The 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain was an event for the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix Operations Ltd. operated as A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themse ...

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

championship, held over 23–25 September 2005 at the

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

circuit in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. This was the first of eleven rounds in the

2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season The 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season was the inaugural season for the A1 Grand Prix series. It began on 25 September 2005, and finished on 2 April 2006 after eleven races. Calendar The first A1 Grand Prix season consisted of 11 rounds, all held i ...

, and the first A1 Grand Prix event outright.

Report

Practice

There were eight red flags in practice due to incidents. In the first session,

A1 Team India A1 Team India was the Indian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The seatholder for Team India was former Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan. Argo racing Cars Ltd. were the Technical Servicer Provider for A1 T ...

Karun Chandhok Karun Chandhok (; born 19 January 1984) is an Indian former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 11 Grands Prix from to . Chandhok also competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed fo ...

crashed into

Jos Verstappen Johannes Franciscus "Jos" Verstappen (; born 4 March 1972) is a Dutch racing and rally driver, who competes in the European Rally Championship as a privateer. Verstappen competed in Formula One between and . Born and raised in Dutch Limburg, ...

at a hairpin, sending him airborne and damaging his car to such an extent that he was unable to set a time in the second session. Rain affected the second session, causing slower speeds and spins. Free Practice 3, held on Saturday, saw

A1 Team France A1 Team France was the French team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the inaugural season, 2005-06. Management A1 Team France's owner was Jean-Paul Driot. The team was previously ...

top the timesheets with a 1:15.421 courtesy of

Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin (r ...

. Matthew Halliday set the second quickest time for

A1 Team New Zealand A1 Team New Zealand was the New Zealand team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The team was formed by and is owned by prominent Auckland businessman Colin Giltrap, well known for this car dealerships. The team is man ...

, which was good enough to see him nominated for qualifying.

Qualifying

Nelson Piquet, Jr. took A1GP's first ever

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

for

A1 Team Brazil A1 Team Brazil was the Brazilian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The seat holder for ''A1 Team Brazil'' is the former Formula One World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Since 2005, Brazilian footballer Ronaldo has ...

. Piquet set the fastest time over the entire session, with a 1:14.965 on his third run. Combined with the best first-lap time, he produced an aggregate time of 2:30.769, leading the results by over three tenths of a second ahead of Halliday. Brazil did not attempt a time in the final run, which was topped by Prémat, placing them third on the grid for the sprint race. Fourth position went to

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

A1 Team Australia A1 Team Australia was the Australian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The team chairman is former Formula One world champion Alan Jones (racing driver), Alan Jones, backed by general manager and former NASCAR ...

, followed by the home team

A1 Team Great Britain A1 Team Great Britain was the British team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management A1 Team Great Britain was one of the first six-seat holders in the series announced, with chairman John Surtees hosting the event. The car ...

. The A1 Grand Prix rules allowed teams to use one driver for qualifying and another for the race, provided the race driver's best practice time is within 102% of the team's best qualifying lap – resulting in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Basil Shaaban Basil Shaaban (born 27 March 1980 in Beirut) is a Lebanese racing driver. Early racing Shaaban began racing in Lebanon at the age of 14 at the Circuit des Champions karting center near Brummana. Eventually, he worked his way up to driving 100 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Qinghua Ma Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987) is a Chinese racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup with Cyan Performance Lynk & Co. Ma became the first Chinese driver to win an FIA World Championship race when he won race ...

replaced with Khalil Beschir and

Tengyi Jiang Jiang Tengyi (, born January 30, 1985, in Shanghai) is a Chinese racing driver who drives for A1 Team China. In 1998 he took part in the Chinese KART Cup and raced to third place. In 2000, he repeated his performance in the KART Title Match (In ...

respectively.

Sprint race

Scheduled for 18 laps or 30 minutes (whichever came first), the first ever A1GP sprint race began with a rolling start. Prémat got the best start of the front-runners, slipping inside Halliday to move into second place. Power retained his fourth position, slightly ahead of Robbie Kerr for A1 Team Great Britain. Piquet made it through the first turn with no trouble, and quickly began building a sizeable lead.

in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

car suffered damage to his car after a collision with

Stephen Simpson Stephen Simpson (born 8 January 1984) is a South African-American professional racing driver currently competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and previously in the A1 Grand Prix, Champ Car Atlantic Championship and the Indy P ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, forcing him to limp back to the pits and retire from the race. Simpson was also required to pit at the end of the first lap to repair damage from the collision. The field remained in almost the same order for the remainder of the race, as Piquet, Prémat and Halliday produced a gap back to Power, who pulled away from Kerr to secure fourth place.

A1 Team USA A1 Team USA was the American team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management Owner Rick Weidinger became interested in A1 Team USA and the A1 Grand Prix series when national franchises were being bid for the new series. Along w ...

