A1GP season 2008/09

The 2008/09 A1GP season was held from October 4, 2008 to May 3, 2009 on a total of seven racetracks. Ireland emerged as world champion.

Zandvoort Cheng you Sepang Taupo Kyalami Portimão Brands Hatch

Venues for the 2008/2009 season

overview

South African GP in Kyalami on February 22nd, 2009

The 2008/2009 season was the fourth in the A1GP series, which now carried the addition of Powered by Ferrari as a result of the engine supplier contract concluded with Ferrari in combination with a brand new racing car . The season was marked by manufacturing difficulties of the new chassis and financial bottlenecks in the series. Ireland, with Adam Carroll at the wheel, won the title after five races, ahead of last season's championship team, Switzerland, who finished four races first. Third in the championship was the Portuguese team for the first time with a racing success. The teams from France, Malaysia and the Netherlands also recorded race wins (twice).

automobile

The new A1 Ferrari with Michelin tires was used as a standard car , see A1GP cars . Right from the start it was more vulnerable than its predecessor, which can be explained by the relatively short development and testing time.

Teams

23 teams officially competed ( see team and driver overview ), but only 21 actually took part in race weekends. Of the two officially listed but race-abstinent teams, Pakistan appeared at the official test on October 2nd and 3rd in Snetterton and in a two-day private test with the A1GP car on the Phakisa Freeway (February 2009), with Canada there are no tests known. Team Czech Republic was no longer part of the series, Korea and Monaco entered again.

Not all teams participated consistently. The teams from Great Britain, India and Mexico were absent from the first race weekend due to the chassis problem. Team Germany did not start until the Kyalami weekend, because after Seatholder Willi Weber's withdrawal, a successor first had to be found and the team had to be restructured.

Team and driver overview

team	Seatholder	Racing stable	driver	Racing weekends	SR	MR	RG
Australia	Alan Jones	Alan Docking Racing	John Martin	1-7	7th	7th	14th
Brazil	Emerson Fittipaldi	DS Motorsport Ltd	Felipe Guimarães	1-7	7th	7th	14th
China	Liu Yu	Team Astromega	Ho-Pin Tung	1-3, 5-6	5	5	10
			Cheng Cong Fu	4, 7	2	2	4th
Germany	Rolf Beisswanger	GU racing	Michael Ammermüller	5, 7	2	2	4th
			André Lotterer	6th	1	1	2
France	Jean Paul Driot	Connor Racing	Loïc Duval	1, 3-4	3	3	6th
			Nicolas Prost	2, 5-7	4th	4th	8th
Great Britain	Tony Clements	own	Danny Watts	2-3, 5	3	3	6th
			Dan Clarke	4, 6-7	3	3	6th
India	A1 Team India Limited	Argo Racing	Narain Karthikeyan	1-7	7th	7th	14th
Indonesia	Bagoes Hermanto	Performance racing	Satrio Hermanto	1-4, 7	5	5	10
			Zahir Ali	5-6	2	2	4th
Ireland	Teddy Yip junior John P. Hynes	Status Grand Prix	Adam Carroll	1-7	7th	7th	14th
Italy	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Team Ghinzani	Fabio Onidi	1	1	1	2
			Edoardo Piscopo	2-5	4th	4th	8th
			Vitantonio Liuzzi	6-7	2	2	4th
Canada	unknown	unknown
Korea	Jung-Yong "Joshua" Kim	Carlin Motorsport	Hwang Jin-Woo	1-3	3	2	5
Lebanon	Tameem Auchi	Argo Racing	Daniel Morad	1-7	7th	7th	14th
Malaysia	A1 Team Malaysia Sdn Bhd	own	Fairuz Fauzy	1-6	6th	6th	12
			Aaron Lim	7th	1	1	2
Mexico	Juan Cortina Julio Jáuregui José Ramón Elizondo	Escudería del Mediterráneo	Davíd Garza	2-3	2	2	4th
			Salvador Durán	4-7	4th	4th	8th
Monaco	Clivio Piccione Hubertus Bahlsen	own	Clivio Piccione	1-7	7th	7th	14th
New Zealand	Colin Giltrap	DS Motorsport	Earl Bamber	1, 3, 5-7	5	5	10
			Chris van der Drift	2, 4	2	2	4th
Netherlands	Jan Lammers	Racing for Holland	Jeroen Bleekemolen	1, 3, 5, 7	4th	4th	8th
			Robert Doornbos	2, 4, 6	3	3	6th
Pakistan	Adam Khan	unknown
Portugal	Luís Vicente	Boer Services	Filipe Albuquerque	1-7	7th	7th	14th
Switzerland	Max Welti	Boer Services	Neel Jani	1-7	7th	7th	14th
South Africa	Tokyo sex whales	Connor Racing	Adrian Zaugg	1-6	6th	6th	12
			Alan van der Merwe	7th	1	1	2
United States	Michael Andretti Kim Green Kevin Savoree	Andretti Green Racing	Charlie Kimball	1	1	1	2
			Marco Andretti	2-6	5	5	10
			JR Hildebrand	7th	1	1	2

Rookies
team	driver	Racing weekends
Australia	Ashley Walsh	3-5
Brazil	Felipe Guimarães	2-4
	Ana Beatriz	6th
China	Adderly Fong	4th
Germany	Michael Ammermüller	5
	André Lotterer	6th
France	Nicolas Prost	2-7
Great Britain	Danny Watts	2-3, 5
	James Winslow	4th
	Dan Clarke	6th
	Aaron Steele	7th
India	Narain Karthikeyan	2
	Armaan Ebrahim	3
	Parthiva Sureshwares	4-7
Indonesia	Zahir Ali	2-6
Ireland	Niall Quinn	2-4, 6-7
Italy	Christian Montanari	2
	Stefano Coletti	3
	Vitantonio Liuzzi	6th
Korea	Hwang Jin-Woo	2-3
Lebanon	Daniel Morad	2-5
	Jimmy Auby	6-7
Malaysia	Aaron Lim	2-7
Mexico	Davíd Garza	2
	Juan Pablo García	4-5
Monaco	Hubertus Bahlsen	4-7
New Zealand	Chris van der Drift	2, 4
	Earl Bamber	3, 5-6
Netherlands	Dennis Retera	2-7
Portugal	Armando Parente	3, 6
	António Félix da Costa	4-5
Switzerland	Alexandre Imperatori	2-7
South Africa	Gavin Cronje	3, 5
	Cristiano Morgado	4, 6-7
United States	Marco Andretti	2
	JR Hildebrand	3-5, 7th
	Robbie Pecorari	6th

Racing calendar

The calendar for the 2008/2009 season contained seven racing weekends.

No.	date	Racetrack	winner	Second	Third
1.	October 4-5, 2008	Circuit Park Zandvoort	Malaysia	New Zealand	France
			France	Malaysia	New Zealand
2.	November 7th - 9th, 2008	Chengdu International Circuit	Ireland	Netherlands	Great Britain
			Portugal	Ireland	Great Britain
3.	November 21-23, 2008	Sepang International Circuit	Switzerland	France	New Zealand
			Ireland	Portugal	United States
4th	January 23-25, 2009	Taupo Motorsport Park	Ireland	Switzerland	Netherlands
			Switzerland	Ireland	Portugal
5.	February 20-22, 2009	Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit	Netherlands	Portugal	Switzerland
			Switzerland	Brazil	Monaco
6th	April 10-12, 2009	Autódromo Internacional do Algarve	Netherlands	Ireland	Portugal
			Switzerland	Portugal	Malaysia
7th	May 1-3, 2009	Brands Hatch	Ireland	India	Mexico
			Ireland	Netherlands	Switzerland

Three official tests were held prior to the season. They took place in Donington ( September 9-11 ) and Snetterton ( September 23-24 and October 2-3 ). There was also another test on October 23rd / 27th in Silverstone .

The start of the season had to be postponed because of the problems with the completion of the new chassis, and the race weekend in Mugello planned for September 19-21 had to be canceled without replacement. In Zandvoort two weeks later, only 17 teams still had a chassis, eight of which were only given their cars shortly before the race weekend - five even immediately - and some of them are still being assembled during practice sessions (and, in individual cases, qualifying) had to. Only the teams from Australia, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and South Africa as well as Ireland, Lebanon, Monaco and Pakistan had received their chassis earlier and thus had the opportunity to take part in test drives.

The problems arose from an accident of Austrian test pilot Patrick Friesacher after a strut on the rear right wheel suspension broke during a test in Magny-Cours (in the fast Estoril Passage), in which these three thoracic vertebrae broke, which caused the tight completely overturned the measured test schedule. Improvements were necessary in this area of ​​the car, which took a corresponding amount of time.

