2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China

Drivers

After missing the first race due to a lack of cars, A1 Teams Great Britain, India and Mexico took part in this race. Both A1 Team Pakistan and A1 Team Germany will not make their season debut until the fourth round at Taupo. Team Pakistan require more changes to their chassis to render it suitable for their lead driver Adam Khan, while Team Germany is undergoing management restructuring.

The status of A1 Team Canada was not announced, but they were removed from the race's drivers list on the A1GP website front page, and did not make an appearance. Their status for future events is still unknown.

↑ Karthikeyan and Andretti were granted special dispensation to participate in the rookie session as neither team had completed as many testing miles as the other teams with the new car. Karthikeyan (F1) and Andretti (IRL ICS) are veteran drivers in one of the four series (F1, GP2, FN, IRL-ICS) which their drivers may not compete as A1GP rookies.

Qualifying

Due to a delay in recovering the ITA Italian car after spinning into a gravel trap during the first qualifying session, the second qualifying session was cancelled, meaning all times from Q1 set the field for Q1, with IRL Ireland taking their first ever pole position, ahead of NLD The Netherlands and SUI Switzerland.

Q4 was stopped briefly after a spin for FRA France. The session was resumed with teams able to make a run in time. Danny Watts for GBR Great Britain took pole ahead of IRL Ireland and POR Portugal.

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Sprint Race

For safety reasons, a pit stop was not required for the Sprint Race. In lap 2, BRA Brazil is slowing and the Safety car is on while Felipe Guimarães reach the pits. In the same lap 2, CHN China spun and lost some positions but finally catch up and pass KOR Korea on lap 7. when the Safety car is out, the order was IRL Ireland, NLD Netherlands, GBR Great Britain, SUI Switzerland, RSA South Africa, POR Portugal, NZL New Zealand and FRA France. Those positions remain until the end of the race with the fastest lap for IRL Adam Carroll.

Feature Race

The second pit-stop window for the Feature Race was set for Laps 24–32.

Notes

• It was the 34th race weekend (68 starts).
• It was the 6th race in China, and the first at Chengdu Goldenport Circuit.
• It was the first race weekend as main driver for USA Marco Andretti, NED Robert Doornbos, FRA Nicolas Prost, NZL Chris van der Drift and GBR Danny Watts.
• It was the first race weekend as rookie driver for INA Zahir Ali, ITA Christian Montanari and NLD Dennis Retera.
• Records:
  • Adam Carroll, Danny Watts, and IRL Ireland scored their first pole position.
  • Filipe Albuquerque and POR Portugal scored their first victory.
  • Adam Carroll and IRL Ireland scored their first Sprint Race victory.

References

References

1. (2008-10-31). "A1GP teams for next events". a1gp.com.
2. [http://www.forix.com/a1gp/gp.php?l=0&d=201&r=20082103&c=121 2008/09, Chengdu, China, Rookies combined] ''forix.com''
3. (2008-11-04). "Prost gets France drive". a1gp.com.
4. (2008-11-03). "Nicolas Prost titulaire pour Chengdu". automoto365.com.
5. (2008-10-27). "Watts to make GBR race debut". a1gp.com.
6. (2008-09-17). "Karthikeyan returns for India". a1gp.com.
7. (2008-11-05). "Fresh rookie talent for Indonesia". a1gp.com.
8. (2008-11-03). "A New A1 Team Italy Rookie Driver". a1gp.com.
9. (2008-11-03). "Title rivals name their drivers". a1gp.com.
10. (2008-09-18). "Netherlands names its drivers". a1gp.com.
11. (2008-11-05). "New circuit, new drivers". a1gp.com.
12. (2008-11-03). "Marco Andretti confirmed for USA". a1gp.com.
13. (2008-11-03). "First start for Andretti". indycar.com.
14. (2008-11-07). "Switzerland's Friday feeling". a1gp.com.
15. [http://www.forix.com/a1gp/gp.php?l=0&d=201&r=20082103&c=3 2008/09, Chengdu, China, Sprint: starting grid] ''forix.com''
16. [http://www.forix.com/a1gp/gp.php?l=0&d=201&r=20082104&c=3 2008/09, Chengdu, China, Feature: starting grid] ''forix.com''