2007/08 A1GP season

The 2007/08 A1GP season was held from September 29, 2007 to May 4, 2008 on a total of ten racetracks. Switzerland emerged as world champion.

Zandvoort Brno Sepang Zhuhai Taupo Sydney Durban Mexico city Shanghai Brands Hatch

Venues for the 2007/2008 season

overview

The 2007/2008 season was the third in the A1GP series. Team Switzerland with Neel Jani as regular driver prevailed in the end with a total of four race wins, which meant the first title for the Swiss. The New Zealand team, which also won four times, was runner-up again, while Great Britain secured third place overall with two race wins. The teams from Germany (twice), France, India (twice), Ireland, Canada, South Africa (twice) and the USA were also able to record race wins.

Before the second race weekend in Brno, it was officially announced that the series had signed an engine supplier contract with Ferrari with effect from the following season. It should run for six years.

In the third season, the A1GP organizers focused on the environment in motorsport. They launched the THINK - Greener Racing campaign , which set rough CO ₂ emission reduction targets for the series and wanted to raise awareness for environmental protection. With this in mind, a fuel with 85 percent ethanol was tested before the season , but it turned out to be unsuitable for racing. As a result, the focus was on adapting the engines to a fuel with 30 percent ethanol, which was also problematic; so the premiere had to be postponed from the opening event in Zandvoort to the race weekend in Taupo. In addition, only electric scooters should be used to transport people in and around the paddock .

automobile

The Lola - Zytek with Cooper Tires tires was still used as a standard car , see A1GP cars . From the race weekend in Taupo, it was run on (supposedly more environmentally friendly) E30 fuel .

Teams

22 teams took part in the season (see team and driver overview ). Singapore and Greece were no longer part of the series, new teams were not at the start. All teams competed continuously.

Team and driver overview

team	Seatholder	Racing stable	driver	Racing weekends	SR	MR	RG
Australia	Alan Jones	Alan Docking Racing	Ian Dyk	1-4	4th	4th	8th
			John Martin	5-10	6th	6th	12
Brazil	Emerson Fittipaldi	Argo Racing	Sérgio Jimenez	1-6	6th	6th	12
			Bruno Junqueira	7-8	2	2	4th
			Alexandre Negrao	9-10	2	2	4th
China	Liu Yu	Team Astromega	Cheng Cong Fu	1-10	10	10	20th
Germany	Willi Weber	DS Motorsport Ltd	Christian Vietoris	1-2, 5th	3	3	6th
			Michael Ammermüller	3-4, 6-10	7th	7th	14th
France	Jean Paul Driot	DAMS	Loïc Duval	1, 3-7	6th	6th	12
			Nicolas Lapierre	2	1	1	2
			Jonathan Cochet	7th	-	-	-
			Jonathan Cochet	8th	1	1	2
			Franck Montagny	9-10	2	2	4th
Great Britain	Tony Clements	own	Oliver Jarvis	1, 3-4, 7-8	5	5	10
			Robbie Kerr	2, 5-6, 9-10	5	5	10
India	Ravi Chilukuri	Arena motorsport	Narain Karthikeyan	1-6, 8-10	9	9	18th
			Parthiva Sureshwares	7th	1	1	2
Indonesia	Bagoes Hermanto	CMS Operations (to Zhuhai) Performance Racing	Satrio Hermanto	1-10	10	10	20th
Ireland	Mark Gallagher Mark Kershaw	Status Grand Prix	Ralph Firman	1	1	1	2
			Adam Carroll	2-10	9	9	18th
Italy	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Team Ghinzani	Enrico Toccacelo	1-3	3	3	6th
			Edoardo Piscopo	4-10	7th	7th	14th
Canada	Wade Cherwayko	Status Grand Prix	James Hinchcliffe	1-2, 10	3	3	6th
			Robert Wickens	3-9	7th	7th	14th
Lebanon	Tameem Auchi	Argo Racing	Chris Alajajian	1, 3-6	5	5	10
			Khalil Beshir	2, 7, 10	3	3	6th
			Jimmy Auby	8-9	2	2	4th
Malaysia	Alex Yoong	own	Alex Yoong	1-5, 8-9	7th	7th	14th
			Fairuz Fauzy	6-7, 10th	3	3	6th
Mexico	Juan Cortina Julio Jáuregui	Teamcraft	Salvador Durán	1	1	1	2
			Michel Jourdain Jr.	2-3	2	2	4th
			Davíd Garza	4-8	5	5	10
			Jorge Goeters	9	1	1	2
			David Martínez	10	1	1	2
New Zealand	Colin Giltrap	DS Motorsport	Jonny Reid	1-10	10	10	20th
Netherlands	Jan Lammers	Racing for Holland	Jeroen Bleekemolen	1-10	10	10	20th
Pakistan	Arif Husain	Performance racing	Adam Khan	1-10	10	10	20th
Portugal	Luís Vicente	own	João Urbano	1-6	6th	6th	12
			Filipe Albuquerque	7-10	4th	4th	8th
Switzerland	Max Welti	Max Motorsport	Neel Jani	1-10	10	10	20th
South Africa	Tokyo sex whales	DAMS	Adrian Zaugg	1-10	10	10	20th
Czech Republic	Antonín Charouz	Charouz Racing System	Erik Janiš	1-3	3	3	6th
			Tomáš Enge	4-6	3	3	6th
			Josef Král	7th	1	1	2
			Filip Salaquarda	8-10	3	3	6th
United States	Rick Weidinger	own	Buddy Rice	1-2	2	2	4th
			Jonathan Summerton	3-10	8th	8th	16

