A1GP to Morph into A10 World Series

Well it seems I've finally gotten around to writing a new blog post after a (very) long hiatus due to work and family commitments....

I was spurred on by the news of a potential return of one of my favourite racing series, possibly as early as this Autumn.

It seems that after much financial turmoil and acrimony, the A1GP series may be making a welcome come back, of sorts at least, in the new guise of A10WS.

I attended all the A1GP meetings at Brands Hatch including the first ever race on 25th September 2005. Meetings were always well attended, the crowd atmosphere was good (see above!) and the racing entertaining.

Those behind A10WS are slowly (and painfully) drip feeding information about the new series on their web site in an effort to build up media interest.

All we know right now is that it will be a (one make ?) series with V10 600 BHP single seater cars. Twenty races in ten different countries around the world.

Apparently, more information is set to be released next Wednesday regarding the race format...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that after many false hopes that A1GP would be resurrected this series will get off the ground and be back at Brands Hatch soon.

Superleague Formula Replaces A1 GP at Brands Hatch

I have just received my regular mailing from Motor Sport Vision, operators of Brands Hatch race circuit, stating that the A1 GP meeting that was pencilled in on the 2010 calendar has been replaced by the so called Superleague Formula.... (more about that later in this post)

The financial trials and tribulations of the A1 GP series are well documented and it does not surprise me one bit that they have been dropped from this year's race calendar.

Die hard fans of A1 GP cling to the hope that after a one year sabbatical, it will be resurrected phoenix like from the financial ashes.

I am not so sure myself given the size of their debts, their complex financial arrangements and the poor economic state of the world in general right now.

Personally I am sad to see it go having attended the very first ever A1 GP weekend at Brands Hatch back in 2005. It was one of the best supported meetings I have seen at Brands Hatch - the estimated attendence was I believe, 70000 plus and it brought back a sense of the glory days when the F1 British GP's were held at the track.



I have also attended all the subsequent A1 GP meetings at Brands Hatch including last year when Team Ireland won both the sprint and feature races tp lift the 2009 A1 GP Team Championship trophy for the first, and sadly almost certainly, last time.

Please read my post about the 2009 AI GP season finale here.

Now back to A1 GP's replacement on the Brands Hatch 2010 calendar. Superleague Formula will run three races over the weekend of 31st July/1st August using 750 BHP V12 engined cars.

It is not clear at this stage whether the cars will race on the Indy or GP circuit at Brands and no details have been published of the support programme so far.

Wheras A1 GP cars were in national colours, Superleague Formula cars are "affiliated" to world famous football teams such as Tottenham Hotspurs, Liverpool FC, AC Milan, Galatasaray, Corinthians, Atletico de Madrid etc.

I'm not sure how well this series will be supported. The organisers are gambling on the fact there will be enough football fans interested in motor sports and vice versa but in my experience footie fans and petrolheads are two completely different animals!

I had a trawl through the Superleague Formula web site this evening to see which drivers are involved. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a separate list of drivers on the site so it means you have to check each team page individually.

There are two former F1 drivers listed - Antonio "Pizza Man" Pizzonia (anyone remember him?) and Sebastian Bourdais, who in my opinion, should be given another shot at F1 instead of pottering about in this series...

There are a few A1 GP refugees too including Giorgio Pantano, Ho Pin Tung and John Martin.

As for the others, to be honest I'd never heard of any of them before!

The weekend adult on-line ticket price has been set at £ 29 (about £ 10 lower than for A1 GP) and I think curiousity will get the better of me.

If I can't have my annual fix of A1 GP, I suppose I'll have to make do with this new series instead.

If you have already been to a Superleague Formula meeting in previous years, please share your views by leaving a comment below....

You may also enjoy the following -

Brands Hatch Circuit Guide

F1 2010 Teams & Drivers Latest

Superleague Formula picture courtesy of jo3hug

Williams Taking an Interest in Adam Carroll

Following his triumph at the A1 GP at Brands Hatch last weekend and excellent performances for Team Ireland throughout the season, we hear rumours that Patrick Head of Williams F1 is taking a keen interest in Adam Carroll's career.

Maybe he will get a chance to test for Williams at some point next year - watch this space!

A1 GP Brands Hatch - Double Victory For Carroll Seals Title For Team Ireland

Adam Carroll converted his two Saturday pole positions and Brands Hatch lap record into two victories today at the same time clinching the A1 GP 08/09 Championship for Team Ireland.

