2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season

2007–08 A1 Grand Prix of Nations
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The 2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season was the third in the relatively short history of the championship.

Teams

All teams used same A1 Grand Prix car including Zytek-powered, Cooper Avon-shod and Lola chassis. The following 22 teams are competitors in the 2007-08 championship :

Race Team	Team	Seat holder	Race drivers	Rounds	Others drivers
Alan Docking Racing	A1 Team Australia	Alan Jones	Ian Dyk	1-4	Daniel Ricciardo
			John Martin	5-10
Arena Motorsport	A1 Team India	Ravi Chilukuri	Narain Karthikeyan	1-6, 8-10
			Parthiva Sureshwaren	7
Argo Racing Cars Ltd.	A1 Team Brazil	Emerson Fittipaldi	Sérgio Jimenez	1-6	Clemente Faria Felipe Guimarães Raphael Matos
			Bruno Junqueira	7-8
			Alexandre Negrão	9-10
	A1 Team Lebanon	Tameem Auchi	Chris Alajajian	1, 3-6
			Jimmy Auby	2, 7, 10
			Khalil Beschir	8-9
Charouz Racing System	A1 Team Czech Republic	Antonin Charouz	Erik Janiš	1-3	Jaroslav Janiš
			Tomáš Enge	4-6
			Josef Král	7
			Filip Salaquarda	8-10
Connor Racing	A1 Team France	Jean Paul Driot	Loïc Duval	1, 3-7	Guillaume Moreau Nicolas Prost Jean Karl Vernay
			Nicolas Lapierre	2
			Jonathan Cochet	8
			Franck Montagny	9-10
	A1 Team South Africa	Tokyo Sexwale	Adrian Zaugg	All	Wesleigh Orr
DSM	A1 Team Germany	Willi Weber	Christian Vietoris	1-2, 5	Michael Klein
			Michael Ammermüller	3-4, 6-10
	A1 Team New Zealand	Colin Giltrap	Jonny Reid	All	Earl Bamber Brendon Hartley Chris van der Drift
A1 Team Great Britain	A1 Team Great Britain	Tony Clements John Surtees	Oliver Jarvis	1, 3-4, 7-8	Duncan Tappy Danny Watts James Winslow Oliver Turvey
			Robbie Kerr	2, 5-6, 9-10
A1 Team Indonesia	A1 Team Indonesia	N/A	Satrio Hermanto	1-4
Performance Racing				5-10
	A1 Team Pakistan	Arif Hussain	Adam Khan	All
A1 Team Malaysia	A1 Team Malaysia	Alex Yoong	Alex Yoong	1-5, 8-9	Aaron Lim
			Fairuz Fauzy	6-7, 10
A1 Team Portugal	A1 Team Portugal	Luis Vicente	João Urbano	1-6	Gonçalo Araújo Frederico Duarte Bruno Serra
			Filipe Albuquerque	7-10
Max Motorsport	A1 Team Switzerland	Max Welti	Neel Jani	All	Sébastien Buemi Tom Dillmann Rahel Frey Natacha Gachnang Alexandre Imperatori
Racing for Holland	A1 Team The Netherlands	Jan Lammers	Jeroen Bleekemolen	All	Arie Luyendyk Jr.
Team Astromega	A1 Team China	Liu Yu	Congfu Cheng	All	Marchy Lee Qinghua Ma Lin Po-Heng
Team Ghinzani	A1 Team Italy	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Enrico Toccacelo	1-3	Paolo Bossini Frankie Provenzano Davide Rigon Giuseppe Termine
			Edoardo Piscopo	4-10
Status Grand Prix	A1 Team Canada	Wade Cherwayko	James Hinchcliffe	1-2, 10	Daniel Morad
			Robert Wickens	3-9
	A1 Team Ireland	Mark Kershaw	Ralph Firman	1	Niall Quinn
			Adam Carroll	2-10
Teamcraft Motorsport	A1 Team Mexico	Juan Cortina Julio Jáuregui	Salvador Durán	1	Juan Pablo Garcia Arturo González Esteban Gutiérrez Picho Toledano
			Michel Jourdain Jr.	2-3
			David Garza Perez	4-8
			Jorge Goeters	9
			David Martínez	10
A1 Team USA	A1 Team USA	Rick Weidlinger	Buddy Rice	1-2	Charlie Kimball
			Jonathan Summerton	3-10

Swiss drivers Rahel Frey and Natacha Gachnang are the two first females to drive A1 Grand Prix cars this season. Their first steps were test drivers during Silverstone, September 18–19, 2007, test session.^[1] Then Natacha Gachnang drove in rookie sessions in Czech round, on October 12, 2007^[2] and Rahel Frey in Malaysian rookie sessions, on November 23, 2007^[3]

Since January 2008, the Performance Racing manage A1 Team Indonesia.^[4] Bagoes Hermanto, brother of Satrio Hermanto, became the new Team Principal.