• Explanation: Drivers in lower case only took part in the second or third training session on each weekend.

Rookies
team	driver	Racing weekends
Australia	John Martin	2-8
	Nathan Antunes	9-10
Brazil	Sérgio Jimenez	2-4
	Clemente de Faria Jr.	5-6
	Alexandre Negrao	7, 10
	Felipe Guimarães	8-9
China	Marchy Lee	2-3
Germany	Christian Vietoris	2, 5
	Michael Ammermüller	3-4, 7th
	Michael Klein	6th
France	Nicolas Prost	2, 7-10
	Jonathan Cochet	6th
Great Britain	Oliver Jarvis	3
	Danny Watts	4th
	James Winslow	5-6, 10th
	Duncan Tappy	8-9
India	Parthiva Sureshwares	2-5, 7-10
Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto	2-10
Ireland	Adam Carroll	2-5
	Niall Quinn	6-10
Italy	Paolo Bossini	2
	Edoardo Piscopo	3-7
	Davide Rigon	8-9
	Frankie Provenzano	10
Canada	Robert Wickens	2-6
	Daniel Morad	7-10
Lebanon	Khalil Beshir	2, 4, 7, 10
	Chris Alajajian	3, 5-6
	Jimmy Auby	8-9
Malaysia	Aaron Lim	2-5, 8-10
	Fairuz Fauzy	6-7
Mexico	Michel Jourdain Jr.	2-3
	Davíd Garza	4-7
	David Martínez	8, 10
New Zealand	Earl Bamber	3-4, 6
	Brendon Hartley	5
	Chris van der Drift	10
Netherlands	Arie Luyendyk junior	2-10
Pakistan	Adam Khan	7-8
Portugal	João Urbano	2-3
	Gonçalo Araújo	4th
	Frederico Duarte	5-6
	Filipe Albuquerque	7, 9-10
	Bruno Serra	8th
Switzerland	Natacha Gachnang	2
	Rahel Frey	3, 8
	Alexandre Imperatori	4, 9-10
	Tom Dillmann	5-6
	Marcel Fässler	7th
South Africa	Wesleigh Orr	2-10
Czech Republic	Erik Janiš	2-4
	Jaroslav Janiš	5-6
	Josef Král	7th
	Filip Salaquarda	8-10
United States	Charlie Kimball	2-5

Racing calendar

The 2007/2008 season calendar consisted of ten race weekends.

