2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia
| 2005-06 A1GP of Australia | |
|---|---|
| Race Details | |
| Race 4 of 11 in the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season | |
| Date | 6 November 2005 |
| Location |
Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney, Australia |
| Weather | Fine |
| Qualifying | |
| Pole |
 France (Nicolas Lapierre) |
| Time | 2'37.036 (1'18.150, 1'18.886) |
| Sprint Race | |
| 1st |
France (Nicolas Lapierre) |
| 2nd |
 Portugal (Álvaro Parente) |
| 3rd |
 Brazil (Nelson Piquet Jr) |
| Main Race | |
| 1st |
France (Nicolas Lapierre) |
| 2nd |
 Great Britain (Robbie Kerr) |
| 3rd |
 Switzerland (Neel Jani) |
| Fast Lap | |
| FL |
France (Nicolas Lapierre) |
| Time | 1'19.751, (Lap 8 of Sprint Race) |
| Official Classifications | |
| Prac1 ·Prac2 ·Prac3 ·Qual ·SRace ·MRace | |
The 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Australia was an A1 Grand Prix race, held on the weekend of 6 November 2005 at the Eastern Creek Raceway circuit. