The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa was an A1 Grand Prix race which was held at Kyalami, South Africa.
Pre-race A1 Team Korea failed to participate the race as the organiser of the series could not supply electrical units and fuel tank due to mistake of the transportation from New Zealand. The team had planned the debut of 2008 Macau Grand Prix winner Keisuke Kunimoto (Lee Kyung-Woo), a Japanese driver of Korean descent, as rookie driver on the weekend.
Drivers TeamMain DriverRookie Driver(s)Reserve Driver AustraliaJohn MartinAshley Walsh BrazilFelipe Guimarães CanadaDid Not Participate ChinaHo-Pin TungCongfu Cheng FranceNicolas ProstNicolas Prost GermanyMichael AmmermüllerMichael Ammermüller Great BritainDanny WattsDanny WattsJames Winslow IndiaNarain KarthikeyanParthiva Sureshwaren IndonesiaZahir AliZahir AliSatrio Hermanto IrelandAdam Carroll ItalyEdoardo Piscopo KoreaDid Not Participate LebanonDaniel MoradDaniel MoradJimmy Auby MalaysiaFairuz FauzyAaron Lim MexicoSalvador DuranJuan Pablo García MonacoClivio PiccioneHubertus Bahlsen The NetherlandsJeroen BleekemolenDennis Retera New ZealandEarl BamberEarl BamberChris van der Drift PakistanDid Not Participate PortugalFilipe AlbuquerqueAntónio Félix da Costa South AfricaAdrian ZauggGavin CronjeCristiano Morgado SwitzerlandNeel JaniAlexandre Imperatori USAMarco AndrettiJ. R. Hildebrand
Qualifying
Sprint race qualifyingPosTeamTimeGap1 Netherlands1:27.717 –2 Portugal1:28.072 + 0.3553 Switzerland1:28.153 + 0.4364 Monaco1:28.417 + 0.7005 India1:28.431 + 0.7146 Ireland1:28.437 + 0.7207 France1:28.531 + 0.8148 South Africa1:28.890 + 1.1739 Malaysia1:28.904 + 1.18710 Italy1:29.253 + 1.53611 Germany1:29.337 + 1.62012 New Zealand1:29.364 + 1.64713 Great Britain1:29.567 + 1.85014 Brazil1:29.726 + 2.00915 China1:29.758 + 2.04116 Mexico1:29.884 + 2.16717 USA1:29.916 + 2.19918 Lebanon1:30.136 + 2.41919 Australia1:30.414 + 2.69720 Indonesiano timeFeature race qualifyingPosTeamTimeGap1 Monaco1:27.269 –2 Malaysia1:27.405 + 0.1363 New Zealand1:27.569 + 0.3004 Australia1:28.439 + 1.1705 Switzerland1:28.521 + 1.2526 Ireland1:28.593 + 1.3247 Portugal1:28.773 + 1.5048 Brazil1:28.878 + 1.6099 Netherlands1:28.926 + 1.65710 Great Britain1:29.092 + 1.82311 France1:29.155 + 1.88612 China1:29.158 + 1.88913 Mexico1:29.343 + 2.07414 USA1:29.487 + 2.21815 Germany1:29.565 + 2.29616 South Africa1:29.884 + 2.61517 Italy1:30.063 + 2.79418 India1:30.505 + 3.23619 Indonesia no time20 Lebanon no time
Sprint Race
PosTeamDriverLapsTimePoints1 NetherlandsJeroen Bleekemolen1421:35.105102 PortugalFilipe Albuquerque14 + 4.4078+13 SwitzerlandNeel Jani14 + 10.60064 IrelandAdam Carroll14 + 12.92555 MonacoClivio Piccione14 + 14.36346 IndiaNarain Karthikeyan14 + 18.47437 South AfricaAdrian Zaugg14 + 21.17828 New ZealandEarl Bamber14 + 26.53919 MalaysiaFairuz Fauzy14 + 26.92510 FranceNicolas Prost14 + 28.10111 ItalyEdoardo Piscopo14 + 32.08112 AustraliaJohn Martin14 + 34.47413 ChinaHo-Pin Tung14 + 37.80414 GermanyMichael Ammermüller14 + 39.06815 BrazilFelipe Guimarães14 + 39.71716 MexicoSalvador Durán14 + 45.00617 USAMarco Andretti14 + 55.63618 IndonesiaZahir Ali14 + 1:17.72419 Great BritainDanny Watts9 Accident20 LebanonDaniel Morad6 + 8 Laps
Feature Race
PosTeamDriverLapsTimePoints1 SwitzerlandNeel Jani401:02:24.617152 BrazilFelipe Guimarães40 + 13.176123 MonacoClivio Piccione40 + 14.193104 NetherlandsJeroen Bleekemolen40 + 17.02485 PortugalFilipe Albuquerque40 + 17.99566 LebanonDaniel Morad40 + 31.21057 Great BritainDanny Watts40 + 34.32848 USAMarco Andretti40 + 59.00039 IndonesiaZahir Ali40 + 1:03.995210 ItalyEdoardo Piscopo40 + 1:04.856111 GermanyMichael Ammermüller40 + 1:08.60312 IndiaNarain Karthikeyan40 + 1:09.15013 AustraliaJohn Martin40 + 1:20.54514 ChinaHo-Pin Tung22 Electrics15 MalaysiaFairuz Fauzy17 + 23 Laps0+116 South AfricaAdrian Zaugg15 Electrics17 New ZealandEarl Bamber3 Accident18 FranceNicolas Prost3 Accident19 MexicoSalvador Durán3 Accident20 IrelandAdam Carroll0 Spin
Post-race Following the race, the team principals of both Ireland and Malaysia issued statements regarding the on-track incident on the first lap of the Feature Race, which resulted in Ireland spinning out into retirement, and subsequently losing the championship lead to Switzerland.
Notes It was the 37th race weekend (74 starts). It was the 4th race in South Africa but the first at Kyalami. Records: It was the first ever pole position for Monaco and Clivio Piccione. It was the first ever podium for Monaco and Clivio Piccione. Switzerland's win in the feature race was driver Neel Jani's ninth in A1 Grand Prix, tying the record held by Nico Hülkenberg. Lebanon recorded the best finish in their history thanks to Daniel Morad's sixth in the feature race.
References
External links