No.	date	Racetrack	-length	winner	Second	Third
1.	September 29-30, 2007	Circuit Park Zandvoort	4,627 m	South Africa	France	Netherlands
				Great Britain	South Africa	Switzerland
2.	October 12-14, 2007	Brno Automotodrome	5,403 m	New Zealand	Great Britain	Ireland
				New Zealand	Netherlands	Switzerland
3.	November 23-25, 2007	Sepang International Circuit	5,542 m	Switzerland	France	Canada
				Switzerland	France	Brazil
4th	December 14-16, 2007	Zhuhai International Circuit	4,319 m	Germany	Switzerland	China
				India	New Zealand	South Africa
5.	January 18-20, 2008	Taupo Motorsport Park	3,321 m	New Zealand	Germany	France
				Germany	Canada	France
6th	February 1-3, 2008	Eastern Creek Raceway	3,930 m	France	New Zealand	Canada
				South Africa	Switzerland	Great Britain
7th	February 22-24, 2008	Durban Street Circuit	3,200 m	Canada	Great Britain	Switzerland
				Switzerland	France	Portugal
8th.	March 14-16, 2008	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	4,084 m	New Zealand	Great Britain	Switzerland
				Ireland	Great Britain	United States
9.	April 11-13, 2008	Shanghai International Circuit	4,603 m	Switzerland	Canada	Portugal
				United States	Portugal	Ireland
10.	May 2-4, 2008	Brands Hatch	3,703 m	Great Britain	United States	Ireland
				India	Great Britain	Switzerland

Before the season, on 28./29. August and 18./19. September two official tests held at Silverstone .

A racing weekend in Asia (presumably Sentul ) planned for early November has been removed from the calendar.

Rule changes

Of the remaining four qualification sections, the first two now served to determine the starting order of the sprint race and the remaining two that of the main race, the fastest of the two times being decisive. This ensured that a team that performed strongly in the sprint race no longer automatically had a good starting position for the main race.

In order to upgrade the sprint race, there were now as many points to be scored as in the main race, which were distributed according to the new points system in the order 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Another new feature was that one point was awarded separately for the fastest lap for both races. In addition, a third of the prize money awarded for a race weekend has now been paid out in the sprint race - previously there had been no prize money for placements in the top ten.

In the main race, the pilots recently had to do two compulsory pit stops, rather than just one, which were still only allowed to be completed in fixed time frames. The first was between laps eight and 16, the time span of the second window was not communicated to the teams at each race weekend until shortly before the start of the main race. As a result, the teams were now forced to adjust their strategies at short notice.

The measurement of the duration of the race was changed slightly: the sprint race could now last a maximum of 29 minutes plus one lap, the main race 69 minutes plus one lap.

Before the season, the "rookie tests" were introduced, which for the first time also made private test drives for the teams with the A1GP cars possible. Such a rookie test could be carried out once per team before the start of the season for drivers who had not yet competed in the A1GP series, on a track not used for A1GP races during the season.

Team Lebanon once defied the sports regulations with a private test in Zhuhai , and Chris Alajajian and Khalil Beschir were then excluded from rookie training at the relevant race weekend.

India was removed from the list of “Motorsport Developing Countries”.

