Results of the 2005/2006 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Monterrey, Mexico

Round 9

The Mexico round of the A1 calendar wasn't quite what the home crowd had hoped for, with their team failing to score any points, but it was a return to form for runaway competition leaders France who scored a double victory and shared the podium with their usual competitors, Teams Switzerland and Netherlands. Only Great Britain was missing from the results, with Team Italy making a surprise third place and fifth place finish.

In the sprint race Teams Mexico and Ireland cancelled each other's race on the first lap and during the safety car session Hayanari Shimoda of Team Japan sped into the back of Team New Zealand's Black Beauty, and although the latter managed to pit and continue the race, the Japanese had to settle for picking up the pieces of their car scattered across the track after a spectacular ramp and flip over the New Zealand car. South Africa retired, again with engine failure, and Great Britain's Robbie Kerr fluffed his chance at some respectable points while duelling with competition rival Brazil.

The feature race was rather predicatable and an uneventful affair with no major incidents from the start and only a single safety car period. France lead from the beginning and were followed by rivals Switzerland and Netherlands to the finish line. They also picked up the bonus point for the fastest lap.

With Team France extending its lead there was some good battles going on behind with Switzerland, Germany and Italy involved in one and New Zealand, Austria and the Czech Republic in another. Germany eventually prevailed for fourth, one of their best results so far, while Italy put in their second commendable finish of the weekend and Great Britain salvaged some points ahead of the Czech team.

Team Great Britain made up for a bad start immediately after the safety car removal and driver Robbie Kerr fought his way up to sixth, taking advantage of a Team Brazil pit drive through, along with Team Canada who also had a similar penalty imposed

As for the hosts, Team Mexico had another disastrous race and were only able to join on lap four when their mechanics finally had the car ready.

France are now almost assured of the first ever A1 championship, with only Switzerland having a mathematical chance of beating them. The real contest now is between Teams Britain and Brazil for third and fourth.

Full results of the A1 Monterrey Sprint Race 2005

1. France
2. Switzerland
3. Italy
4. Netherlands
5. Czech Republic
6. USA
7. Malaysia
8. Germany
9. Canada
10. Austria

Full results of the A1 Monterrey Feature Race 2005

1. France
2. Netherlands
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. Italy
6. Great Britain
7. Czech Republic
8. New Zealand
9. Austria
10. Portugal

Fastest lap: France

Standings after nine races