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2006–07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Beijing, China

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2006-07 A1GP of China
Race Details
Race 3 of 11 in the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season
DateNovember 12, 2006
LocationBeijing International Streetcircuit
Beijing, China
WeatherClear, 12°C
Qualifying
Pole The Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen)
Time1:00.093 (no pole time1, no pole time2)
Sprint Race
1st The Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen)
2nd Mexico (Salvador Durán)
3rd Italy (Enrico Toccacelo)
Main Race
1st Italy (Enrico Toccacelo)
2nd Great Britain (Oliver Jarvis)
3rd Australia (Karl Reindler)
Fast Lap
FL Canada (James Hinchcliffe)
Time58.107, (Lap 39 of Feature Race)
Official Classifications

The 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China was an A1 Grand Prix race, held on November 12, 2006 at Beijing International Streetcircuit, Beijing, China. It was the third race in the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season and the first and the only meeting held at the circuit.

Due to various safety concerns, the circuit was shortened, and the races started behind the safety car, with the Sprint Race was run mostly behind the safety car. These incidents led to questions about the management and organization of both the event and A1GP in general, eventually leading to series' collapse in 2009. Following the incident and the track's lack of funding, the first Chinese race of the season was moved to Zhuhai International Circuit for the 2007-08 season.

Report

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Layout of the Beijing International Streetcircuit

Practice

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The first day of practice was canceled because of safety concerns, as the hairpin at the end of the backstraight was too tight for the cars to negotiate safely due to a 180 degree left turn – resulting in cars were running wide and stopping mid-corner. A revised track layout was devised for an extended Saturday practice session, creating a wider hairpin halfway up the straight, bypassing most of the old straight.[1]

Qualifying

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More problems arose in qualifying, when manhole covers on the roads were coming undone due to the racing cars' high downforce and low center of gravity. Grid positions were decided based on practice times, resulting in A1 Team Netherlands driver Jeroen Bleekemolen taking pole position for the Sprint race. Some advertising banners also came loose around the circuit.

Races

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Both races started behind the safety car as the first corner was deemed unsafe.

More than half the race was held under the safety car, as South Africa's Adrian Zaugg spun and stalled his car and blocked half of the track. Bleekemolen won the race for the Netherlands, with Salvador Durán of Mexico and A1 Team Italy's Enrico Toccacelo in second and third.

Toccacelo won the feature race, with Britain's Oliver Jarvis second and Australia's Karl Reindler a surprise third after James Hinchcliffe crashed out on the final lap. The feature race was shortened from 67 laps to 63 due to time constraints.[2]

Results

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Qualification

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Qualification was cancelled due to track problems. Accordingly, the grid was set from the times set in the 25 minutes of the morning practice session (Practice 3) before it was red-flagged, under article 144 of the Sporting Regulations.

Pos Team Driver Laps Quickest Time Gap
1 Netherlands Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 16 1:00.093 --
2 Mexico Mexico Salvador Durán 11 1:00.583 + 0.490
3 Italy Italy Enrico Toccacelo 14 1:00.942 + 0.849
4 Canada Canada James Hinchcliffe 11 1:01.103 + 1.010
5 Germany Germany Nico Hülkenberg 11 1:01.275 + 1.182
6 Brazil Brazil Raphael Matos 18 1:01.306 + 1.213
7 South Africa South Africa Adrian Zaugg 11 1:01.361 + 1.268
8 United Kingdom Great Britain Oliver Jarvis 19 1:01.404 + 1.311
9 Czech Republic Czech Republic Tomáš Enge 21 1:01.555 + 1.462
10 Switzerland Switzerland Neel Jani 11 1:01.711 + 1.618
11 Republic of Ireland Ireland Michael Devaney 12 1:02.810 + 2.717
12 New Zealand New Zealand Matt Halliday 11 1:02.852 + 2.759
13 United States USA Philip Giebler 11 1:02.916 + 2.823
14 Australia Australia Karl Reindler 10 1:02.999 + 2.906
15 China China Congfu Cheng 16 1:03.275 + 3.182
16 Malaysia Malaysia Alex Yoong 8 1:04.246 + 4.153
17 Singapore Singapore Christian Murchison 6 1:05.897 + 5.804
18 Indonesia Indonesia Ananda Mikola 9 1:06.038 + 5.945
19 India India Armaan Ebrahim 14 1:06.056 + 5.963
20 Lebanon Lebanon Basil Shaaban 14 1:06.389 + 6.296
21 France France Nicolas Lapierre 3 1:09.662 + 9.569
22 Pakistan Pakistan Nur B. Ali 13 1:10.263 + 10.170

Sprint Race results

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The Sprint Race took place on Sunday, November 12, 2006.

Pos Team Driver Laps Time Points
1 Netherlands Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 15 20'28.420 6
2 Mexico Mexico Salvador Durán 15 + 1.464 5
3 Italy Italy Enrico Toccacelo 15 + 2.311 4
4 Canada Canada James Hinchcliffe 15 + 3.375 3
5 Germany Germany Nico Hülkenberg 15 + 3.943 2
6 Brazil Brazil Raphael Matos 15 + 4.400 1
7 United Kingdom Great Britain Oliver Jarvis 15 + 7.377
8 Czech Republic Czech Republic Tomáš Enge 15 + 8.397
9 Switzerland Switzerland Neel Jani 15 + 8.849
10 New Zealand New Zealand Matt Halliday 15 + 9.265
11 United States USA Philip Giebler 15 + 10.422
12 Australia Australia Karl Reindler 15 + 11.920
13 China China Congfu Cheng 15 + 13.216
14 Malaysia Malaysia Alex Yoong 15 + 17.027
15 Indonesia Indonesia Ananda Mikola 15 + 18.479
16 Singapore Singapore Christian Murchison 15 + 20.659
17 France France Nicolas Lapierre 15 + 20.802
18 India India Armaan Ebrahim 15 + 22.253
19 Lebanon Lebanon Basil Shaaban 15 + 22.783
20 Republic of Ireland Ireland Michael Devaney 15 + 23.247
21 Pakistan Pakistan Nur B. Ali 15 + 47.541
DNF South Africa South Africa Adrian Zaugg 2 + 13 laps

Feature Race results

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The Feature Race took place on Sunday, November 12, 2006. The race was initially scheduled for 67 laps, but was shortened by five laps.[2]

Pos Team Driver Laps Time Points
1 Italy Italy Enrico Toccacelo 63 1.10.15.919 10
2 United Kingdom Great Britain Oliver Jarvis 63 + 4.508 9
3 Australia Australia Karl Reindler 63 + 5.917 8
4 France France Nicolas Lapierre 63 + 12.900 7
5 South Africa South Africa Adrian Zaugg 63 + 13.278 6
6 Czech Republic Czech Republic Tomáš Enge 63 + 13.684 5
7 Brazil Brazil Raphael Matos 63 + 14.839 4
8 Singapore Singapore Christian Murchison 63 + 16.486 3
9 New Zealand New Zealand Matt Halliday 63 + 17.005 2
10 Canada Canada James Hinchcliffe 62 + 1 Lap 1
11 India India Armaan Ebrahim 62 + 1 Lap
12 Malaysia Malaysia Alex Yoong 61 + 2 Laps
13 Lebanon Lebanon Basil Shaaban 61 + 2 Laps
DNF Netherlands Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 53 + 10 Laps
DNF Germany Germany Nico Hülkenberg 53 + 10 Laps
DNF Indonesia Indonesia Ananda Mikola 36 + 27 Laps
DNF China China Congfu Cheng 28 + 35 Laps
DNF United States USA Philip Giebler 21 + 42 Laps
DNF Switzerland Switzerland Neel Jani 20 + 43 Laps
DNF Mexico Mexico Salvador Durán 14 + 49 Laps
DNF Republic of Ireland Ireland Michael Devaney 3 + 60 Laps
DNF Pakistan Pakistan Nur B. Ali 1 + 62 Laps

Similar problems in China

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Similar problems have occurred before in China. The 2004 DTM race around the streets of Pudong in Shanghai was hampered by crashes due to manhole covers becoming undone; the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix on the Shanghai International Circuit was interrupted when the safety car had to be deployed when a water runoff drain became open. The same problem also occurred in the Australian V8 Supercars race on the same circuit a few months before.

References

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  1. ^ Freeman, Glenn (10 November 2006). "Beijing circuit shortened". Autosport.
  2. ^ a b "11/12/2006 race: Beijing Feature (A1GP)". Racing-Reference.info. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
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