Results

Item	team	ZAN SR	ZAN HR	BRN SR	BRN HR	SEP SR	SEP HR	ZHU SR	ZHU HR	TAU SR	TAU HR	EAS SR	EAS HR	BY SR	DUR HR	MEX SR	MEX HR	SHA SR	SHA HR	BRA SR	BRA HR	Pts
1	Switzerland	5 JAN	3 JAN	8 JAN	3 JAN	1 JAN	1 JAN	2 JAN	6 JAN	22 JAN	13 JAN	10 JAN	2 JAN	3 JAN	1 JAN	3 JAN	19 JAN	1 JAN	5 JAN	4 JAN	3 JAN	168
2	New Zealand	9 REI	7 REI	1 REI	1 REI	5 REI	8 REI	10 REI	2 REI	1 REI	4 REI	2 REI	9 REI	20 REI	10 REI	1 REI	12 REI	22 REI	4 REI	8 REI	8 REI	127
3	Great Britain	7 JAR	1 JAR	2 KER	17 KER	6 JAR	12 JAR	6 JAR	5 JAR	20 KER	19 KER	16 KER	3 KER	2 JAR	11 JAR	2 JAR	2 JAR	9 KER	9 KER	1 KER	2 KER	126
4th	France	2 DUV	5 DUV	6 LAP	5 LAP	2 DUV	2 DUV	8 DUV	7 DUV	3 DUV	3 DUV	1 DUV	21 DUV	11 DUV	2 DUV	12 COC	13 COC	12 MON	8 MON	10 MON	5 MON	118
5	South Africa	1 ZAU	2 ZAU	4 ZAU	16 ZAU	10 ZAU	19 ZAU	20 ZAU	3 ZAU	4 ZAU	7 ZAU	7 ZAU	1 ZAU	13 ZAU	7 ZAU	20 ZAU	6 ZAU	7 ZAU	16 ZAU	7 ZAU	11 ZAU	96
6th	Ireland	8 FIR	6 FIR	3 CAR	6 CAR	7 CAR	7 CAR	4 CAR	16 CAR	6 CAR	5 CAR	15 CAR	13 CAR	15 CAR	15 CAR	4 CAR	1 CAR	11 CAR	3 CAR	3 CAR	13 CAR	94
7th	Netherlands	3 BLE	8 BLE	5 BLE	2 BLE	18 BLE	4 BLE	9 BLE	18 BLE	5 BLE	8 BLE	9 BLE	8 BLE	5 BLE	4 BLE	8 BLE	4 BLE	17 BLE	18 BLE	9 BLE	6 BLE	87
8th	Germany	6 VIE	9 VIE	7 VIE	8 VIE	16 AMM	DSQ AMM	1 AMM	4 AMM	2 VIE	1 VIE	4 AMM	7 AMM	DSQ AMM	20 AMM	22 AMM	20 AMM	6 AMM	10 AMM	11 AMM	19 AMM	83
9	Canada	19 HIN	18 HIN	12 HIN	11 HIN	3 WIC	20 WIC	15 WIC	19 WIC	18 WIC	2 WIC	3 WIC	6 WIC	1 WIC	12 WIC	7 WIC	5 WIC	2 WIC	20 WIC	15 HIN	17 HIN	75
10	India	10 CARS	20 CARS	21 CARS	9 CARS	11 CARS	6 CARS	7 CARS	1 CAR	10 CARS	22 CARS	11 CARS	11 CARS	17 Sur	17 Sur	13 CARS	9 CARS	5 CARS	7 CARS	5 CARS	1 CAR	61
11	Portugal	11 URB	22 URB	9 URB	18 URB	13 URB	21 URB	19 URB	12 URB	8 URB	12 URB	12 URB	16 URB	7 ALB	3 ALB	6 ALB	7 ALB	3 ALB	2 ALB	6 ALB	7 ALB	59
12	United States	22 RIC	13 RIC	16 RIC	15 RIC	12 SUM	10 SUM	12 SUM	10 SUM	7 SUM	14 SUM	5 SUM	22 SUM	10 SUM	18 SUM	5 SUM	3 SUM	21 SUM	1 SUM	2 SUM	12 SUM	56
13	China	17 CHE	15 CHE	10 CHE	4 CHE	21 CHE	5 CHE	3 CHE	9 CHE	14 CHE	15 CHE	14 CHE	10 CHE	4 CHE	6 CHE	17 CHE	10 CHE	10 CHE	15 CHE	21 CHE	4 CHE	55
14th	Brazil	13 JIM	11 JIM	11 JIM	7 JIM	4 JIM	3 JIM	18 JIM	21 JIM	13 JIM	6 JIM	8 JIM	4 JIM	21 JUN	9 JUN	10 JUN	8 JUN	14 NEG	13 NEG	16 NEG	14 NEG	44
15th	Malaysia	16 YOO	21 YOO	17 YOO	14 YOO	9 YOO	13 YOO	21 YOO	22 YOO	21 YOO	16 YOO	20 FAU	17 FAU	9 FAU	5 FAU	9 YOO	15 YOO	4 YOO	6 YOO	13 FAU	20 FAU	25th
16	Mexico	4 DUR	4 DUR	13 JOU	22 JOU	20 JOU	11 JOU	16 DGA	11 DGA	17 DGA	9 DGA	17 DGA	18 DGA	8 DGA	19 DGA	16 DGA	14 DGA	20 GOE	21 GOE	20 MAR	16 MAR	22nd
17th	Australia	21 DYK	12 DYK	22 DYK	13 DYK	22 DYK	9 DYK	13 DYK	15 DYK	9 JMA	17 JMA	6 JMA	5 JMA	6 JMA	14 JMA	21 JMA	21 JMA	15 JMA	14 JMA	14 JMA	22 JMA	20th
18th	Italy	12 TOC	14 TOC	14 TOC	10 TOC	8 TOC	18 TOC	11 PIS	20 PIS	12 PIS	20 PIS	13 PIS	14 PIS	14 PIS	8 PIS	11 PIS	22 PIS	8 PIS	12 PIS	17 PIS	9 PIS	12
19th	Czech Republic	15 EJA	10 EJA	18 EJA	12 EJA	15 EJA	15 EJA	5 ENG	8 ENG	19 ENG	11 ENG	18 ENG	15 ENG	18 KRA	16 KRA	18 SAL	16 SAL	13 SAL	11 SAL	12 SAL	15 SAL	10
20th	Pakistan	18 KHA	17 KHA	15 KHA	20 KHA	17 KHA	14 KHA	14 KHA	14 KHA	11 KHA	10 KHA	22 KHA	12 KHA	12 KHA	22 KHA	19 KHA	18 KHA	16 KHA	17 KHA	18 KHA	21 KHA	1
21st	Indonesia	20 HER	16 HER	19 HER	19 HER	19 HER	16 HER	17 HER	17 HER	16 HER	18 HER	21 HER	20 HER	16 HER	21 HER	14 HER	11 HER	19 HER	19 HER	19 HER	10 HER	1
22nd	Lebanon	14 ALA	19 ALA	20 BES	21 BES	14 ALA	17 ALA	22 ALA	13 ALA	15 ALA	21 ALA	19 ALA	19 ALA	19 BES	13 BES	15 AUB	17 AUB	18 AUB	22 AUB	22 BES	18 BES	0

