Czech A1 Grand Prix Team Celebrates End of Season Win in Shanghai, China

The City of Shanghai lies on the western coast of the Pacific Ocean and at the central section of the north-south coastline of China. The city is exotic and diverse and known for many things, and for the first time, the A1 Grand Prix celebrated the first season of the World Cup of Motorsport.

A1 Team Czech at World Cup of Motorsport
A1 Team Czech at World Cup of Motorsport
It is a racing Olympics of sorts, where 25 nations representing 80 percent of the world compete, driver against driver and country against country with high speed action at every turn. Unlike the Olympics, the competitors are professionals and the prize is money, a lot of money.

The A1 Grand Prix distribution for the top ten finishers in the Feature Race at each A1 Grand Prix of Nations is $1,000,000.  With an offer at each of the 11 rounds, the grand total is $11,000,000. It is divided from first place to tenth as follows: $300,000, $200,000, $150,000, $110,000, $80,000, $60,000, $40,000, $20,000 and $10,000.

A1 Team France took home first place and top dollar with $1,920,000 and A1 Team USA placed 17th with $190,000. Czech A1GP team driver Tomas Enge took home $510,000 and placed 8th among the drivers. Enge uses products from K&N Engineering on his vehicles.

The Czech A1GP team celebrated after the last checkered flag of the inaugural A1GP season when Enge crossed the line first in the feature race. The Czechs endured their share of bad luck during the course of the season, but were rewarded with a win at the end.

The team worked hard over the first weekend of April and focused on the race setup in the practices. It paid off on race day when Enge climbed from eighth to sixth in the spring race. The best was yet to come for the Czechs. In the feature race, Enge had a great start and immediately moved to fourth. There was a collision between Ireland and Indonesia and the whole field went to the pits for an early Safety Car Period.

A1 Grand Prix Team Czech in Shanghai, China
K&N Air Filters Aid A1 Grand Prix Team Czech to a Win in Shanghai, China
Immediately after restart Enge left the pits second and put the leading Malaysian car under a lot of pressure. After a brave move on the outside of the first corner Enge moved to the front and never looked back. The Czech team moved to 12th place in overall standings.

“I am really happy for the whole team and all our fans,” said Enge. “Basically everything went according to the plan. I wanted to improve our position in the sprint but without taking too much risk. I gained two positions on the grid for the feature race and did a great start.”

The start was key Enge said, along with the superb work of his mechanics in the pits. “It really paid off that we spent all practices working on the race setup because my car was perfect in the feature race,” said Enge. “I’m really glad to have all the high end parts like K&N air filter in my car which makes car set up with its performance work perfectly at this race.”

The A1 Grand Prix is three days of on-track action and allows fans to interact with teams and drivers. The World Cup of Motorsport brings the excitement of international motorsport to fans across the globe.

The A1GP celebrated the end of its first season at the tallest hotel in the world on April 2nd at the Grand Hyatt in Shanghai’s business district. Teams, drivers and Chinese dignitaries gathered to watch the season long achievements.

A1 Team France was the first team to be awarded the World Cup of Motorsport. Alexandre Premat and Nicolas Lapierre, whose 13 wins up to the American race in Laguna Seca, were also presented with commemorative rings made from white gold and diamonds.

Sheikh Maktoum, A1 Grand Prix Chairman said the gathering was a celebration of all we have achieved in the first season. “The teams, drivers and all involved in A1GP, put on a magnificent show,” he said.

On October 1st Zandvoort, Netherlands will host the first race of the 2006-07 season.

Also check out the A1GP Team Czech Republic video.

Follow the Grand Prix of Nation's progress throughout the racing season at the K&N news site.  Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.