2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season

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 and drivers competed in Zytek-powered, Cooper Avon-shod and Lola chassis. The following teams competed in the 2006-07 championship:

Race Team	Team	Seat holder	Race drivers	Rounds	Others drivers
Alan Docking Racing	A1 Team Australia	Alan Jones	Ryan Briscoe	1, 4-5
			Karl Reindler	2-3, 6-8
			Ian Dyk	9-11
Arena Motorsport	A1 Team Greece	Stathis Basios	Takis Kaitatzis	1-2
			Nikos Zakos	2
	A1 Team India	Atul Gupta	Armaan Ebrahim	1-5
			Narain Karthikeyan	6, 8-11
			Parthiva Sureshwaren	7
Carlin Motorsport	A1 Team Lebanon	Tameem Auchi	Basil Shaaban	1, 3, 5
			Graham Rahal	2
			Khalil Beschir	4
			Alexander Khateeb	6-7
			Allam Khodair	8-11
Charouz Racing System	A1 Team Brazil	Emerson Fittipaldi	Tuka Rocha	1-2, 5, 7	Ruben Carrapatoso Alexandre Negrão Luiz Razia
			Raphael Matos	3-4, 6
			Bruno Junqueira	8-9, 11
			Vitor Meira	10
	A1 Team Czech Republic	Antonin Charouz	Tomáš Kostka	1	Jaroslav Janiš
			Tomáš Enge	2-4, 6-8
			Jaroslav Janiš	5, 9
			Filip Salaquarda	10
			Jan Charouz	11
DAMS	A1 Team France	Jean Paul Driot	Nicolas Lapierre	1-5
			Loïc Duval	6-8, 11
			Jean Karl Vernay	9-10
	A1 Team South Africa	Tokyo Sexwale	Adrian Zaugg	1, 3-4, 8-9, 11	Gavin Cronje Jennifer Murray
			Stephen Simpson	2
			Alan van der Merwe	5-7, 10
A1 Team Great Britain	A1 Team Great Britain	Tony Clements John Surtees	Darren Manning	1
			Robbie Kerr	2, 4-8, 10-11
			Oliver Jarvis	3
A1 Team Indonesia	A1 Team Indonesia	N/A	Ananda Mikola	1-10
			Moreno Soeprapto	11
John Village Automotive	A1 Team Canada	Wade Cherwayko	James Hinchcliffe	1-3, 6-9
			Sean McIntosh	4-5, 10-11
A1 Team Malaysia	A1 Team Malaysia	Alex Yoong	Alex Yoong	All	Fairuz Fauzy
Max Motorsport	A1 Team Switzerland	Max Welti	Sébastien Buemi	1-2, 6-7, 10-11
			Neel Jani	3-5, 8
			Marcel Fässler	9
Performance Racing	A1 Team Pakistan	Arif Hussain	Nur B. Ali	All
Racing for Holland	A1 Team The Netherlands	Jan Lammers	Jeroen Bleekemolen	1-9, 11
			Renger van der Zande	9-10
Status Grand Prix	A1 Team Ireland	Mark Kershaw	Michael Devaney	1-4
			Richard Lyons	5-11
Super Nova Racing	A1 Team Germany	Willi Weber	Nico Hülkenberg	1-8, 10-11
			Christian Vietoris	9
	A1 Team New Zealand	Colin Giltrap	Matt Halliday	1, 3, 8, 11
			Jonny Reid	2, 4-7, 9-10
Team Astromega	A1 Team China	Liu Yu	Congfu Cheng	1-4, 10-11
			Ho-Pin Tung	5-9
	A1 Team Portugal	Luis Vicente	Álvaro Parente	8-9, 11
			João Urbano	10
Team Ghinzani	A1 Team Italy	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Alessandro Pier Guidi	1-2	Michele Rugolo
			Enrico Toccacelo	3-11
Teamex	A1 Team Mexico	Juan Cortina Julio Jáuregui	Salvador Durán	1-9
			Sergio Pérez	10
			Juan Pablo Garcia	11
West Surrey Racing	A1 Team Singapore	N.A.	Christian Murchison	1, 3-4, 6-8
			Denis Lian	2
	A1 Team USA	Rick Weidlinger	Philip Giebler	1-5, 7
			Ryan Hunter-Reay	6
			Jonathan Summerton	8-11

3 A1GP Teams did not participate in all races.

• A1 Team Greece not participate from the Beijing race.^[1]
• 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.^[2]

Jennifer Murray, from South Africa was the first ever woman to enter in an A1 Grand Prix weekend. She drove in the rookie session of her home race in Durban round.^[3]

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	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winner	Report
1	S	1 October 2006	Netherlands	Circuit Park Zandvoort	Adrian Zaugg	Adrian Zaugg	Adrian Zaugg	Report
	F					Alex Yoong	Nico Hülkenberg
2	S	8 October 2006	Czech Republic	Auto Motodrom Brno	Jonny Reid	Alex Yoong	Alex Yoong	Report
	F					Philip Giebler	Alex Yoong
3	S	12 November 2006	China	Jingkai Street Circuit, Beijing	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Salvador Durán	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Report
	F					James Hinchcliffe	Enrico Toccacelo
4	S	26 November 2006	Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit	Neel Jani	Jonny Reid	Neel Jani	Report
	F					Enrico Toccacelo	Nico Hülkenberg
5	S	10 December 2006	Indonesia	Sentul International Circuit	Jonny Reid	Robbie Kerr	Jonny Reid	Report
	F					Jonny Reid	Jonny Reid
6	S	21 January 2007	New Zealand	Taupo Motorsport Park	Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg	Report
	F					Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg
7	S	4 February 2007	Australia	Eastern Creek Raceway	Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg	Report
	F					Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg
8	S	25 February 2007	South Africa	Durban street circuit	Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg	Nico Hülkenberg	Report
	F					Adrian Zaugg	Nico Hülkenberg
9	S	25 March 2007	Mexico	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Alex Yoong	Salvador Durán	Alex Yoong	Report
	F					Jonathan Summerton	Oliver Jarvis
10	S	15 April 2007	China	Shanghai International Circuit	Robbie Kerr	Jonny Reid	Robbie Kerr	Report
	F					Jonny Reid	Jonny Reid
11	S	29 April 2007	United Kingdom	Brands Hatch	Robbie Kerr	Robbie Kerr	Robbie Kerr	Report
	F					Sébastien Buemi	Nico Hülkenberg

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.^[4]

Standings

Pos Team Drivers NLD CZE BEI MYS IDN 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 spr fea 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 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 Alessandro Pier Guidi 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 19 13 19 Ret 0 Graham Rahal 12 12 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 NLD CZE BEI MYS IDN 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

Notable 2006-07 season happenings

Beijing Incident

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. This corner was still not perfect as drivers still ran wide despite the corner being wider, and had to avoid the pitlane entry barrier. It had to suffice, though, because otherwise the race would have to be cancelled.

However, another problem arose in qualifying, 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 based on 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.

April Fools' hoax

On 1 April 2006, during the penultimate round of the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season in Shanghai, a fake timetable of the 2006-2007 season was published.^[5] 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.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season.

• Official season standings and results at results.a1gp.com