Scott Speed Scott Andrew Speed (born January 24, 1983) is an American race car driver who has competed in numerous disciplines, including open-wheel racing, open-wheel, stock car racing, stock car, and rallycross racing. In , Speed became the first American ...

moved from 17th to 11th on the opening lap and held that position until the end of the race.

A1 Team Mexico A1 Team Mexico was the Mexican team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management ''A1 Team Mexico'' owners were Juan Cortina and Julio Jáuregui.Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

car in 7th – which spent most of the race holding up

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

–

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

behind him.

Main race

Piquet took the first position on the grid for the feature race, thanks to his comprehensive victory in the sprint race. Prémat suffered a battery problem between the two races which required some frantic work by the pit crew, resulting in Premat leaving the pit lane with 45 seconds to spare. This time the race started with a standing start, however Halliday stalled from third spotand had to start from the pits. Prémat stalled on the race start proper, putting him out of the race immediately. Piquet led from Power on the opening lap. Further back in the field, Michael Devaney of Ireland collided with

Neel Jani Neel Jani (born 8 December 1983) is a Swiss people, Swiss professional racing driver. He achieved his greatest success winning the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 after first joining Porsche 919 Hybrid, Porsche's Le Mans Pro ...

of Switzerland, putting both cars out of the race. Beschir spun off the track, hitting a wall on the outside and then coming back across the track narrowly in front of four cars. The Lebanese driver was able to continue the race, which was not the case for

and

A1 Team Indonesia A1 Team Indonesia was the Indonesian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management ''A1 Team Indonesia'' has been operating since January 2008 by Performance Racing, which provide technical and race services. Its team now ...

Ananda Mikola Ananda Mikola Soeprapto (born 27 April 1980 in Jakarta) is an Indonesian former racing driver. Mikola competed in the Italian and International Formula 3000 series from 1999 to 2001 and was champion of Asian F3 in the 2005 season. He is best k ...

who both did not complete lap 1. Portugal soon joined the ever-growing list of retirees when

Álvaro Parente Álvaro Maia Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portugal, Portuguese professional racing driver. Career Early career After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at ...

retired with a battery problem on lap two. Having started in 16th,

Enrico Toccacelo Enrico Toccacelo (born 14 December 1978 in Rome) is an Italian former auto racer with karting, GT and Formula 3000 experience. He won three F3000 events and briefly led Vitantonio Liuzzi in the 2004 championship before Liuzzi went on to win the ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

climbed to a surprising 5th after taking an early compulsory pitstop. Piquet continued to lead and open and impressive gap back to Power, who was being hounded by Kerr for second. Several battles were emerging throughout the field, involving Pakistan and Italy for 4th place, Germany and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

for 6th, as well as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and South Africa for 9th. Speed rejoined the race after having to pit for a new nose cone earlier in the race, now lying several laps behind the leaders. With Germany taking its compulsory pitstop, Verstappen moved into 7th having started last. Malaysia lost time in the pit cycle as the mechanics struggled to fit a wheel, a common occurrence in early A1GP races. Pakistan, who had been held up by A1 Team Austria while trying to lap them, also lost out to the Netherlands when both teams pitted. On lap 13, Toccacelo and Beschir collided at Paddock Hill Bend, resulting in the Lebanese car barrel-rolling through the gravel. The top three pitted as the Safety Car came out for the first time, but Brazil also had problems changing tyres Great Britain and Australia past. The British car then suffered another battery failure under the safety car, forcing Kerr to retire and promoting Power to the lead. Power led Piquet and

Salvador Durán Salvador Durán Sánchez (born 6 May 1985) is a Mexican race car driver who raced in the FIA Formula E Championship for the Amlin Aguri team. Durán has also previously competed in A1 Grand Prix, Formula Renault 3.5, and the NASCAR Toyota Ser ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

on the restart. Only a few laps later,

A1 Team Russia The A1 Team Russia was the Russian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Complete A1 Grand Prix results (Template:A1GP results legend, key), "spr" indicate a sprint race, "fea" indicate a main race. References External ...

driver Aleksey Vasilyev spun off the track and forced the safety car to come out again. On the second restart, Piquet passed Power and drove away to win by 11 seconds over Australia, followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada and Germany. Piquet's win finished a clean-sweep for Brazil, claiming pole position, both race wins and the bonus point for the fastest race lap of the weekend to give the team the maximum 21 points.

Results

Qualification

Qualification took place on Saturday, 24 September 2005. Lap times in blue (the two fastest times from a country) counted towards a countries' aggregate.

Sprint Race results

The Sprint Race took place on Sunday, 25 September 2005 Mexico leads Kiwis

Main Race results

The Main Race also took place on Sunday, 25 September 2005.

Points

;Event and Championship standings * –

received a bonus point for setting the fastest race lap of the weekend.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2005-06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain 2000s in Kent