The race weekend in Lippo Village , initially planned for the beginning of November , was postponed to the beginning of February; the event in Chengdu , originally scheduled for mid-December , then took over the date. Despite the additional construction time that has now been received, the route near Jakarta could not be completed in time for the FIA route approval in safety-relevant areas due to heavy rains, which destroyed already asphalt sections , so that a Grade 2 classification was not made, even the A1GP series did not arrive first and only local series such as the Indonesian GT Championship actually held races.

Before the race weekend in Kyalami , there were significant delays in the delivery of the equipment. This severely affected the daily routine of some teams on Friday, so the training sessions were postponed, although the rookie sessions were still too early for some teams.

The race weekend in Mexico City , which was last scheduled for May 22nd to 24th, was canceled due to the swine flu outbreak . Previously there had already been problems with the homologation of the route originally scheduled for March 13th to 15th, as the FIA was no longer satisfied with the single chicane used in the previous year before the dangerous Peralta (da) target curve and only one of the A1GP -Series proposed triple chicane met with acceptance.

A race weekend brought into play by the media in Interlagos, Brazil from May 15 to 17, 2009, which was listed in the first versions of the official A1GP calendar as a TBA event at the end of March, did not materialize. The location and the later date had never been officially announced by the series organizers anyway.

Rule changes

The two sections of the rookie training session were each extended by five minutes to 30 minutes, and the break increased from ten to 20 minutes. The qualification continued to consist of four parts; However, the pilots now only had ten minutes instead of 15 in each segment to achieve their lap times. While the main race did not experience any rule changes, there were three changes for the sprint race: The race time was increased from 19 to 24 minutes plus one lap. In order to make larger shifts possible, the teams now had to make a pit stop between laps four and eight in this race as well. The point system was changed once more and only rewarded the first eight drivers of the sprint race. The winner got ten points, for the further placements points were awarded in steps 8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

The definition of the "rookie" was subjected to another change: Drivers who had not contested more than six races in the A1GP series and not yet in one of the five strongest single-posto championships ( Formula 1 , GP2 , Champ Car , Formula Nippon and Indy Cars ) or drivers who competed for the “motorsport developing countries” China, Indonesia, Korea, Lebanon and Pakistan and not yet more than three top ten results in the A1GP series.

As part of the commitment of Magneti Marelli as an electronics supplier in tow from Ferrari, the new vehicles were equipped with launch control . The previously strict ban on technical driving aids was no longer applicable.

To keep the disadvantage that the basis of the chassis problems prevented the season opener teams have suffered the championship prior terms, as low as possible, weekend Zandvoort were before the worst scores introduced. The teams concerned were thus able to take the first race weekend without points out of the ranking, whereas the nations participating in all seven events could afford a double dropout elsewhere.

After the race weekend in Chengdu, it was decided that in qualifying the drivers would be allowed to use the PowerBoost button for 60 additional horsepower in one of the four timed laps. This would then remain activated for the entire lap, which should result in a significant performance advantage. The new rule was first used in Sepang and was standard in Kyalami from the event.

In addition to the official test drives and the race weekends, this season there was for the first time the opportunity to train in a specially adapted simulator.

