2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, New Zealand

The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, New Zealand was an A1 Grand Prix race held at Taupo Motorsport Park, New Zealand.

2008–09 A1GP of New Zealand
Race Details
Race 4 of 7 in the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season
Date	25 January 2009
Location	Taupo Motorsport Park Taupō, New Zealand
Weather	Clear, 24°C
Sprint race
Qualifying
Pole	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time	1:14.507
Podium
1st	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
2nd	Switzerland (Neel Jani)
3rd	Netherlands (Robert Doornbos)
Fastest Lap
FL	Switzerland (Neel Jani)
Time	1:15.021, (Lap 10)
Feature race
Qualifying
Pole	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
Time	1:14.411
Podium
1st	Switzerland (Neel Jani)
2nd	Ireland (Adam Carroll)
3rd	Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque)
Fastest Lap
FL	Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque)
Time	1:14.898, (Lap 30)
Official Classifications
PDF Booklet

Pre-race

The A1 Team Portugal’s sports director, Pedro Chaves has tested the A1GP car at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portugal) for promotional purposes.^[1]

Drivers

Team	Main Driver	Rookie Driver[2]	Reserve Driver
Australia	John Martin	Ashley Walsh
Brazil	Felipe Guimarães[3]	Felipe Guimarães
Canada	Did Not Participate
China	Congfu Cheng[3]	Adderly Fong[3]	Ho-Pin Tung[4]
France	Loïc Duval[3]	Nicolas Prost
Germany	Did Not Participate[3]
Great Britain	Dan Clarke[5][6]	James Winslow
India	Narain Karthikeyan	Parthiva Sureshwaren
Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto	Zahir Ali
Ireland	Adam Carroll[3]	Niall Quinn
Italy	Edoardo Piscopo
Korea	Did Not Participate[4]
Lebanon	Daniel Morad	Daniel Morad	Jimmy Auby
Malaysia	Fairuz Fauzy[7]	Aaron Lim[7]
Mexico	Salvador Duran[8]	Juan Pablo Garcia[8]
Monaco	Clivio Piccione	Hubertus Bahlsen[9]
The Netherlands	Robert Doornbos[3]	Dennis Retera
New Zealand	Chris van der Drift[3]	Chris van der Drift	Jonny Reid
Pakistan	Did Not Participate[3]
Portugal	Filipe Albuquerque[3]	António Félix da Costa[9]
South Africa	Adrian Zaugg	Cristiano Morgado[9]
Switzerland	Neel Jani	Alexandre Imperatori
USA	Marco Andretti[3]	J. R. Hildebrand

Qualifying

The PowerBoost joker-style qualifying lap was not used for qualifying, with further review being made to determine its use in the following race.^[10]

It is the first time in A1GP history that the front row for both the Sprint and the Feature race has been the same since the introduction of the double qualifying sessions.^[11]

Sprint race qualifying[12] Pos Team Time Gap 1 Ireland 1:14.507 – 2 Netherlands 1:14.772 + 0.265 3 Portugal 1:14.788 + 0.281 4 Switzerland 1:15.202 + 0.695 5 France 1:15.360 + 0.853 6 New Zealand 1:15.457 + 0.950 7 Australia 1:15.504 + 0.997 8 Italy 1:15.614 + 1.107 9 Malaysia 1:15.710 + 1.203 10 Lebanon 1:15.839 + 1.332 11 South Africa 1:15.917 + 1.410 12 Mexico 1:15.972 + 1.465 13 Brazil 1:16.074 + 1.567 14 India 1:16.146 + 1.639 15 Great Britain 1:16.347 + 1.840 16 Monaco 1:16.424 + 1.917 17 USA 1:16.791 + 2.284 18 China 1:16.885 + 2.378 19 Indonesia 1:17.266 + 2.759

