A1 Team Ireland was the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

team of

A1 Grand Prix 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 themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

, an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the fourth season, 2008-09.

The team

Founded by Mark Kershaw and Mark Gallagher in 2005, the team was owned and run by

Status Grand Prix Status Grand Prix is a former motorsport team registered in Canada. Team history Based in Silverstone the team was formed in 2005 to run the A1 Team Ireland franchise in the new A1 Grand Prix series. The team's founders were former Jordan Grand Pr ...

. In 2008, Mark Kershaw sold his interest in the team. The new the seat holders were Mark Gallagher,

Teddy Yip Jr. Teddy Yip Jr, () born in La Jolla, California on 30 May 1982. Yip is the son of Macau-based Indonesians, Indonesian businessman Teddy Yip (businessman), Teddy Yip Sr. He has six half-siblings. His mother, Beverly Clark, is from Nova Scotia. He grew ...

, John P. Hynes and David Kennedy.

History

The inaugural team's 2005-06 car was presented to the public on 15 September 2005. For that debut season,

Ralph Firman Ralph David Firman Jr. (born 20 May 1975) is a British-born former racing driver who raced under Irish citizenship (his mother Angela is from Ireland) and an Irish-issued racing licence. Earlier in his career he raced under a British licence. ...

was the team's principal driver, scoring the team its first podium in Portugal to finish 8th overall in the championship. The series organisers awarded the team for being the best presented team,A1 Team Ireland at Eden Rock Sports
''edenrocksports.com'' the first of three consecutive wins for A1 Team Ireland. In its second season, the team did not perform quite as well. The best result achieved that season was fifth place in the Feature race at Shanghai, and the team finished in a disappointing 19th place. For the 2007–08 season,

secured some points at the season opener in Zandvoort before

Adam Carroll Adam Carroll may refer to: * Adam Carroll (racing driver) Adam Carroll (born 26 October 1982) is a Northern Irish professional racing driver. He last raced in the 2016–17 Formula E season for Jaguar Racing. He has also raced for Team Ireland ...

took over as the A1 Team Ireland principal driver. He went on to get four podium finishes in his debut season and record the team's first Feature Race victory in Mexico City. After winning Ireland's Dunlop Racing Driver of the Year,

Niall Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and ...

joined the team as the Rookie Driver. A1 Team Ireland ended Season Three in 6th position, helping them to win the 'Most Improved Team' award at the 2007/08 Gala Awards. A1 Team Ireland have won the A1GP award for best presented team in all three seasons alongside winning the 'Most Appealing Livery' trophy for their stunning green car in Season Two.A1GP Media Guide 2008/09 http://www.a1gppress.com/downloads/A1GP-Media-Guide-08-09.pdf In the 2008–09 season,

returned as lead driver, as the team set its sights on a full championship assault. As rookie driver, Niall Quinn provided the engineers with important feedback, and getting each race weekend off to a flying start. A1 Team Ireland were championship contenders most of the season, and won the championship at the last event of the season at Brands Hatch, with a dominant performance.

Drivers

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

), "spr" indicates the Sprint Race, "fea" indicates the Feature Race.

Notes

External links

a1teamireland.com
Official A1 Team Ireland website

Eden Rock Sports official website
a1gp.com
Official A1 Grand Prix Web Site {{National sports teams of Ireland Ireland A1 team National sports teams of Ireland Irish auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 2005 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2009