2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain
# 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain

The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain was an A1 Grand Prix race at Brands Hatch, England. It was set to be the final round of the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season, but became the season finale, due to the cancellation of the Mexican round due to the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Ultimately, it would be the last race for A1GP as bankruptcy followed later in the year.

A1 Team Ireland became the fourth A1 Grand Prix champions, with a double pole position, and double victory, to take Ireland's first international motor racing championship.

## Title Battle

With the British round now becoming the season finale, this left the championship in a three-way battle for the title.

Switzerland lead going into the event with 88 points, with four points to drop; followed by Ireland with 86, and Portugal with 82. The Netherlands are currently too far behind to win the title with 66 points, as even though 27 points are on offer for maximum score, the team has to drop 6 points from their worst event.

Also, even if all the teams finish equal of points, the tie-breaker rules would come into play. Currently Switzerland would win the title with four wins, to Ireland's three, and Portugal's one.

## Drivers

| Team | Main Driver | Rookie Driver(s) | Reserve Driver |
| - | - | - | - |
| Australia | John Martin | | |
| Brazil | Felipe Guimarães | | |
| Canada | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate |
| China | Congfu Cheng | | Ho-Pin Tung |
| France | Nicolas Prost | Nicolas Prost | |
| Germany | Michael Ammermüller | | |
| Great Britain | Dan Clarke | Aaron Steele | |
| India | Narain Karthikeyan | Parthiva Sureshwaren | |
| Indonesia | Satrio Hermanto | | |
| Ireland | Adam Carroll | Niall Quinn | |
| Italy | Vitantonio Liuzzi | | |
| Korea | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate |
| Lebanon | Daniel Morad | Jimmy Auby | |
| Malaysia | Aaron Lim | | |
| Mexico | Salvador Durán | Juan Pablo Garcia | |
| Monaco | Clivio Piccione | Hubertus Bahlsen | |
| The Netherlands | Jeroen Bleekemolen | Dennis Retera | |
| New Zealand | Earl Bamber | | |
| Pakistan | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate | Did Not Participate |
| Portugal | Filipe Albuquerque | | |
| South Africa | Alan van der Merwe | Cristiano Morgado | |
| Switzerland | Neel Jani | Alexandre Imperatori | |
| USA | J. R. Hildebrand | | |

## Qualifying

Sprint race qualifying :

| Pos | Team | Time | Gap |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ireland | 1:11.615 | - |
| 2 | Mexico | $1:11.653^†$ | + 0.038 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 1:11.992 | + 0.377 |
| 4 | USA | $1:11.994^†$ | + 0.379 |
| 5 | Portugal | $1:12.040^†$ | + 0.425 |
| 6 | New Zealand | $1:12.108^†$ | + 0.493 |
| 7 | India | $1:12.109^†$ | + 0.494 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 1:12.212 | + 0.597 |
| 9 | Indonesia | $1:12.658^†$ | + 1.043 |
| 10 | Australia | 1:12.745 | + 1.130 |
| 11 | Lebanon | $1:12.889^†$ | + 1.274 |
| 12 | France | 1:13.011 | + 1.396 |
| 13 | Great Britain | 1:13.019 | + 1.404 |
| 14 | Monaco | 1:13.260 | + 1.645 |
| 15 | Germany | 1:13.329 | + 1.714 |
| 16 | Italy | $1:13.549^†$ | + 1.934 |
| 17 | Brazil | 1:13.584 | + 1.969 |
| 18 | Malaysia | $1:13.686^†$ | + 2.071 |
| 19 | South Africa | 1:13.854 | + 2.239 |
| 20 | China | 1:13.861 | + 2.246 |