In the morning sprint race, Carroll had initially lost the lead to Team Mexico's Salvador Duran off the start but was later able to regain the lead following his mandatory pit stop.

Narain Karthikeyan for Team India who had started from seventh on the grid made up ground to evenutally take second place. Duran took a well deserved third step of the podium.

Team New Zealand's Earl Bamber had a coming together with the Team Lebanon car at Paddock Hill Bend putting them both out of the race.

The final results of the sprint race were as follows -

1. Ireland (Adam Carroll), 16 laps

2. India (Narain Karthikeyan), +7.230s

3. Mexico (Salvador Duran), +12.340s

4. USA (JR Hildebrand), +12.689s

5. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), +13.018s

6. Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen), +13.783s

7. Australia (John Martin), +15.208s

8. Switzerland (Neel Jani), +22.220s

9. France (Nicolas Prost), +22.945s

10. Italy (Vitantonio Liuzzi), +27.062s

There was a lot of support for Team Ireland today at Brands Hatch and even the Red Devils showed their goodwill!

In the feature race, Carroll had it sown up from start to finish - a classic lights to flag victory.

Narain Karthikeyan of Team India and Frankie Cheng of Team China crashed off at Paddock Hill Bend at the start of the race.

Jeroen Bleekemolen of Team Netherlands, who had a very good weekend overall, finished the race in second place with Neel Jani of Team Switzerland in third.

Dan Clark for Team GB finished in seventh place after fending of Team Australia's John Martin for a large part of the race.

The final results for the feature race were as follows -

1. Ireland (Adam Carroll), 49 laps

2. Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen), +10.156s

3. Switzerland (Neel Jani), +13.564s

4. Monaco (Clivio Piccione), +14.293s

5. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), +16.484s

6. Mexico (Salvador Duran), +21.810s

7. Great Britain (Dan Clarke), +23.409s

8. Australia (John Martin), +24.493s

9. Italy (Vitantonio Liuzzi), + l lap

10. France (Nicolas Prost), + 1 lap

L2F junior had an enjoyable but very tiring day and looks forward to more A1 GP action at Brands Hatch in the new season!

A1 GP Brands Hatch - Team Ireland in the Box Seats - Double Pole & Lap Record for Carroll

Team Ireland have put themselves firmly in the box seats to win the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport title for the 08/09 season following today's qualifying session at Brands Hatch.

Adam Carroll smashed the Brands Hatch lap record to take pole for both the sprint and feature races which will be held on Sunday.

The new Ferrari powered A1 cars are 2-3 seconds per lap faster than the Lola-Zytek A1 cars used in previous seasons.

Team Mexico's Salvador Duran qualified second in the sprint race while Team Monaco put in an excellent performance to take that in the feature race

Team Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen continued his good form qualifying third for both the sprint and feature races despite having an eventfull morning practice session.

Shortly after having set the fastest practice time, he braked too late and went off at Druids. Being a good sport he assisted the marshalls with the recovery of his car - can you imagine an F1 driver doing that?

The top ten qualifying positions for each race are as follows -

Sprint Race qualifying result:

1. Ireland (Adam Carroll), 1m11.615s

2. Mexico (Salvador Duran), +0.038s

3. Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen), +0.377s

4. USA (JR Hildebrand), +0.379s

5. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), +0.425s

6. New Zealand (Earl Bamber), +0.493s

7. India (Narain Karthikeyan), +0.494s

8. Switzerland (Neel Jani), +0.597s

9. Indonesia (Satrio Hermanto), +1.043s

10. Australia (John Martin), +1.130s

Feature Race qualifying result:

1. Ireland (Adam Carroll), 1m10.902

2. Monaco (Clivio Piccione), +0.183s

3. Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen), +0.244s

4. Switzerland (Neel Jani), +0.436s

5. France (Nicolas Prost), +0.641s

6. New Zealand (Earl Bamber), +0.731s

7. Australia (John Martin), +1.028s

8. China (Congfu Cheng), +1.278s

9. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), +1.368s

10. India (Narain Karthikeyan), +1.495s

L2F will be at Brands Hatch for both races on Sunday together with Mrs L2F and L2F junior.

Welcome to the Lights 2 Flag Blog

A very warm welcome to the Lights 2 Flag blog.

This blog is written by a forty something motor sports fan who was brought up within earshot of the world famous Brands Hatch motor circuit in Kent, UK.

Over the coming months I hope you will enjoy reading my personal thoughts and observations on the unfolding 2009 motor racing season from Formula 1 to all the tin top action.

You are welcome to leave your comments and feedback at any time!