2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China
# 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China

The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China was an A1 Grand Prix race, held at Chengdu Goldenport Circuit, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.

All proceeds from this race were donated to the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund, following the earthquake which devastated the region in May 2008.

## Drivers

After missing the first race due to a lack of cars, A1 Teams Great Britain, India and Mexico took part in this race. Both A1 Team Pakistan and A1 Team Germany will not make their season debut until the fourth round at Taupo. Team Pakistan require more changes to their chassis to render it suitable for their lead driver Adam Khan, while Team Germany is undergoing management restructuring.

The status of A1 Team Canada was not announced, but they were removed from the race's drivers list on the A1GP website front page, and did not make an appearance. Their status for future events is still unknown.

| Team | Main Driver | Rookie Driver |
| - | - | - |
| Australia | John Martin | |
| Brazil | Felipe Guimarães | Felipe Guimarães |
| Canada | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate |
| China | Ho-Pin Tung | |
| France | Nicolas Prost | Nicolas Prost |
| Germany | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate |
| Great Britain | Danny Watts | Danny Watts |
| India | Narain Karthikeyan | Narain $Karthikeyan^↑$ |
| Indonesia | Satrio Hermanto | Zahir Ali |
| Ireland | Adam Carroll | Niall Quinn |
| Italy | Edoardo Piscopo | Christian Montanari |
| Korea | Hwang Jin-Woo | Hwang Jin-Woo |
| Lebanon | Daniel Morad | Daniel Morad |
| Malaysia | Fairuz Fauzy | Aaron Lim |
| Mexico | Davíd Garza Pérez | Davíd Garza Pérez |
| Monaco | Clivio Piccione | |
| The Netherlands | Robert Doornbos | Dennis Retera |
| New Zealand | Chris van der Drift | Chris van der Drift |
| Pakistan | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate |
| Portugal | Filipe Albuquerque | |
| South Africa | Adrian Zaugg | |
| Switzerland | Neel Jani | Alexandre Imperiatori |
| USA | Marco Andretti | Marco Andretti↑ |

↑ Karthikeyan and Andretti were granted special dispensation to participate in the rookie session as neither team had completed as many testing miles as the other teams with the new car. Karthikeyan (F1) and Andretti (IRL ICS) are veteran drivers in one of the four series (F1, GP2, FN, IRL-ICS) which their drivers may not compete as A1GP rookies.

## Qualifying

Due to a delay in recovering the Italian car after spinning into a gravel trap during the first qualifying session, the second qualifying session was cancelled, meaning all times from Q1 set the field for Q1, with Ireland taking their first ever pole position, ahead of The Netherlands and Switzerland.

Q4 was stopped briefly after a spin for France. The session was resumed with teams able to make a run in time. Danny Watts for Great Britain took pole ahead of Ireland and Portugal.

Sprint race qualifying :

| Pos | Team | Time | Gap |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ireland | 1'15.423 | – |
| 2 | Netherlands | 1'15.492 | +0.069 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 1'15.683 | +0.260 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 1'15.799 | +0.376 |
| 5 | Portugal | 1'16.124 | +0.701 |
| 6 | France | 1'16.164 | +0.741 |
| 7 | South Africa | 1'16.268 | +0.845 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 1'16.505 | +1.082 |
| 9 | India | 1'16.553 | +1.130 |
| 10 | Monaco | 1'16.794 | +1.371 |
| 11 | Australia | 1'17.054 | +1.631 |
| 12 | Brazil | 1'17.131 | +1.708 |
| 13 | Lebanon | 1'17.143 | +1.720 |
| 14 | Malaysia | 1'17.171 | +1.748 |
| 15 | Italy | 1'17.288 | +1.865 |
| 16 | USA | 1'17.437 | +2.014 |
| 17 | Mexico | 1'18.025 | +2.602 |
| 18 | China | 1'18.128 | +2.703 |
| 19 | Indonesia | 1'19.479 | +4.056 |
| 20 | Korea | 1'20.102 | +4.679 |