Feature race qualifying[13] Pos Team Time Gap 1 Ireland 1:14.411 – 2 Netherlands 1:14.676 + 0.265 3 Portugal 1:14.843 + 0.432 4 Australia 1:14.976 + 0.565 5 Switzerland 1:15.043 + 0.632 6 Malaysia 1:15.246 + 0.835 7 France 1:15.423 + 1.012 8 USA 1:15.527 + 1.116 9 Lebanon 1:15.587 + 1.176 10 New Zealand 1:15.622 + 1.211 11 India 1:15.699 + 1.288 12 Brazil 1:15.812 + 1.401 13 Mexico 1:15.892 + 1.481 14 Great Britain 1:15.902 + 1.491 15 Italy 1:15.942 + 1.531 16 South Africa 1:16.164 + 1.753 17 Monaco 1:16.735 + 2.324 18 Indonesia 1:16.783 + 2.372 19 China 1:17.184 + 2.773

Sprint Race

For safety concerns, regarding the "S" bend near the end of the lap, the Sprint Race featured a standing start, rather than the traditional rolling start.^[3]

Pos	Team	Driver	Laps	Time	Points
1	Ireland	Adam Carroll	15	19:40.271	10
2	Switzerland	Neel Jani	15	+ 1.488	8+1
3	Netherlands	Robert Doornbos	15	+ 3.559	6
4	France	Loïc Duval	15	+ 8.594	5
5	New Zealand	Chris van der Drift	15	+ 11.666	4
6	Portugal	Filipe Albuquerque	15	+ 12.665	3
7	Italy	Edoardo Piscopo	15	+ 14.959	2
8	Malaysia	Fairuz Fauzy	15	+ 15.797	1
9	India	Narain Karthikeyan	15	+ 20.973
10	South Africa	Adrian Zaugg	15	+ 22.030
11	USA	Marco Andretti	15	+ 30.565
12	Great Britain	Dan Clarke	15	+ 31.005
13	Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto	15	+ 32.361
14	Brazil	Felipe Guimarães	15	+ 33.134
15	Mexico	Salvador Durán	15	+ 40.601
16	Monaco	Clivio Piccione	15	+ 49.281*
17	China	Congfu Cheng	11	Spin
18	Lebanon	Daniel Morad	8	Accident
19	Australia	John Martin	5	Suspension

* 25 second penalty added to time, for causing an avoidable collision^[14]

Feature Race

Pos	Team	Driver	Laps	Time	Points
1	Switzerland	Neel Jani	50	1:06'19.574	15
2	Ireland	Adam Carroll	50	+ 1.047	12
3	Portugal	Filipe Albuquerque	50	+ 2.379	10+1
4	Australia	John Martin	50	+ 10.593	8
5	Netherlands	Robert Doornbos	50	+ 14.402	6
6	France	Loïc Duval	50	+ 17.423	5
7	India	Narain Karthikeyan	50	+ 20.215	4
8	Italy	Edoardo Piscopo	50	+ 23.156	3
9	South Africa	Adrian Zaugg	50	+ 23.347	2
10	Malaysia	Fairuz Fauzy	50	+ 26.832	1
11	USA	Marco Andretti	50	+ 45.799*
12	Great Britain	Dan Clarke	49	+ 1 lap
13	New Zealand	Chris van der Drift	49	+ 1 lap
14	China	Congfu Cheng	49	+ 1 lap
15	Brazil	Felipe Guimarães	49	+ 1 lap*
16	Mexico	Salvador Durán	43	Retired
17	Indonesia	Satrio Hermanto	42	Spin
18	Monaco	Clivio Piccione	33	Spin
19	Lebanon	Daniel Morad	1	Suspension

* 25 second penalty added to time – USA for passing the white line at the end of the pit lane, Brazil for causing an avoidable collision^[15]

Notes

• It was the 36th race weekend (72 starts).
• It was the 3rd race in New Zealand, and the 3rd at Taupo Motorsport Park.
• It was the first race as main driver for Dan Clarke.
• It was the first race weekend as rookie driver for António Félix da Costa, Hubertus Bahlsen, Adderly Fong and Cristiano Morgado.
• Records:
  • Portugal and Filipe Albuquerque scored their first fastest lap.
  • Neel Jani tied with Alex Yoong for the most A1GP starts – 54.
  • Neel Jani score 8 fastest laps.