Results

Item	team	ZAN SR	ZAN HR	CHE SR	CHE HR	SEP SR	SEP HR	TAU SR	TAU HR	KYA SR	KYA HR	ALG SR	ALG HR	BRA SR	BRA HR	Pts
1	Ireland	16 CAR	16 CAR	1 CAR	2 CAR	5 CAR	1 CAR	1 CAR	2 CAR	4 CAR	20 CAR	2 CAR	5 CAR	1 CAR	1 CAR	112
2	Switzerland	5 JAN	17 JAN	4 JAN	4 JAN	1 JAN	19 JAN	2 JAN	1 JAN	3 JAN	1 JAN	15 JAN	1 JAN	8 JAN	3 JAN	95 (99)
3	Portugal	9 ALB	11 ALB	6 ALB	1 ALB	4 ALB	2 ALB	6 ALB	3 ALB	2 ALB	5 ALB	3 ALB	2 ALB	5 ALB	5 ALB	92
4th	Netherlands	4 BLE	5 BLE	2 DOO	16 DOO	6 BLE	8 BLE	3 DOO	5 DOO	1 BLE	4 BLE	1 DOO	DNS DOO	6 BLE	2 BLE	75 (81)
5	France	3 DUV	1 DUV	8 PRO	18 PRO	2 DUV	14 DUV	4 DUV	6 DUV	10 PRO	18 PRO	13 PRO	6 PRO	9 PRO	10 PRO	47
6th	Malaysia	1 FAU	2 FAU	13 FAU	5 FAU	15 FAU	10 FAU	8 FAU	10 FAU	9 FAU	15 FAU	8 FAU	3 FAU	16 LIM	15 LIM	43
7th	New Zealand	2 BAM	3 BAM	7 VDD	11 VDD	3 BAM	6 BAM	5 VDD	13 VDD	8 BAM	17 BAM	20 BAM	17 BAM	18 BAM	17 BAM	36
8th	Australia	11 JMA	4 JMA	11 JMA	6 JMA	8 JMA	4 JMA	19 JMA	4 JMA	12 JMA	13 JMA	10 JMA	12 JMA	7 JMA	8 JMA	36
9	Monaco	17 PIC	6 PIC	9 PIC	7 PIC	12 PIC	17 PIC	16 PIC	18 PIC	5 PIC	3 PIC	5 PIC	15 PIC	19 PIC	4 PIC	35
10	United States	8 KIM	10 * KIM	15 AND	8 AND	19 AND	3 AND	11 AND	11 AND	17 AND	8 AND	12 AND	14 AND	4 HIL	14 HIL	28
11	Great Britain			3 WAT	3 WAT	16 WAT	16 WAT	12 CLA	12 CLA	19 WAT	7 WAT	11 CLA	7 CLA	13 CLA	7 CLA	24
12	India			10 CARS	10 CARS	18 CARS	18 CARS	9 CARS	7 CARS	6 CARS	12 CARS	6 CARS	11 CARS	2 CARS	19 CARS	19th
13	Mexico			16 DGA	15 DGA	14 DGA	15 DGA	15 DUR	16 DUR	16 DUR	19 DUR	9 DUR	4 DUR	3 DUR	6 DUR	19th
14th	South Africa	6 ZAU	13 ZAU	5 ZAU	9 ZAU	9 ZAU	5 ZAU	10 ZAU	9 ZAU	7 ZAU	16 ZAU	17 ZAU	16 ZAU	15 VDM	11 VDM	19th
15th	Brazil	13 GUI	15 GUI	20 GUI	20 GUI	17 GUI	7 GUI	14 GUI	15 GUI	15 GUI	2 GUI	7 GUI	DNS GUI	DNS GUI	DNS GUI	18th
16	Italy	7 ONI	14 ONI	14 PIS	19 PIS	7 PIS	11 PIS	7 PIS	8 PIS	11 PIS	10 PIS	4 LIU	13 LIU	10 LIU	9 LIU	17th
17th	Lebanon	10 MOR	8 MOR	12 MOR	13 MOR	11 MOR	12 MOR	18 MOR	19 MOR	20 MOR	6 MOR	18 MOR	18 MOR	17 MOR	12 MOR	8th
18th	China	12 DO	9 * DO	17 DO	12 DO	10 DO	9 DO	17 CHE	14 CHE	13 DO	14 DO	16 DO	8 DO	14 CHE	18 CHE	7th
19th	Korea	14 HWA	7 HWA	19 HWA	17 HWA	DNS HWA										4th
20th	Indonesia	15 HER	12 HER	18 HER	14 HER	13 HER	13 HER	13 HER	17 HER	18 ALI	9 ALI	14 ALI	10 ALI	12 HER	13 HER	3
21st	Germany									14 AMM	11 AMM	19 LOT	9 LOT	11 AMM	16 AMM	2
-	Canada	officially listed, but not started														0
-	Pakistan															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

• In brackets: without deletion results

reporting

In German-speaking countries, the series was initially still broadcast by Premiere according to the scheme of the previous season. At the turn of the year, the pay-TV broadcaster withdrew from broadcasting. The Swiss Sports Television on Star TV beamed all the main race of the recording.

After the season

In the run-up to the 2009/2010 season , the difficult financial situation of the series was often discussed, which was emphasized by the insolvency of A1 Grand Prix Operations Limited , a subsidiary of the A1GP Group responsible for day-to-day organizational business. Shortly before the start of the season, these problems suddenly seemed to have been resolved after a deal was made with the renowned sports promoter IMG . The event in Surfers Paradise, which was spectacularly taken over by the IndyCar series as the season opener, and a test scheduled shortly before that at the Queensland Raceway did not take place, which sealed the end of the A1GP series. The eight other dates listed in the provisional racing calendar to date, including race weekends two and three in Zhuhai and Sepang, were also canceled. A legal dispute broke out over the entry fees of 1.12 million euros paid by the SuperGP organizers together with the Queensland government prior to the event in Surfers Paradise, as the series organizers around Tony Teixeira were unable to repay the money. The former Seatholder of Team USA, Rick Weidinger , who had been replaced by the Andretti Green Racing Team before the 2008/2009 season , began a lawsuit against the series for prize money not received and for Teixeira's breach of his exclusive contract regarding the Seatholder rights; he was awarded $ 4.5 million by a Virginia district court . A1GP filed for bankruptcy in winter, and the remnants were put up for auction in several rounds from February 2010. In the end, the series had amassed almost 500 million euros in debt.