Feature race qualifying :

| Pos | Team | Time | Gap |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Great Britain | 1'15.325 | – |
| 2 | Ireland | 1'15.356 | +0.031 |
| 3 | Portugal | 1'15.400 | +0.075 |
| 4 | Switzerland | 1'15.621 | +0.296 |
| 5 | South Africa | 1'15.947 | +0.622 |
| 6 | Malaysia | 1'15.963 | +0.638 |
| 7 | Monaco | 1'16.016 | +0.691 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 1'16.124 | +0.799 |
| 9 | Australia | 1'16.289 | +0.964 |
| 10 | Brazil | 1'16.403 | +1.078 |
| 11 | USA | 1'16.557 | +1.232 |
| 12 | France | 1'16.604 | +1.279 |
| 13 | Lebanon | 1'16.702 | +1.377 |
| 14 | Mexico | 1'16.965 | +1.660 |
| 15 | New Zealand | 1'17.176 | +1.851 |
| 16 | India | 1'17.218 | +1.893 |
| 17 | China | 1'17.299 | +1.974 |
| 18 | Indonesia | 1'17.759 | +2.434 |
| 19 | Italy | 1'17.845 | +2.520 |
| 20 | Korea | 1'18.875 | +3.550 |

## Sprint Race

For safety reasons, a pit stop was not required for the Sprint Race. In lap 2, Brazil is slowing and the Safety car is on while Felipe Guimarães reach the pits. In the same lap 2, China spun and lost some positions but finally catch up and pass Korea on lap 7. when the Safety car is out, the order was Ireland, Netherlands, Great Britain, Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, New Zealand and France. Those positions remain until the end of the race with the fastest lap for Adam Carroll.

| Pos | Team | Driver | Laps | Time | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ireland | Adam Carroll | 18 | 22'58.740 | 10 +1 |
| 2 | Netherlands | Robert Doornbos | 18 | +2.037 | 8 |
| 3 | Great Britain | Danny Watts | 18 | +14.361 | 6 |
| 4 | Switzerland | Neel Jani | 18 | +14.619 | 5 |
| 5 | South Africa | Adrian Zaugg | 18 | +20.108 | 4 |
| 6 | Portugal | Filipe Albuquerque | 18 | +20.475 | 3 |
| 7 | New Zealand | Chris van der Drift | 18 | +27.224 | 2 |
| 8 | France | Nicolas Prost | 18 | +27.923 | 1 |
| 9 | Monaco | Clivio Piccione | 18 | +30.378 | |
| 10 | India | Narain Karthikeyan | 18 | +32.268 | |
| 11 | Australia | John Martin | 18 | +33.198 | |
| 12 | Lebanon | Daniel Morad | 18 | +34.293 | |
| 13 | Malaysia | Fairuz Fauzy | 18 | +34.665 | |
| 14 | Italy | Edoardo Piscopo | 18 | +36.541 | |
| 15 | USA | Marco Andretti | 18 | +38.102 | |
| 16 | Mexico | Davíd Garza Pérez | 18 | +42.511 | |
| 17 | China | Ho-Pin Tung | 18 | +49.611 | |
| 18 | Indonesia | Satrio Hermanto | 18 | +1'04.128 | |
| 19 | Korea | Hwang Jin-Woo | 18 | +1'06.171 | |
| 20 | Brazil | Felipe Guimarães | 14 | +4 laps | |

## Feature Race

The second pit-stop window for the Feature Race was set for Laps 24–32.

| Pos | Team | Driver | Laps | Time | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Portugal | Filipe Albuquerque | 51 | 1:11'23.179 | 15 |
| 2 | Ireland | Adam Carroll | 51 | +0.571 | 12 |
| 3 | Great Britain | Danny Watts | 51 | +4.802 | 10 |
| 4 | Switzerland | Neel Jani | 51 | +7.157 | 8 |
| 5 | Malaysia | Fairuz Fauzy | 51 | +13.302 | 6 |
| 6 | Australia | John Martin | 51 | +15.544 | 5 |
| 7 | Monaco | Clivio Piccione | 51 | +16.236 | 4 |
| 8 | USA | Marco Andretti | 51 | +16.690 | 3 |
| 9 | South Africa | Adrian Zaugg | 51 | +18.030 | 2 |
| 10 | India | Narain Karthikeyan | 51 | +18.579 | 1 |
| 11 | New Zealand | Chris van der Drift | 51 | +19.675 | |
| 12 | China | Ho-Pin Tung | 51 | +20.126 | |
| 13 | Lebanon | Daniel Morad | 51 | +22.580 | |
| 14 | Indonesia | Satrio Hermanto | 51 | +31.285 | |
| 15 | Mexico | Davíd Garza Pérez | 50 | +1 lap | |
| 16 | Netherlands | Robert Doornbos | 50 | +1 lap | +1 |
| 17 | Korea | Hwang Jin-Woo | 50 | +1 lap | |
| Ret | France | Nicolas Prost | 37 | Spin | |
| Ret | Italy | Edoardo Piscopo | 30 | Mechanical | |
| Ret | Brazil | Felipe Guimarães | 13 | Mechanical | |