Season calendar and winners

Round		Date	Country	Circuit	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winner	Report
1	S	30 September 2007	Netherlands	Circuit Park Zandvoort	Adrian Zaugg	Adrian Zaugg	Adrian Zaugg	Report
	F				Adrian Zaugg	Salvador Durán	Oliver Jarvis
2	S	14 October 2007	Czech Republic	Brno Circuit	Adrian Zaugg	Jonny Reid	Jonny Reid	Report
	F				Jeroen Bleekemolen	Cong Fu Cheng	Jonny Reid
3	S	25 November 2007	Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit	Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Report
	F				Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Neel Jani
4	S	16 December 2007	China	Zhuhai International Circuit	Michael Ammermüller	Neel Jani	Michael Ammermüller	Report
	F				Neel Jani	Oliver Jarvis	Narain Karthikeyan
5	S	20 January 2008	New Zealand	Taupo Motorsport Park	Jonny Reid	Christian Vietoris	Jonny Reid	Report
	F				Loïc Duval	Neel Jani	Christian Vietoris
6	S	3 February 2008	Australia	Eastern Creek Raceway	Loïc Duval	Loïc Duval	Loïc Duval	Report
	F				Jonny Reid	Adrian Zaugg	Adrian Zaugg
7	S	24 February 2008	South Africa	Durban street circuit	Robert Wickens	Jonny Reid	Robert Wickens	Report
	F				Neel Jani	Cong Fu Cheng	Neel Jani
8	S	16 March 2008	Mexico	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Adrian Zaugg	Cong Fu Cheng	Jonny Reid	Report
	F				Robert Wickens	Oliver Jarvis	Adam Carroll
9	S	13 April 2008	China	Shanghai International Circuit	Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Neel Jani	Report
	F				Neel Jani	Robert Wickens	Jonathan Summerton
10	S	4 May 2008	Great Britain	Brands Hatch	Robbie Kerr	Cong Fu Cheng	Robbie Kerr	Report
	F				Narain Karthikeyan	Adam Carroll	Narain Karthikeyan

Due to Zandvoort's noise restriction, Netherlands round wasn't able to conduct Friday sessions and so rookie session.^[5] Saturday morning was dedicated to practice sessions and Saturday afternoon to qualify sessions for each Sunday race.

Tests

Test	Date	Country	Circuit
1	28 August 2007	United Kingdom	Silverstone
2	29 August 2007	United Kingdom	Silverstone
3	18 September 2007	United Kingdom	Silverstone
4	19 September 2007	United Kingdom	Silverstone

Rule changes

• Qualifying will remain the current format, however the first two qualifying sessions will determine the grid for the sprint race while the second two qualifying sessions will determine the grid for the feature race.^[6]
• There are now 2 pit stops required in the feature race.^[7]
• The feature race remains a distance of 69 minutes plus one lap, while the sprint race has increased to 29 minutes plus one lap.^[7]
• Points are now assigned in the same manner for both the sprint and feature races using the following format with one bonus point awarded for the fastest lap in each race.
• Prize awarded in both sprint and feature races.

	Sprint		Feature
Pos.	Points	Prize	Points	Prize
1	15	$100,000	15	$200,000
2	12	$70,000	12	$130,000
3	10	$50,000	10	$100,000
4	8	$35,000	8	$75,000
5	6	$30,000	6	$50,000
6	5	$20,000	5	$40,000
7	4	$15,000	4	$25,000
8	3	$10,000	3	$20,000
9	2	$7,000	2	$13,000
10	1	$3,000	1	$7,000
Fast lap	1		1

Since round 5, in Taupo, a 30 per cent biofuel mix was introduce.^[8] This environmental initiative is the first initiative to help reduce its environmental footprint in motorsport series. The new fuel is an ethanol-based product Hiperflo E30 sourced from sugar beet in Europe and produced by Petrochem Carless. The prediction are a CO2 emissions reduction by 21% per car.

A new light close to the entry of pit lane is introduce since round 5, in Taupo^[9] when safety car is out. When the lights are on, drivers can pit but it is not counted as one of the two mandatory stops. Pits are allowed for mechanical work to be carried out.

Standings

Pos Team Drivers NLD CZE MYS ZHU NZL AUS RSA MEX SHA GBR Pts spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea 1 Switzerland Neel Jani 5 3 8 3 1 1 2 6 Ret 13 10 2 3 1 3 19 1 5 4 3 168 2 New Zealand Jonny Reid 9 7 1 1 5 8 10 2 1 4 2 9 20 10 1 12 Ret 4 8 8 127 3 Great Britain Oliver Jarvis 7 1 6 12 6 5 2 11 2 2 126 Robbie Kerr 2 17 Ret Ret 16 3 9 9 1 2 4 France Loïc Duval 2 5 2 2 8 7 3 3 1 Ret 11 2 118 Nicolas Lapierre 6 5 Jonathan Cochet 12 13 Franck Montagny 12 8 10 5 5 South Africa Adrian Zaugg 1 2 4 16 10 Ret Ret 3 4 7 7 1 13 7 Ret 6 7 16 7 11 96 6 Ireland Ralph Firman 8 6 94 Adam Carroll 3 6 7 7 4 16 6 5 15 13 15 Ret 4 1 11 3 3 13 7 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 3 8 5 2 18 4 9 Ret 5 8 9 8 5 4 8 4 17 18 9 6 87 8 Germany Christian Vietoris 6 9 7 8 2 1 83 Michael Ammermüller 16 EX 1 4 4 7 EX Ret Ret 20 6 10 20 Ret 9 Canada James Hinchcliffe 19 18 12 11 15 17 75 Robert Wickens 3 Ret 15 Ret Ret 2 3 6 1 12 7 5 2 20 10 India Narain Karthikeyan 10 Ret 21 9 11 6 7 1 10 Ret 11 11 13 9 5 7 5 1 61 Parthiva Sureshwaren 17 Ret 11 Portugal João Urbano 11 Ret 9 18 13 Ret 19 12 8 12 12 16 59 Filipe Albuquerque 7 3 6 7 3 2 6 7 12 USA Buddy Rice 22 13 16 15 56 Jonathan Summerton 12 10 12 10 7 14 5 Ret 10 Ret 5 3 21 1 2 12 13 China Cong Fu Cheng 17 15 10 4 Ret 5 3 9 14 Ret 14 10 4 6 17 10 10 15 21 4 55 14 Brazil Sérgio Jimenez 13 11 11 7 4 3 18 Ret 13 6 8 4 44 Bruno Junqueira Ret 9 10 8 Alexandre Negrão 14 13 16 14 15 Malaysia Alex Yoong 16 Ret 17 14 9 13 Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 15 4 6 25 Fairuz Fauzy 20 17 9 5 13 Ret 16 Mexico Salvador Durán 4 4 22 Michel Jourdain Jr. 13 22 20 11 David Garza Perez 16 11 17 9 17 18 8 Ret 16 14 Jorge Goeters 20 21 David Martínez 20 16 17 Australia Ian Dyk 21 12 Ret 13 Ret 9 13 15 20 John Martin 9 Ret 6 5 6 14 Ret 21 15 14 14 Ret 18 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 12 14 14 10 8 Ret 12 Edoardo Piscopo 11 Ret 12 Ret 13 14 14 8 11 Ret 8 12 17 9 19 Czech Republic Erik Janiš 15 10 18 12 15 15 10 Tomáš Enge 5 8 Ret 11 18 15 Josef Král 18 Ret Filip Salaquarda Ret 16 13 11 12 15 20 Pakistan Adam Khan 18 17 15 20 17 14 14 14 11 10 Ret 12 12 Ret Ret 18 16 17 18 Ret 1 21 Indonesia Satrio Hermanto 20 16 19 19 19 16 17 Ret 16 Ret 21 20 16 Ret 14 11 19 19 19 10 1 22 Lebanon Chris Alajajian 14 19 14 Ret Ret 13 15 Ret 19 19 0 Khalil Beschir 20 21 19 13 22 18 Jimmy Auby 15 17 18 22 Pos Team Drivers spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea spr fea Pts NLD CZE MYS ZHU NZL AUS RSA MEX SHA GBR

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. Swiss female set to be rookie choice a1gp.com (September 19, 2007)
2. Female rookie for Switzerland a1gp.com (October 11, 2007)
3. Sepang, Malaysia, Rookies combined results.a1gp.com (November 23, 2007)
4. Indonesia's new engineering squad a1gp.com (January 20, 2008)
5. Zandvoort: A1 Team by Team Race Preview paddocktalk.com (September 28, 2007)
6. New qualifying and points system a1gp.com (August 29, 2007)
7. Feature race gets second pit stop a1gp.com (August 29, 2007)
8. Biofuel confirmed for Taupo a1gp.com (December 18, 2007)
9. Safety car pit light introduced a1gp.com (January 18, 2008)

External links

• A1GP official web-site
• A1podium fansite
• A1GP online