott Speed	1-3
			Bryan Herta	4-5, 9-10
			Philip Giebler	6-8, 11
A1 Team Indonesia	A1 Team Indonesia	N/A	Ananda Mikola	1-3, 5-11
John Village Automotive[1]	A1 Team Canada	Wade Cherwayko[1]	Sean McIntosh	1-8
			Patrick Carpentier	9-11
A1 Team Malaysia	A1 Team Malaysia	Alex Yoong[1]	Fairuz Fauzy	1, 3, 5
			Alex Yoong	1-2, 4-11
Racing for Holland[8]	A1 Team The Netherlands	Jan Lammers[8]	Jos Verstappen	All	Jeroen Bleekemolen
Russian Age Racing[9]	A1 Team Russia	Svetlana Strelnikova[1] Frederic Dor	Alexey Vasilyev	1	Nikolai Fomenko Alexander Tyuryumin
			Mikhail Aleshin	3
			Roman Rusinov	4
Status Grand Prix	A1 Team Ireland	Mark Kershaw[10]	Michael Devaney	1, 4, 11
			Ralph Firman	2-3, 5-10
Super Nova Racing[1][11]	A1 Team Germany	Willi Weber[1]	Timo Scheider	1-2, 5, 7-10	Sebastian Vettel
			Adrian Sutil	3-4, 6
			Sebastian Stahl	11
	A1 Team Pakistan	Arif Hussain (racing)[1]	Adam Khan	1-6, 11
			Enrico Toccacelo(1)	7
Team Astromega[12]	A1 Team China	Liu Yu[1]	Tengyi Jiang	1-10
			Qinghua Ma	11
Team Ghinzani[1]	A1 Team Italy	Piercarlo Ghinzani[1]	Enrico Toccacelo	1-6, 9, 11	Nino Piccoli Richard Antinucci Matteo Cressoni Andrea Montermini Raffaele Giammaria
			Max Busnelli	7-8
			Max Papis	10
Team Rosberg	A1 Team Austria	Niki Lauda[13] with Lauda Motorsport Management	Mathias Lauda	1-8, 10-11
			Patrick Friesacher	9
West Surrey Racing[14]	A1 Team New Zealand	Colin Giltrap[1]	Matt Halliday	1, 3, 5-11	Scott Dixon
			Jonny Reid	2, 4

• (1) Enrico Toccacelo drove the Pakistan car in Durban after Adam Langley-Khan was injured during practice sessions. However, Pakistan would have not scored any points if Toccacelo had finished in top 10.
• (2) A1 Team Indonesia could not participate in the Australian Race due to Ananda Mikola having raced in the Asian F3 Series in Batangas.

Races

The first A1 Grand Prix season consisted of 11 races, all held in different countries. Each race ran over a three-day weekend, including a practice session on each of Friday and Saturday before a qualifying session on Saturday, and then two races on Sunday.

Round		Date	Country	Circuit	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winner	Report
1	S	25 September 2005	United Kingdom	Brands Hatch	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Alexandre Prémat	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Report
	F					Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Nelson Piquet, Jr.
2	S	9 October 2005	Germany	EuroSpeedway Lausitz	Nicolas Lapierre	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Nicolas Lapierre	Report
	F					Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Nicolas Lapierre
3	S	23 October 2005	Portugal	Autódromo do Estoril	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Alexandre Prémat	Alexandre Prémat	Report
	F					Alexandre Prémat	Alexandre Prémat
4	S	6 November 2005	Australia	Eastern Creek Raceway	Nicolas Lapierre	Nicolas Lapierre	Nicolas Lapierre	Report
	F					Nicolas Lapierre	Nicolas Lapierre
5	S	20 November 2005	Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit	Neel Jani	Alexandre Prémat	Alexandre Prémat	Report
	F					Jos Verstappen	Alexandre Prémat
6	S	11 December 2005	United Arab Emirates	Dubai Autodrome	Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Report
	F					Ralph Firman	Nicolas Lapierre
7	S	29 January 2006	South Africa	Durban street circuit	Alexandre Prémat	Ralph Firman	Alexandre Prémat	Report
	F					Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Jos Verstappen
8	S	12 February 2006	Indonesia	Sentul International Circuit	Robbie Kerr	Nicolas Lapierre	Nicolas Lapierre	Report
	F					Ralph Firman	Sean McIntosh
9	S	26 February 2006	Mexico	Parque Fundidora Monterrey	Alexandre Prémat	Jos Verstappen	Alexandre Prémat	Report
	F					Alexandre Prémat	Alexandre Prémat
10	S	12 March 2006	United States of America	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Salvador Durán	Salvador Durán	Salvador Durán	Report
	F					Nicolas Lapierre	Salvador Durán
11	S	2 April 2006	China	Shanghai International Circuit	Alex Yoong	Alex Yoong	Alex Yoong	Report
	F					Salvador Durán	Tomáš Enge

The Indonesian Round had originally been scheduled to be held on 15 January 2006, but was postponed due to the death of Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The replacement date was set as 12 February 2006 (originally scheduled for the cancelled Curitiba race), resulting in effectively switching order with the South African round.

