First sprint race A1GP won by Brazil

Published on 25 September 2005 by Thorsten Hendriks

The inaugral sprint race in the existence of A1 Grand Prix has been won by Brazil. Nelson Piquet Jr managed to keep the lead in the race from start.
Team Netherlands didn't even make it through the third corner. The South African driver Stephen Simpson rammed Jos's car from behind. After the race he apologised for this and said that he was too late with braking. Jos's car suffered damage to the suspension and rear wing, which meant Team Netherlands retired from the race. Bad luck!

The official speech of Sheikh Maktoum ended with: "Gentlemen, for the pride of your nation, start your engines!"
That was the signal for the start of the first race. Somewhat uneasy the whole field made a rolling start. Brands Hatch is a beautiful circuit, but the first few corners are unfit to try to overtake. Most drivers knew this and started carefully.

Besides the disappointing retirement of Team Netherlands, Sheikh Maktoum's idea for a new motorsport gave us some good racing. The cameras around the track gave a good view of what the cars are capable of. It gave everyone a good idea what A1 Grand Prix is all about....for the pride of your nation.

France gained an extra point for the fastest lap, which meant they received the same amount of points as the winner: 10 points.

BRANDS HATCH (2005 Season)
1  BRA BRAZIL       18 23:15.682 181.0       -       - 252.1  5 1'17.255
2  FRA FRANCE       18 23:18.122 180.7 +02.440 + 2.440 253.3  7 1'17.143
3  NZL NEW ZEALAND  18 23:18.581 180.7 +02.899 + 0.459 256.9 14 1'17.356
4  AUS AUSTRALIA    18 23:27.139 179.6 +11.457 + 8.558 251.0  5 1'17.530
5  GBR GREAT BRITAI 18 23:28.479 179.4 +12.797 + 1.340 253.3  5 1'17.712
6  MEX MEXICO       18 23:32.955 178.8 +17.273 + 4.476 251.5  4 1'17.712
7  PAK PAKISTAN     18 23:33.714 178.7 +18.032 + 0.759 255.7  4 1'18.131
8  POR PORTUGAL     18 23:33.871 178.7 +18.189 + 0.157 256.3  3 1'17.955
9  SUI SWITZERLAND  18 23:36.533 178.4 +20.851 + 2.662 253.3 15 1'18.063
10 IRL IRELAND      18 23:36.738 178.3 +21.056 + 0.205 256.9  6 1'17.951
11 USA USA          18 23:39.548 178.0 +23.866 + 2.810 254.5 13 1'18.180
12 JPN JAPAN        18 23:40.874 177.8 +25.192 + 1.326 253.9 15 1'18.174
13 MAL MALAYSIA     18 23:41.033 177.8 +25.351 + 0.159 255.7  9 1'18.198
14 GER GERMANY      18 23:41.587 177.7 +25.905 + 0.554 255.1 10 1'18.205
15 IND INDIA        18 23:43.475 177.5 +27.793 + 1.888 253.9  8 1'18.199
16 ITA ITALY        18 23:51.203 176.5 +35.521 + 7.728 261.3 17 1'18.234
17 INA INDONESIA    18 23:56.015 175.9 +40.333 + 4.812 253.9 17 1'18.782
18 CZE CZECH REPC   18 23:56.028 175.9 +40.346 + 0.013 260.7  2 1'18.784
19 CAN CANADA       18 23:58.303 175.7 +42.621 + 2.275 254.5 17 1'19.008
20 AUT AUSTRIA      18 24:10.975 174.1 +55.293 +12.672 255.7 16 1'19.646
21 CHN CHINA        18 24:13.876 173.8 +58.194 + 2.901 253.9 10 1'19.732
22 LIB LEBANON      18 24:14.774 173.7 +59.092 + 0.898 252.7 14 1'19.664
23 RUS RUSSIA       17 23:20.165 170.4 1 Lap   1 Lap   251.5  4 1'20.960
24 RSA SOUTH AFRIC  17 24:21.309 163.3 1 Lap  1'01.144 249.2  5 1'17.939
Not classified
25 NED NETHERLANDS   0  0.000

Thorsten Hendriks