A1 Grand Prix, Kyalami - Great Britain 2

A1 Team Great Britain is the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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.

Management

A1 Team Great Britain was one of the first six-seat holders in the series announced, with chairman

John Surtees John Surtees, (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. On his way to become a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, he won his first title in 1956, and followed with ...

hosting the event. The car was unveiled to the public in September 2005, displaying a distinctive blue, red and white livery to reflect the colours of the

flag of the United Kingdom The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801 which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in pe ...

, rather than Britain's traditional racing green colour. British financier Tony Clements was the national seat holder, and ran the corporate arm of the team until Round 5 of Season 4. Former

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and 500cc Motorcycle World Champion

was the team principal for the first 2 seasons of A1GP, working with the organisational structure, technical development, recruitment and race operations for the team. He quit his role before season 3 and was replaced by Katie Clements. The

Arden International Arden International is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently runs teams in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and F4 British Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship ...

racing organisation was responsible for race operations of the team for the first season. However, for season 2 Surtees assembled a bespoke race team to handle the race operations of A1 Team Great Britain. That team stayed in place for the 3rd season of A1GP, and the first 5 rounds of Season 4. However, between Rounds 5 and 6 of Season 4, A1 Team Great Britain entered administration. From Round 6 onwards, the car was run by mechanics and engineers employed by the series itself, with pit-stops carried out by the German team.

History

2008–09 season

''Driver:

Danny Watts Danny Watts is a British professional racing driver. Career He was born in Aylesbury, and started racing in 1993, when he began karting. After five seasons of karting, he stepped up to single seater racing in 1998 in the UK Formula First ch ...

Dan Clarke Daniel Clarke (born 4 October 1983) is a British auto racing driver, most recently competing in the Firestone Indy Lights series with Walker Racing, having previously competed in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and the Champ Car World Series. ...

'' In his first outing for the team at

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, Danny Watts took his first pole position in the Feature Race qualifying.

2007–08 season

''Drivers:

Oliver Jarvis Oliver Jarvis (born 9 January 1984) is a British professional racing driver currently racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Mazda Team Joest. Jarvis won the 2022 24 Hours of Daytona with Meyer Shank Racing. Early life Bo ...

Robbie Kerr Robert "Robbie" Kerr (born 26 September 1979 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) is a British racing driver. In 2002, Kerr won the British Formula 3 championship. Career Early career In 2002 he became the British Formula Three Champion for A ...

'' For the third season running, Team Great Britain finished 3rd in the championship, with two victories and five podiums, including another near-perfect weekend at

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 host ...

2006–07 season

''Drivers:

Darren Manning Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British motor racing driver who has raced in the IRL IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Career history Early career Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, ...

'' Again, Team Great Britain finished third in the overall championship, but accumulated three race victories as well as seven podiums, including a near-perfect weekend in their home race.

2005–06 season

''Drivers:

'' A1 Team Great Britain was one of the first six-seat holders in the series announced, with chairman

hosting the event. The car was unveiled to the public in September 2005, displaying a distinctive blue, red and white livery to reflect the colours of the

, rather than Britain's traditional racing green colour. Team Great Britain were the first team in the series to offer a testing role to a woman driver.

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantics ...

(who had previously tested a

car for the now-defunct

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

team), tested at the

Dubai Autodrome The Dubai Autodrome is an FIA sanctioned motorsports circuit located in Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The architects of the project were Populous and the circuit was designed by Clive Bowen of Apex Circuit Design. Opened in October ...

during the United Arab Emirates race weekend. The team finished 3rd in the championship, amassing eight podiums.

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" indicate a Sprint Race, "fea" indicate a Main Race. Results in bold indicate pole position, and results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

External links

A1 Team Great Britain Official Web Site

A1gp.com Official A1 Grand Prix Web Site
{{A1_Grand_Prix_teams Great Britain A1 team A1 British auto racing teams Auto racing teams established in 2005 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2009