A1GP: A Record Nine Drivers From Formula 1 For Rd.2

A1 men from F1: top from left Enge, Firman and Noda; bottom from left Scheckter, Verstappen and Yoong (click image to enlarge)

As 24 National Teams Battle In Eurospeedway, Lausitz, Germany this weekend.

EuroSpeedway, 7 October - All A1 Teams have now nominated their drivers for round 2 in the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, EuroSpeedway Lausitz with the exception of Russia which is undergoing reorganisation and will not take part this weekend. Amongst the 24 teams for Germany are nine former F1 drivers and F1 testers.

In addition to former F1 drivers who took part in round 1 in Brands Hatch comprising Malaysia's Alex Yoong and Holland's Jos Verstappen, three more former F1 drivers from Ireland - Ralph Firman, Czech Republic - Tomas Enge, and Japan - Hideki Noda have now been nominated to join the fray. Other drivers with F1 driving experience are testers Nelson Piquet Jr from Brazil, Tomas Scheckter of South Africa, Neel Jani of Switzerland and Scott Speed of USA.

Noda, 37, last drove for Tourtel Larrousse F1 in three races way back in 1994 while Yoong, 29, and Verstappen, 33, drove their last races for Minardi F1 in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Enge, 29, replaced Luciano Burti in Prost F1 in 2001 with Scheckter, 25, briefly with Jaguar F1 before being sacked in 2003 as their test driver. Firman who is 30 in May this year had a season with Jordan F1 in 2003.

With the pride of their nation at stake, each A1 Team will take to the track for the qualifying session this afternoon (Saturday) at 14.15 local time (MST: 20.15h). The races will follow on Sunday with the Sprint race at 13.00 local time (MST: 19.00) and the Feature race at 14.30 local time (MST: 20.30). The qualifying and both the races are telecast live by Astro's Star Sports and 8TV.

Malaysia has once again nominated both their drivers, Yoong and Fairuz Fauzy to be available for both the Sprint and Feature races this weekend.

- Max Revson

Programme of Rd. 2 Germany:
Saturday

11:00-12:00 Practice 3

14:15 - Qualifying

Sunday

13:00 - Sprint Race

14:30 - Feature Race

A1 Team Drivers Nominations:
Australia Christian Jones

Austria - Mathias Lauda

Brazil - Nelson Piquet Jr (F1 Tester), Fabio Carbone

Canada - Sean McIntosh

China - Qinghua Ma, Tengyi Jiang

Czech Republic - Tomas Enge (Ex-F1 Tester)

France - Nicholas Lapierre, Alexandre Premat

Germany - Timo Scheider

Great Britain - Robbie Kerr

India - Karun Chandhok, Armaan Ebrahim

Indonesia - Ananda Mikola

Ireland - Ralph Firman (Ex-F1)

Italy - Enricco Toccacelo, Richard Antinucci

Japan - Hideki Noda (Ex-F1)

Lebanon - Khalil Beschir, Basil Shaaban

Malaysia - Alex Yoong (Ex-F1), Fairuz Fauzy

Mexico - David Martinez

Netherlands - Jos Verstappen (Ex-F1), Jeroen Bleekemolen

New Zealand - Jonny Reid

Pakistan - Adam Khan

Portugal - Alvaro Parente, Joao Urbano

South Africa - Tomas Schekter (Ex-F1), Stephen Simpson

Switzerland - Neel Jani (F1 Tester)

USA - Scott Speed (F1 Tester)