Skip to main content
U.S. Edition
Search
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WORLD SPORT

Brazil dominate A1 series opener

LONDON, England -- Brazil dominated the opening round of the new A1 Grand Prix series on its debut at Brands Hatch on Sunday, with Nelson Piquet Jr winning both races from pole position.

The new championship, which pits nation against nation in a self-styled World Cup of motorsport, has 25 drivers in equal Lola-powered cars.

Piquet Jr, the son of the three times Formula One world champion, was largely untroubled in racking up two wins.

He won the opening sprint race with ease after controlling the race from pole position before an action-packed feature race ended with another Brazilian win.

A rare change of position at the start of race one saw France's Alexandre Premat squeeze past New Zealand's Matt Halliday to secure second place in front of a huge crowd at Brands Hatch, estimated to be around 80,000.

Australian driver Will Power claimed fourth while Great Britain took a respectable fifth place through former British Formula Three champion Robbie Kerr, who held station after starting on the third row.

The feature race was a more entertaining affair, punctuated by a safety car which prompted an exciting finish.

Four cars were eliminated on the first lap when Ireland's Michael Devaney, Indonesia's Ananda Mikola, India's Karun Chandhok and Premat all came to grief.

More retirements followed swiftly, with Switzerland's Neel Jani and Portugal's Pedro Lamy failing to make it past lap two.

The safety car came out 13 laps into the 38-lap race when Italy's Enrico Toccacelo and Khalil Beschir clashed, sending the Lebanese car into a frightening barrel roll.

Beschir flipped through the air but despite badly damaging his car, was able to walk away from the crash, saying: "It was a dramatic accident but I knew it would be fine, the car is very strong."

At that point Power held the lead for Australia after capitalising on a slow pit stop for Piquet, but when racing resumed he came under immense pressure from the Brazilian.

The ex-British Formula Three champion hounded Power and eventually edged past with a brave move around the outside with 10 laps to go.

His superior speed was obvious and he streaked clear to win by 11 seconds from Power, with Mexican driver Salvador Duran a surprise third.

Halliday was fourth with ex-Formula One backmarker Alex Yoong fifth for Malaysia.

Piquet said: "We had problems with the pit stop but I managed to overtake Will, something I never expected was going to happen.

"The team has done a really good job, the car was just excellent in the second race."

Story Tools
Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time! cover
Top Stories
Get up-to-the minute news from CNN
CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.
Top Stories
Get up-to-the minute news from CNN
CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.
 
 
 
 
CNN U.S.
CNN TV E-mail Services CNN Mobile CNNAvantGo Ad Info About Us Preferences
Search
© 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map.
Offsite Icon External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pipeline Icon Pay service with live and archived video. Learn more
Radio News Icon Download audio news  |  RSS Feed Add RSS headlines