Standings

Pos Team Drivers GBR GER POR AUS MYS UAE RSA IDN MEX USA CHN Pts spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea 1 France Alexandre Prémat 2 DNS 1 1 1 1 1 8 1 1 7 172 Nicolas Lapierre 1 1 1 1 7 1 1 8 2 Ret 6 2 Switzerland Neel Jani 9 Ret 2 5 3 2 6 3 2 2 1 Ret 3 2 5 5 2 3 121 Giorgio Mondini 16 13 Ret Ret 3 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 5 Ret Ret 2 Ret 12 5 2 3 Ret 9 2 2 Ret 2 10 11 6 4 3 97 Darren Manning 2 15 4 New Zealand Matt Halliday 3 4 14 16 6 6 15 13 6 4 8 7 Ret 8 8 12 8 4 77 Jonny Reid 4 4 14 8 5 Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 13 8 Ret 8 74 Alex Yoong 5 6 16 8 5 5 10 Ret Ret Ret 4 2 7 11 Ret 10 1 2 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. 1 1 3 Ret 2 8 3 9 4 10 Ret Ret Ret 9 71 Christian Fittipaldi 20 4 14 12 13 Ret 10 Ret 7 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Ret 7 Ret 7 4 Ret 7 4 5 16 11 9 16 1 7 6 4 2 14 Ret Ret 17 69 8 Ireland Michael Devaney 10 Ret 4 14 4 Ret 68 Ralph Firman 9 6 19 3 7 9 4 Ret 4 Ret 6 Ret Ret Ret 5 6 9 Portugal Álvaro Parente 8 Ret Ret 11 6 5 2 7 9 18 8 4 8 3 19 Ret Ret 10 3 4 66 César Campaniço 13 12 10 Mexico Salvador Durán 6 3 Ret Ret Ret Ret 18 8 3 Ret Ret Ret 1 1 3 8 59 David Martínez 8 13 10 Ret Luis Diaz 19 15 11 Canada Sean McIntosh 19 9 7 3 7 Ret 9 Ret 15 Ret 5 6 12 10 Ret 1 59 Patrick Carpentier 9 15 6 5 Ret 7 12 Czech Republic Jan Charouz 18 Ret 56 Tomáš Enge 11 Ret 5 9 Ret Ret 16 3 3 Ret 5 Ret 10 13 5 7 18 Ret 6 1 13 Australia Will Power 4 2 51 Christian Jones 15 14 16 Ret Will Davison Ret 6 11 6 Ret 11 21 10 9 Ret Marcus Marshall 16 3 Ryan Briscoe 10 8 9 3 14 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 16 Ret 17 Ret 11 7 10 Ret 17 4 2 11 3 4 16 9 46 Massimiliano Busnelli Ret 6 14 Ret Max Papis 19 7 15 Germany Timo Scheider 14 10 5 10 12 8 7 Ret 12 12 8 5 7 2 38 Adrian Sutil 12 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Sebastian Stahl 15 18 16 USA Scott Speed 11 Ret Ret Ret 13 4 23 Bryan Herta 15 10 10 7 6 13 9 Ret Philip Giebler 13 Ret 13 Ret 15 9 14 10 17 South Africa Stephen Simpson 24 6 Ret Ret Ret 12 12 3 Ret 5 Ret 11 Ret 18 11 Ret 11 14 20 Tomas Scheckter 12 Ret 10 Ret 18 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 17 Ret 14 8 9 Ret Ret 14 6 Ret Ret Ret 11 14 12 16 Ret Ret 5 Ret 16 19 Austria Mathias Lauda 20 11 13 15 16 10 19 Ret 18 Ret 17 7 16 7 13 Ret 12 9 Ret 13 14 Patrick Friesacher 10 9 20 Pakistan Adam Khan 7 Ret Ret 12 Ret 15 12 11 13 Ret 16 Ret 12 5 10 Enrico Toccacelo 11 Ret 21 Japan Ryo Fukuda 12 8 8 Hideki Noda 10 9 Hayanari Shimoda 18 Ret 14 13 14 15 9 Ret Ret Ret 22 China Tengyi Jiang 21 12 18 17 Ret 14 16 Ret 20 Ret 19 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret 15 17 17 Ret 6 Qinghua Ma 14 16 23 Lebanon Khalil Beschir 22 Ret Ret 18 Ret 17 0 Basil Shaaban 18 11 Ret 12 Ret 16 17 Ret 17 Ret Graham Rahal 13 14 Ret Ret 18 11 24 India Karun Chandhok 15 DNS 16 Ret 0 Armaan Ebrahim 17 13 17 13 11 EX 20 14 14 Ret 18 15 25 Russia Alexey Vasilyev 23 Ret 0 Mikhail Aleshin 15 17 Roman Rusinov 13 Ret Pos Team Drivers spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea Pts GBR GER POR AUS MYS UAE RSA IDN MEX USA CHN

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Green Retired, in points Blue Finished, no points Purple Did not finish (Ret) Not classified (NC) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Blank Did not participate Injured (INJ) Excluded (EX) Bold Pole position * Fastest lap spr Sprint Race fea Feature Race

References

1. Team-by-team guide to the A1 Grand Prix series telegraph.co.uk (23 September 2005)
2. Team SA all set for debut A1 GP motoring.iafrica.com (19 September 2005)
3. PR: Austria, Italy and Japan Join A1GP v8central.com (21 September 2005)
4. Duran and Perez for Mexico pitpass.com (26 September 2006)
5. Team SA nab DAMS services motoring.iafrica.com (30 August 2006)
6. Manejaría en la Sultana del Norte espndeportes.espn.go.com (5 February 2006)
7. Estoril: Friday quotes pitpass.com (21 October 2005)
8. Netherlands entry unveiled motorsport.com (5 September 2005)
9. Стартовала новая гоночная серия A1 Grand Prix rargt.com (25 September 2005)
10. A1 Team Ireland has secured a title sponsor for 2007/08 season motorsport.com (12 September 2007)
11. Team pakistan aiming to change a nation's image telegraph.co.uk (Septembre 23, 2005)
12. Team history team-astromega.com
13. New option to Formula One: A1 Grand Prix usatoday.com (22 September 2005)
14. Murchison's Singapore pledge channelnewsasia.com (8 September 2006)

External links

• Officials season standings and results at results.a1gp.com