Web links

Commons : A1GP season 2008/2009  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zandvoort: Pakistan is withdrawing. motorsport-total.com, October 4, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
2. ↑ A1Team.Pak Statement. (No longer available online.) A1.gpgrid.com, February 26, 2009, archived from the original on May 1, 2010 ; accessed on December 31, 2011 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} A1GP: First record of the season for Italy. motorsport-total.com, October 4, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
4. ↑ Perfect: Team Korea joins A1GP. motorsport-total.com, April 14, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
5. ^ A1GP: Monaco competes with its own team. motorsport-total.com, August 29, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Overview: Who is there in Zandvoort? motorsport-total.com, October 2, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
7. ↑ Finally: German A1GP team returns. motorsport-total.com, November 13, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
8. ↑ Does the A1GP team Germany start in Kyalami? motorsport-total.com, February 17, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
9. ↑ Chassis not ready: A1GP has to postpone the start of the season. motorsport-total.com, August 21, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
10. ↑ Qualifying. motorsport-total.com, October 4, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
11. ^ A1 Team Brazil ready to hit the track in Zandvoort. automobilsport.com, October 5, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
12. ^ A1GP test drives in Donington Park. motorsport-total.com, September 10, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
13. ^ A1GP test drives in Snetterton. motorsport-total.com, October 2, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
14. ↑ Broken strut: Test canceled after a serious accident. motorsport-total.com, August 15, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
15. ↑ Broken vertebra only discovered at home. Kleine Zeitung , September 10, 2008, archived from the original on September 25, 2014 . 
16. ↑ FIA Says No to Karawaci Circuit, A1 Race Scrubbed. (No longer available online.) Thejakartaglobe.com, January 2009, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on December 31, 2011 . 
17. ^ Achilles in an Indonesian Automotive History Making. (No longer available online.) Multistrada.co.id, February 9, 2009, archived from the original on June 6, 2011 ; accessed on December 31, 2011 . 
18. ↑ Kyalami schedule modified. motorsport-total.com, February 19, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
19. Jump up in Kyalami: Ammermüller in third place. motorsport-total.com, February 20, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
20. ↑ Mexico canceled: Grand finale at Brands Hatch. motorsport-total.com, April 29, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
21. ↑ A1GP announce Mexico as season 4 finale. (No longer available online.) A1.gpgrid.com, March 31, 2009, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 31, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
22. ↑ Braziliaanse samba voor A1GP in 2009. rtl.nl, December 24, 2008, accessed on December 31, 2011 . 
23. ↑ New system: A1GP now with deleted results. motorsport-total.com, October 1, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
24. ↑ New rule: Powerboost joker in qualifying. motorsport-total.com, November 21, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
25. ↑ A1GP: Training option in the new simulator. motorsport-total.com, September 15, 2008, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
26. ↑ Bankruptcy: A1GP subsidiary ceases business. motorsport-total.com, June 29, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
27. ↑ Exclusive: IMG deal saves the A1GP series! motorsport-total.com, September 21, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
28. ↑ No surprise: A1GP cancels opening race. motorsport-total.com, October 17, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
29. ↑ Aussie no-show an A1 stuff-up. dailytelegraph.com.au, October 16, 2008; accessed December 31, 2011 . 
30. ↑ A1GP: racing cancellations in China and Malaysia. motorsport-total.com, November 5, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
31. ↑ Gold Coast reclaims 1.12 million from A1GP. motorsport-total.com, November 17, 2009, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
32. ↑ Queensland is suing the A1GP series. motorsport-total.com, January 12, 2010, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
33. ↑ Teams are still waiting for their prize money. motorsport-total.com, January 30, 2010, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
34. ↑ End of the A1GP series officially sealed. motorsport-total.com, February 10, 2010, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
35. ↑ For sale: 20 Ferrari A1GP cars. motorsport-total.com, March 11, 2010, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
36. ↑ A1GP: Investigators look very carefully. motorsport-total.com, February 28, 2011, accessed December 31, 2011 .