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

reporting

In German-speaking countries, the pay-TV broadcaster Premiere continued to broadcast the series, but only the main race was shown live. The qualifying was completely removed from the program, the sprint race was broadcast as a short summary immediately before the main race. During the race weekend in Sepang, Swiss sports television also started broadcasting A1GP. It showed, first on U1-TV and later on Star TV , the main races either live or as a recording.

Web links

Commons : A1GP season 2007/2008  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Official: Ferrari becomes a partner of the A1GP series. motorsport-total.com, October 11, 2007, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
2. ^ A1GP in Race to Tackle Climate Change. (No longer available online.) Tenbees.co.uk, August 31, 2007, formerly original ; Retrieved January 12, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
3. ↑ A1GP: Ökosprit comes later. motorsport-total.com, September 28, 2007, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
4. ↑ A1GP series before debut with biofuel. motorsport-total.com, December 17, 2007, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
5. ↑ A1GP series wants to be more environmentally friendly. motorsport-total.com, August 28, 2007, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
6. ↑ A1-Team Indonesia tests with youngsters. motorsport-total.com, July 20, 2007, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
7. ↑ Zhuhai: A1 Team Lebanon Practice Recap - Only Arab Team. (No longer available online.) Paddocktalk.com, December 14, 2007, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 31, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )