2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season

2006-07 FIA A1 Grand Prix of Nations
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The 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season was the second season for the A1 Grand Prix series. It began on 1 October, 2006, at Circuit Park Zandvoort, and the season ended at Brands Hatch on 29 April, 2007. A1 Team Germany won it with 128 points, 35 points lead ahead Team New Zealand.

Teams

24 teams, each representing a different country, signed up for the second A1 Grand Prix season. All teams used a control chassis (Lola), engine (Zytek) and tyre (Cooper Avon). The following teams competed in the 2006-07 championship:

Country	Team	Race Team	Seat holder	Race Drivers	Others Drivers
Australia	A1 Team Australia	Alan Docking Racing	Alan Jones	Ryan Briscoe Karl Reindler Ian Dyk	Barton Mawer
Brazil	A1 Team Brazil	Charouz Racing System	Emerson Fittipaldi	Tuka Rocha Raphael Matos Bruno Junqueira Vitor Meira	Alexandre Negrão Ruben Carrapatoso Luiz Razia Bia Figueiredo
Canada	A1 Team Canada	John Village Automotive	Wade Cherwayko	Sean McIntosh James Hinchcliffe	Kevin Lacroix
China	A1 Team China	Team Astromega	Liu Yu	Congfu Cheng Ho-Pin Tung	Tengyi Jiang Qinghua Ma
Czech Republic	A1 Team Czech Republic	Charouz Racing System	Antonin Charouz	Tomáš Kostka Tomáš Enge Jaroslav Janiš Filip Salaquarda Jan Charouz
France	A1 Team France	DAMS	Jean Paul Driot	Nicolas Lapierre Loïc Duval Jean Karl Vernay
Germany	A1 Team Germany	Super Nova Racing	Willi Weber	Nico Hülkenberg Christian Vietoris	Marco Holzer
Great Britain	A1 Team Great Britain	Arden International	Tony Clements John Surtees	Darren Manning Robbie Kerr Oliver Jarvis	Oliver Turvey
Greece	A1 Team Greece	Arena Motorsport	Stathis Basios	Takis Kaitatzis Nikos Zakos	Stelios Nousias Vassilis Papafilliou
India	A1 Team India	Arena Motorsport	Atul Gupta	Armaan Ebrahim Narain Karthikeyan Parthiva Sureshwaren
Indonesia	A1 Team Indonesia	A1 Team Indonesia	N/A	Ananda Mikola Moreno Soeprapto
Ireland	A1 Team Ireland	A1 Team Ireland	Mark Gallagher Mark Kershaw	Michael Devaney Richard Lyons	John O'Hara
Italy	A1 Team Italy	Team Ghinzani	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Pier Guidi Alessandro Enrico Toccacelo	Michele Rugolo
Lebanon	A1 Team Lebanon	Carlin Motorsport	Tameem Auchi	Basil Shaaban Khalil Beschir Alexander Khateeb Allam Khodair	Graham Rahal
Malaysia	A1 Team Malaysia	A1 Team Malaysia	Alex Yoong	Alex Yoong	Fairuz Fauzy Aaron Lim Nik Iruwan
Mexico	A1 Team Mexico	DAMS	Juan Cortina Julio Jáuregui	Salvador Durán Sergio Pérez Juan Pablo Garcia
The Netherlands	A1 Team The Netherlands	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers	Jeroen Bleekemolen Renger van der Zande
New Zealand	A1 Team New Zealand	Super Nova Racing	Colin Giltrap	Matt Halliday Jonny Reid	Chris van der Drift Wade Cunningham Daniel Gaunt
Pakistan	A1 Team Pakistan	Performance Racing	Arif Hussain	Nur B. Ali
Portugal	A1 Team Portugal	Team Astromega	Luis Vicente	Álvaro Parente João Urbano
Singapore	A1 Team Singapore	West Surrey Racing	---	Christian Murchison Denis Lian	Hafiz Koh
South Africa	A1 Team South Africa	DAMS	Tokyo Sexwale	Adrian Zaugg Stephen Simpson Alan van der Merwe	Gavin Cronje
Switzerland	A1 Team Switzerland	Max Motorsport	Max Welti	Sébastien Buemi Neel Jani Marcel Fässler
United States	A1 Team USA	West Surrey Racing	Rick Weidinger	Philip Giebler Jonathan Summerton Ryan Hunter-Reay	Al Unser Jr.

3 A1GP Teams did not participate in all races.

• A1 Team Greece not participate from the Beijing race.
• A1 Team Singapore has not raced in all 3 last races allegedly due to an injury suffered by their one and only driver, Christian Murchison, in the South African leg of the season.
• A1 Team Portugal start 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season at South African race.

Races

The second A1 Grand Prix season is scheduled to consist of 11 races, held in 10 different countries. Each race is to be run 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.

There are some changes in weekend program for second season:

• Gap between races will be increased to almost three and half hours.
• Sprint race will be about 20 minutes and Feature race about 70 minutes.
• Only top six nations score points in sprint race.

Round	Date	Country	Circuit	Sprint Winner	Main Winner	Report
1	1 October, 2006	Netherlands	Circuit Park Zandvoort	South Africa	Germany	Report
2	8 October, 2006	Czech Republic	Auto Motodrom Brno	Malaysia	Malaysia	Report
3	12 November, 2006	China	Jingkai Street Circuit, Beijing	The Netherlands	Italy	Report
4	26 November, 2006	Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit	Switzerland	Germany	Report
5	10 December, 2006	Indonesia	Sentul International Circuit	New Zealand	New Zealand	Report
6	21 January, 2007	New Zealand	Taupo Motorsport Park	Germany	Germany	Report
7	4 February, 2007	Australia	Eastern Creek Raceway	Germany	Germany	Report
8	25 February, 2007	South Africa	Durban street circuit	Germany	Germany	Report
9	25 March, 2007	Mexico	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Malaysia	Great Britain	Report
10	15 April, 2007	China	Shanghai International Circuit	Great Britain	New Zealand	Report
11	29 April, 2007	United Kingdom	Brands Hatch	Great Britain	Germany	Report

A 12th race had been scheduled to have been held in Brazil however on 17 January 2007 the A1GP organisation announced that as a result of a delay in obtaining a local terrestrial television agreement then the event would be cancelled.

Season Standings

Points in the 2006-07 season are distributed as follows:

• Six through one points for first through sixth place in the Sprint Race.
• Ten through one points for first through tenth place in the Main Race. (which also pays prize money.)
• One point for the fastest lap of either race.

	Sprint	Feature
Pos.	Points	Points	Prize
1	6	10	$300,000
2	5	9	$200,000
3	4	8	$150,000
4	3	7	$110,000
5	2	6	$80,000
6	1	5	$60,000
7		4	$40,000
8		3	$30,000
9		2	$20,000
10		1	$10,000
Fast lap	1

Standings

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
1	Germany	Nico Hülkenberg	4	1	Ret	4	5	Ret	2	1	5	2	1	1*	1*	1	1*	1			3	3	2	1	128
		Christian Vietoris																	Ret	9
2	New Zealand	Matt Halliday	6	11			10	9									3	3					16	8	93
		Jonny Reid			Ret	7			3*	8	1	1	3	3	2	2			16	6	2*	1
3	Great Britain	Darren Manning	5	7																					92
		Robbie Kerr			9	6			5	2	3*	Ret	8	Ret	19	10	9	2			1	2	1*	2
		Oliver Jarvis					7	2											2	1
4	France	Nicolas Lapierre	3	Ret	3	Ret	17	4	6	3	7	3													67
		Loïc Duval											2	2	3	9	2	Ret					4	7
		Jean Karl Vernay																	Ret	20	Ret	8
5	The Netherlands	Jeroen Bleekemolen	9	4	11	9	1	Ret	7	9	13	DSQ	4	5	5	4	4	6		17			6	5	57
		Renger van der Zande																	9		9	4
6	Malaysia	Alex Yoong	12	17	1*	1	14	12	4	7	12	5	19	11	7	6	Ret	8	1	5	6	11	5	9	55
7	Italy	Pier Guidi Alessandro	Ret	6	14	20																			52
		Enrico Toccacelo					3	1	Ret	13	11	4	9	8	15	12	12	Ret	7	4	10	7	3	3
8	Switzerland	Sébastien Buemi	10	8	8	10							5	4	4	7					4	9	Ret	DSQ	50
		Neel Jani					9	Ret	1	4	10	8					5	4
		Marcel Fässler																	10	14
9	USA	Philip Giebler	7	2	6	17	11	Ret	9	6	4	9			8	8									42
		Ryan Hunter-Reay											11	10
		Jonathan Summerton															Ret	Ret	5	2	5	Ret	9	6
10	Mexico	Salvador Durán	2	5	7	3	2	Ret	11	Ret	2	6	12	Ret	11	15	Ret	Ret	17*	Ret					35
		Sergio Pérez																			15	Ret
		Juan Pablo Garcia																					18	14
11	Canada	James Hinchcliffe	8	13	2	5	4	10*					6	6	13	Ret	13	Ret	13	15					33
		Sean McIntosh							8	5	8	Ret									Ret	6	10	12
12	Czech Republic	Tomáš Kostka	17	Ret																					27
		Tomáš Enge			5	2	8	6	Ret	14			17	12	9	5	11	Ret
		Jaroslav Janiš									16	7							12	12
		Filip Salaquarda																			17	10
		Jan Charouz																					13	15
13	Australia	Ryan Briscoe	13	3					12	17	6	10													25
		Karl Reindler			15	16	12	3					14	13	14	14	16	Ret
		Ian Dyk																	3	8	16	Ret	14	Ret
14	South Africa	Adrian Zaugg	1*	Ret			Ret	5	13	12							7	Ret	4	3			15	Ret	24
		Stephen Simpson			Ret	11
		Alan van der Merwe									9	Ret	7	16	16	Ret					8	12
15	China	Congfu Cheng	11	9	4	8	13	Ret	10	16											11	15	Ret	10	22
		Ho-Pin Tung									Ret	13	13	9	6	3	14	Ret	6	10
16	India	Armaan Ebrahim	Ret	Ret	17	18	18	11	16	19	18	Ret													13
		Narain Karthikeyan											10	7			15	9	11	18	7	17	7	4
		Parthiva Sureshwaren													18	16
17	Portugal	Álvaro Parente															8	5	14	7			11	11	10
		João Urbano																			19	13
18	Brazil	Tuka Rocha	14	12	10	14					15	14			Ret	11									9
		Raphael Matos					6	7	19	18			16	14
		Bruno Junqueira															17	7	Ret	13			12	Ret
		Vitor Meira																			14	19
19	Ireland	Michael Devaney	15	14	13	13	20	Ret	14	10															8
		Richard Lyons									17	12	Ret	19	10	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	16	12	5	8	DSQ
20	Singapore	Christian Murchison	Ret	16			16	8	15	11			Ret	15	12	Ret	Ret	Ret							3
		Denis Lian			18	19
21	Indonesia	Ananda Mikola	19	10	16	15	15	Ret	Ret	15	14	11	15	Ret	17	13	10	Ret	8	11	13	16			1
		Moreno Soeprapto																					17	16
22	Pakistan	Nur B. Ali	20	Ret	20	Ret	21	Ret	18	21	20	15	18	18	20	Ret	18	10	15	21	20	18	Ret	17	1
23	Lebanon	Basil Shaaban	16	Ret	12	12	19	13			19	Ret													0
		Khalil Beschir							17	20
		Alexander Khateeb											Ret	17	Ret	17
		Allam Khodair															19	Ret	18	19	18	14	Ret	13
24	Greece	Takis Kaitatzis	18	15		Ret																			0
		Nikos Zakos			19
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

Gold	Winner
Green	Points finish
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
Bold	Pole Position
Silver	2nd place
Green	(Ret) but Points finish
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Excluded (EX)
*	Fast Lap
Bronze	3rd place
Blue	Non-points finish
Blank	Did not participate

Notable 2006-07 season happenings

Beijing Incident

‘‘Main article’’ 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Beijing, China

The first Chinese round of the 2006/07 A1GP took place on the streets of Beijing. However, the tight hairpin at the end of the backstraight was far too tight for the cars to negotiate safely, as there was literally, a 180 degree left turn. Cars were running wide and stopping mid corner, therefore the sessions were red flagged.

A shorter circuit was created, creating another less tighter hairpin halfway up the straight, bypassing most of the old straight. Again, this corner is still not perfect as drivers still run wide despite it being wider, and have to avoid the pitlane entry barrier. It would have to do, otherwise the racing would have to be cancelled.

However, another problem arose in qualiying, when manhole covers on the roads were coming undone due to the racing cars high downforce and low center of gravity. Grid positions were decided upon practice times. Some advertising banners also came loose around the circuit.

It was announced the races would start behind the safety car, as the first corner was also deemed unsafe.

Both races were uneventful, particularly the Sprint Race which took place almost entirely behind the safety car after course officials failed to remove a single spun car in a timely fashion.

These numerous incidents have lead to questions about the management and organisation of both the event and A1GP in general - for example the host and guest on the UK presentation of the event on the Sky Sports network were highly critical of the lack of spectacle at what was, prior to arrival of the media at the track, anticipated to be a landmark defining event for the series.

April Fools' hoax

On 1 April 2006, during the final round of the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season in Shanghai, a fake timetable of the 2006-2007 season was published. This schedule included a night time race in Lapland, an A1GP USA race in Baghdad, a race in Middle-earth at 'The Ring', a Venice Street Race as well as a Tibetan hill climb. In addition, it outlined special regulations, such as requiring only the Cornettos be catered for the Venice race, that "cars will arrive flatpacked for the Ikea Cup race in Narnia, so extra time will be required for their assembly", and that for the hill climb, half the cars will start from the top, and half will start from the bottom. A race in South Los Angeles was to have drive-by penalties.

External links

• A1GPOnline Fansite
• April 1 press release
• May 7 press release detailing real schedule