Feature race qualifying :

| Pos | Team | Time | Gap |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ireland | $1:10.902^†$ | - |
| 2 | Monaco | $1:11.085^†$ | + 0.183 |
| 3 | Netherlands | $1:11.146^†$ | + 0.244 |
| 4 | Switzerland | $1:11.338^†$ | + 0.436 |
| 5 | France | $1:11.543^†$ | + 0.641 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 1:11.633 | + 0.731 |
| 7 | Australia | $1:11.930^†$ | + 1.028 |
| 8 | China | $1:12.180^†$ | + 1.278 |
| 9 | Portugal | 1:12.270 | + 1.368 |
| 10 | India | 1:12.397 | + 1.495 |
| 11 | USA | 1:12.662 | + 1.760 |
| 12 | South Africa | $1:12.730^†$ | + 1.828 |
| 13 | Mexico | 1:12.740 | + 1.838 |
| 14 | Great Britain | $1:12.756^†$ | + 1.854 |
| 15 | Lebanon | 1:12.766 | + 1.864 |
| 16 | Germany | $1:12.797^†$ | + 1.895 |
| 17 | Brazil | $1:13.048^†$ | + 2.146 |
| 18 | Italy | 1:13.131 | + 2.229 |
| 19 | Indonesia | 1:13.560 | + 2.658 |
| 20 | Malaysia | 1:14.203 | + 3.301 |

$^†$ Team utilized Powerboost "joker" qualifying lap.

## Sprint Race

| Pos | Team | Driver | Laps | Time | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ireland | Adam Carroll | 18 | 22:32.704 | 10+1 |
| 2 | India | Narain Karthikeyan | 18 | + 7.230 | 8 |
| 3 | Mexico | Salvador Durán | 18 | + 12.340 | 6 |
| 4 | USA | J. R. Hildebrand | 18 | + 12.689 | 5 |
| 5 | Portugal | Filipe Albuquerque | 18 | + 13.018 | 4 |
| 6 | Netherlands | Jeroen Bleekemolen | 18 | + 13.783 | 3 |
| 7 | Australia | John Martin | 18 | + 15.208 | 2 |
| 8 | Switzerland | Neel Jani | 18 | + 22.220 | 1 |
| 9 | France | Nicolas Prost | 18 | + 22.945 | |
| 10 | Italy | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 18 | + 27.062 | |
| 11 | Germany | Michael Ammermüller | 18 | + 31.947 | |
| 12 | Indonesia | Satrio Hermanto | 18 | + 33.159 | |
| 13 | Great Britain | Dan Clarke | 18 | + 33.541 | |
| 14 | China | Cheng Congfu | 18 | + 34.963 | |
| 15 | South Africa | Alan van der Merwe | 18 | + 40.488 | |
| 16 | Malaysia | Aaron Lim | 18 | + 41.528 | |
| 17 | Lebanon | Daniel Morad | 13 | Spin | |
| 18 | New Zealand | Earl Bamber | 13 | Spin | |
| 19 | Monaco | Clivio Piccione | 8 | Fire | |
| 20 | Brazil | Felipe Guimarães | Did Not Start | Did Not Start | |

## Feature Race

| Pos | Team | Driver | Laps | Time | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ireland | Adam Carroll | 49 | 1:04:14.970 | 15 |
| 2 | Netherlands | Jeroen Bleekemolen | 49 | + 10.156 | 12 |
| 3 | Switzerland | Neel Jani | 49 | + 13.564 | 10 |
| 4 | Monaco | Clivio Piccione | 49 | + 14.293 | 8 |
| 5 | Portugal | Filipe Albuquerque | 49 | + 16.484 | 6 |
| 6 | Mexico | Salvador Durán | 49 | + 21.810 | 5 |
| 7 | Great Britain | Dan Clarke | 49 | + 23.409 | 4 |
| 8 | Australia | John Martin | 49 | + 24.493 | 3+1 |
| 9 | Italy | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 49 | + 46.004 | 2 |
| 10 | France | Nicolas Prost | 49 | + 49.094 | 1 |
| 11 | South Africa | Alan van der Merwe | 49 | + 1:13.905 | |
| 12 | Lebanon | Daniel Morad | 49 | + 1:16.257 | |
| 13 | Indonesia | Satrio Hermanto | 48 | + 1 Lap | |
| 14 | USA | J. R. Hildebrand | 48 | + 1 Lap | |
| 15 | Malaysia | Aaron Lim | 27 | Spin | |
| 16 | Germany | Michael Ammermüller | 26 | Exhaust | |
| 17 | New Zealand | Earl Bamber | 6 | Spin | |
| 18 | India | Narain Karthikeyan | 0 | Accident | |
| 19 | China | Cheng Congfu | 0 | Collision | |
| 20 | Brazil | Felipe Guimarães | Did Not Start | Did Not Start | |
