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France win German A1GP
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October 10, 2005 17:23 IST

It was a close fought, incident packed race that was watched by 34,000 noisy fans at the impressive EuroSpeedway Lausitz circuit in Lausitz, Germany [Images]. The country whose national anthem was played on the winner's podium for the second time this weekend was France [Images], with Great Britain and Canada [Images] second and third, each taking their first podium of the A1 Grand Prix series.

When the starting lights went out and the cars rushed into turn 1, it was Team Switzerland [Images], who got the best start, with France in close attendance. As the cars crossed the start-finish line for the first time, it was Team Malaysia completing the top three with Brazil [Images] in fourth. However, Team France soon opted to use the PowerBoost button and the red, white and blue car overtook Switzerland on lap 4. In the meantime, Team Brazil had moved ahead of Malaysia and the German fans were given something to cheer for as their car moved into fourth on lap two and third on lap 8.

The order at the front remained the same until France pitted and it was Team Switzerland that crossed the line first at the end of lap 16. Sadly for Switzerland, a long pit stop put them out of contention and France re-took the lead they were never to give up on lap 21.

One of the drives of the race was by Team Great Britain. With their car having started last, by the end of lap two it was seventeenth, by the end of lap 10 eleventh, by the end of lap 15 sixth and by the end of lap 21. Team Canada's driver also moved up through the field after starting from seventh on the grid and like Great Britain moved into a podium position on lap 21.

There was one safety car period after Team India stopped on the start-finish straight after 19 laps and the car had to be retrieved. Team Malaysia received a drive through penalty for overtaking during this period. This was not the only team to be penalised during the race, as Team Czech Republic received a drive through for a jump-start and Team Brazil, the same penalty for a pit stop infringement. Unfortunately that was not the end of Brazil's problems, as at the restart after the safety car period, they had to retire after a collision.

It was another miserable weekend for Team United States with Scott Speed being an early retirement in both races. In the Sprint race it was a retirement at turn 1 while in the feature race, at the end of lap 2 the car drove into the garage.

Khalil Beschir, who made a name for himself at Brands Hatch after a spectacular crash, gave Team Lebanon their best result to date despite severe handling problems and an extra pit stop.

Feature race results:
Pos.A1 TeamDriverTime
1FranceNicolas Lapierre58:45.700
2Great BritainRobbie Kerr58:49.406
3CanadaSean McIntosh58:51.158
4New Zealand [Images]Jonny Reid58:51.674
5SwitzerlandNeel Jani58:52.771
6IrelandRalph Firman58:53.781
7NetherlandsJos Verstappen58:55.322
8IndonesiaAnanda Mikola59:02.406
9Japan [Images]Hideki Noda59:05.044
10GermanyTimo Scheider59:07.560
11PortugalAlvaro Parente59:10.440
12PakistanAdam Khan59:10.966
13MexicoDavid Martinez59:14.878
14AustraliaChristian Jones59:16.590
15AustriaMathias Lauda59:16.832
16MalaysiaAlex Yoong59:31.081
17ChinaJiang1:00:03.141
18LebanonKhalil Beschhir33 laps
19Czech RepTomas Enge27 laps
20BrazilNelson Piquet Jr26 laps
21IndiaKarun Chandhok19 laps
22South AfricaTomas Scheckter15 laps
23Italy [Images]Enrico Toccacelo11 laps
24USAScott Speed4 laps

Championship points:
Pos.TeamPoints
1Brazil30
3New Zealand29
4Switzerland17
5Australia16
6Mexico16
7Great Britain15
8Canada14
9Malaysia11
10Germany8
11Ireland8
12Netherlands8
13Japan6
14South Africa5
15Pakistan4
16Indonesia3
17Portugal3


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