2008-09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Netherlands

A1GP race summary v2
country_

---

race=the Netherlands
race no=1 of 10
season=2008-09
race_circuit=Zandvoort.svg
date=October 5 2008
circuit=Circuit Park Zandvoort
city=Zandvoort
country=Netherlands
weather=Wet, Heavy Rain
pole_

---

pole_team=Netherlands
pole_driver=J.Bleekemolen
pole_time=1'24.213
sprint_1st_

---

sprint_1st_team=Malaysia
sprint_1st_driver=Fairuz Fauzy
sprint_2nd_

---

sprint_2nd_team=New Zealand
sprint_2nd_driver=Earl Bamber
sprint_3rd_

---

sprint_3rd_team=France
sprint_3rd_driver=Loic Duval
FL_

---

FL_team=France
FL_driver=Loic Duval
FL_time=1'45.939
FL_l

pole2_

pole2_

---

pole2_team=Malaysia
pole2_driver=Fairuz Fauzy
pole2_time="none"
main_1st_

---

main_1st_team=France
main_1st_driver=Loic Duval
main_2nd_

---

main_2nd_team=Malaysia
main_2nd_driver=Fairuz Fauzy
main_3rd_

---

main_3rd_team=New Zealand
main_3rd_driver=Earl Bamber
FL2_

---

FL2_team=USA
FL2_driver=Charlie Kimball
FL2_time=1'47.115
FL2_l

Class_pdf=The 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Netherlands was be an A1 Grand Prix race, held at Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands. It was originally set to be the second race of the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season, but a delay in the build schedule of the new chassis forced the race at Mugello to be moved from the season opener. The same build delay meant that only seventeen of the twenty-three A1 teams participated in the race.

This was the first race for A1 Team Korea, A1 Team Monaco, and the new "Powered by Ferrari" A1GP car.

Drivers and teams

On the 26th September, an article on the official A1GP website, detailed that a full grid of cars would not be on track at Zandvoort for the race weekend, due to the build schedule delay [cite news|url=http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=41943|title=A1GP looking forward to Zandvoort|publisher=a1gp.com|date=2008-09-26|accessdate=2008-09-27] . It was subsequently confirmed that a maximum of eighteen teams will be racing - Canada, Germany, Great Britain, India and Mexico will thus make their season debut at the second round [cite news|url=http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42137|title=A1 Teams given green light|publisher=a1gp.com|date=2008-10-02|accessdate=2008-10-02] .

Subsequently, Team Pakistan revealed that technical issues with their car were compromising the safety of their driver, Adam Khan - and thus, they too delayed the start of their season, leaving 17 teams to race. [cite news|url=http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42205|title=Pakistan delays 2008/09 debut|publisher=a1gp.com|date=2008-10-04|accessdate=2008-10-06]

As several teams were still arriving as of Saturday morning, and were unable to shakedown their cars before the start of the planned sessions, rookie sessions were not held.cite news|url=http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42167|title=Sporting regulations revised|publisher=a1gp.com|date=2008-10-03|accessdate=2008-10-06] All reasons for retirement are unofficial

Feature Race

flagicon|KOR|size=15px Korea were sent to the back of the grid for attempting to overtake under a yellow flag, and causing an avoidable collision in the Sprint race. [cite news|url=http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42212|title=Malaysia wins Sprint race|publisher=a1gp.com|date=2008-10-05|accessdate=2008-10-06]

The second pit-stop window was set to be between Laps 24 and 32. As conditions hadn't improved since earlier, the race was started behind the Safety Car.

The Safety Car pulled in at the end of Lap 2, to get the race underway. On Lap 5, flagicon|SUI|size=15px Neel Jani pulled into the pits and retires, while flagicon|IRL|size=15px Adam Carroll spun out at Turn 6. On Lap 6, flagicon|ITA|size=15px Fabio Onidi spun and collected flagicon|RSA|size=15px Adrian Zaugg, putting both out of the race. After the first set of pit-stops, flagicon|FRA|size=15px France led from flagicon|NZL|size=15px New Zealand and flagicon|POR|size=15px Portugal.

A lot of action took place on Laps 16-17: flagicon|NLD|size=15px Jeroen Bleekemolen pulled into the pits with a steering wheel problem; flagicon|IDN|size=15px Indonesia crashed out; flagicon|KOR|size=15px Korea spun and rejoined; and flagicon|POR|size=15px Portugal spun and crashed in the final turn. The Safety Car was deployed while the wrecks were cleared. At this point, all remaining cars in the race were guaranteed points-finishes, which means flagicon|MON|size=15px Monaco and flagicon|KOR|size=15px Korea would score on their debut, and flagicon|LIB|size=15px Lebanon would score their first ever points.

On Lap 24, flagicon|LIB|size=15px Daniel Morad did a 360-spin and continues, losing a place to flagicon|AUS|size=15px John Martin. Meanwhile, flagicon|NLD|size=15px Netherlands were having gearshifting problems and lost a place to flagicon|USA|size=15px USA. On Lap 31, flagicon|USA|size=15px Charlie Kimball retired after running off the track, but not before setting the fastest lap of the race. flagicon|FRA|size=15px France still led after the second round of pit-stops.

On Lap 33, the Safety Car was deployed after flagicon|LIB|size=15px Morad lost control and spun into the back of flagicon|CHN|size=15px Ho-Pin Tung, sending both cars into the tyre wall at Tarzan corner. At this stage, the race had nearly reached the 69-minute time limit. Two laps later the time expired, and flagicon|FRA|size=15px France took the chequered flag behind the safety car, ahead of flagicon|MYS|size=15px Malaysia, and flagicon|NZL|size=15px New Zealand.

flagicon|BRA|size=15px Brazil joined the race late on, after being unable to make the start, as they were unable to repair the damage from their accident in the Sprint race in time.

All reasons for retirement are unofficial

Notes

*It was the 33rd race weekend (66 starts).
*It was the 3rd race in the Netherlands, and the 3rd race at Circuit Park Zandvoort.
*It was the first race weekend for A1 Team Korea, and A1 Team Monaco.
*It was the first race weekend as main driver for flagicon|NZL|size=15px Earl Bamber, flagicon|BRA|size=15px Felipe Guimarães, flagicon|KOR|size=15px Hwang Jin-Woo, flagicon|USA|size=15px Charlie Kimball, flagicon|LIB|size=15px Daniel Morad, flagicon|ITA|size=15px Fabio Onidi and flagicon|MON|size=15px Clivio Piccione.
*Records:
**In the Sprint race, it was the first win for Malaysia and Fairuz Fauzy.
**Lebanon had participated in 33 rounds (63 starts) before scoring their first points.
**Korea, Lebanon and Monaco all scored their first ever points in the series, in the Feature race.

References

External links

* [http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42212 Malaysia wins Sprint race ]
* [http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42210 Sprint race: as it happened]
* [http://www.forix.com/a1gp/gp.php?l=0&d=201&r=20082101&c=2 Sprint race results]
* [http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42220 France masters Zandvoort]
* [http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=42217 Feature race: as it happened]
* [http://www.forix.com/a1gp/gp.php?l=0&d=201&r=20082102&c=4 Main race results]

A1 Grand Prix race report
Years_of_season = 2008-09
Previous_race_in_season = 2007-08, Great Britain
Next_race_in_season = 2008-09, China|