SEPTEMBER 25, 2005

Brazil wins two at Brands Hatch

Nelson Piquet Jr helped Team Brazil to dominate the opening round of the A1 Grand Prix series, winning both races and taking away a maximum points score of 21 points. Piquet dominated the 18-lap sprint race to take victory from France's Alexandre Premat while in the main feature race Piquet was overtaken when a Safety Car came out and Piquet suffered a stuck wheel during the compulsory pit stop. This put the Australian and British teams ahead but Britain's Robbie Kerr suffered a mechanical failure and retired leaving Australia, represented by Will Power, in front. With 10 laps to go Piquet overtook Power and pulled way to win by 11.33secs. The incident-packed race featured a spectacular accident when Lebanon's Khalil Beschir ran into the Italian car and rolled several times before coming to a halt upside down in a gravel trap. Third place in the feature race went to the New Zealand entry. Brazil leads the series with 21 points ahead of Australia with 16 points and New Zealand with 15.