A-What GP

A1GP – in theory, it is a great idea. It had a mix of motorsports with a dash of nationalism to it. Unfortunately, five years since its incarnation, you have to ask what is has accomplished.

I’ve been meaning to write this for a good while now. I suppose in a way, my constant delay in writing it is formulaic to how many perceive A1GP – as something that can be put off consistently over other things.

As I said above, the series is five years old. Unless you are a fan, or your country is doing exceedingly well, it is likely you might not have heard of it. Sky Sports handle the coverage of it in this region, which is symptom of the problem.

Motorsports always seems to be the poorer cousin for Sky Sports. Even Speedway bike racing gets more advert coverage than four wheeled sports – and that is including the American sports car series. You would be hard pushed to find a dedicated advert on their channels for the sport. They are usually found inside the collage adverts, which promote all their sports.

Another option is to watch it on their website. I did this for the season opening race in Zandvoort. The commentary was the same as you would find on the Sky Sports coverage, the advantage being that you don’t have to deal with advert breaks.

But coverage isn’t always the problem. With the exception of a few races, the calendar is set in Asia. That leaves the series trying to convince prospective watchers to get up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the races live, or record it. What about a repeat? Well, when I have gone looking, Sky Sports don’t show them on the day. By then, I have likely tripped over a sports sit that will show the results, (one of the pitfalls of been a motorsport blogger; I have to stay on top of things).

I’ve tried to get in to the series, especially during the winter when the more popular series are having their respite. But I have found it nigh impossible to do so because of the dodgy timing.

Unfortunately, my issues with the series doesn’t end there.

Is it me, or is the safety car in constant usage in the series? Or have I just tuned into the wrong races. Over the last five years when I have managed to catch some of the racing, nearly every race had a situation where the safety car was called out. It felt like that if you sneezed, the safety car was deployed. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy close up racing – but when your series isn’t set up for it, like the American series, it is a problem.

The current season had all the hallmark of been the breakout year for the series. A deal with Ferrari to supply their car and engines. What better badge to have on the car than one of the most iconic names in motorsport.

All was well and good – until there weren’t enough cars to start the year with. In all seriousness, how does that happen? The deal was done early enough in the year that for this to happen is farcical at best. This led to suggestions that the first race of the year would be a non-championship race, (which I’m sure the organisers and ticket buyers of that event would have loved!) before settling on a format where their best nine results would count.

The problems didn’t end there, with scheduling problems that saw race dates switched and others cancelled. All in all, for a series that is trying to carve a niche amongst a plethora of other series, it just seems like they stumble from one blunder to another.

Series scheduling, even before it turned into a bit of a lucky bag, had me scratching my head. Personally, when a series starts, you want it to build momentum and get a rhythm going. How are you supposed to get into a series which can go on a month long hiatus between races? It is so easy to forget about the series with that long a wait.