Results of the 2005 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Eastern Creek, Australia

From Portugal, A1 teams ventured down under to Sydney, Australia, for the fourth race of the season. Eastern Creek is the only international racing circuit in Sydney and boasts the world's largest karting facility. This means that the A1 race is very different from the F1 race in Australia, which is held on a street circuit in Melbourne. The track is 3.93 km (2.44 mi) in length, with 12 corners and the circuit running anti-clockwise.

The race weekend started out eventfully, with team China's driver, Tengyi Jiang, crashing his new car on a wet circuit at turn five of the Sprint Race, first hitting a bump and then the tyre wall. Although the car was beyond repair, driver Tengyi was able to leave the wreck unharmed. This meant that team China had to rush to make their second car available for the Main Race event. Normally, A1 teams are allocated seven sets of tyres per race weekend (five slicks and two wets), but due to the wet conditions at Eastern Creek, one set of slick tyres were held back to allow teams more flexibility with the wet tyres to match the changing weather conditions. Team Japan’s driver, Hayanari Shimoda, similarly demolished his car, hitting a wall in lap 26 of the Main Race event. He escaped unhurt, but was knocked unconscious by the thrust of the crash. However, he was later cleared by medical staff to drive in the upcoming A1 race in Sepang, Malaysia.

The race at Eastern Creek was basically dominated by team France's driver, Nicolas Lapierre, who started in pole position, won both the Sprint Race and Main Race, and collected the fastest lap bonus. Team France have now won six out of eight races this season. This win gives team France the maximum of 21 points for the race weekend, allowing them to take a near 20 point lead over team Brazil, in second place. The Main Race's second place finish went to team Great Britain, with driver Robbie Kerr, and third place to team Switzerland, with Neel Jani.

Team Portugal is doing well, perhaps motivated after their home race in Estoril, prior to this race in Australia. Their driver, Alvaor Parente, started in second place on the grid and was actually leading the Main Race for a while. However, in the end, primarily due to a drive through penalty in lap eight, the team had to contend with a seventh place finish. It was a disappointing weekend for teams from South Africa, Mexico and Russia, all crashing out of the race early on. The race had two safely car deployments, in the end reducing the planned 40 lap race to a 35 lap race.

After this weekend's race, the leading teams solidified their positions. The top four country teams remain unchanged after the race weekend at Eastern Creek, with team France widening their gap in front of team Brazil, with just under 20 points. Great Britain managed to move up a few slots to fifth place, which no doubt is motivating for the upcoming race in Malaysia. Portugal have put in a fine performance and move up to sixth position from 13th, ousting Australia, which moves down to seventh place in the standings. The following countries scored nil points in Australia: Mexico, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan and Austria. Austria is still bringing up the rear with only one single point. The country point standing is as follows, after the race at Eastern Creek (SR= Sprint Race; MR = Main Race; FL = Fastest lap bonus point):

  1. France 71 (SR=10, MR=10, FL=1)
  2. Brazil 52 points (SR=8, MR=2)
  3. Switzerland 47 (SR=5, MR=8)
  4. New Zealand 32 (SR=0, MR=3)
  5. Great Britain 30 (SR=6, MR=9)
  6. Portugal 27 (SR=9, MR=4)
  7. Australia 26 (SR=0, MR=5)
  8. Netherlands 26 (SR=4, MR=7)
  9. Ireland 23 (SR=7, MR=0)
  10. Malaysia 23 (SR=3, MR=6)
  11. Canada 20 (SR=2, MR=0)
  12. Mexico 16 (SR=0, MR=0)
  13. Czech Republic 8 (SR=0, MR=0)
  14. Germany 8 (SR=0, MR=0)
  15. USA 8 (SR=0, MR=1)
  16. Japan 6 (SR=0, MR=0)
  17. South Africa 6 (SR=1, MR=0)
  18. Indonesia 5 (SR=0, MR=0)
  19. Italy 5 (SR=1, MR=0)
  20. Pakistan 4 (SR=0, MR=0)
  21. Austria 1 (SR=0,MR=1)

Top 10 Main Race results from Australia (2005)

  1. France
  2. Great Britain
  3. Switzerland
  4. Netherlands
  5. Malaysia
  6. Australia
  7. Portugal
  8. New Zealand
  9. Brazil
  10. USA

Fastest lap bonus went to France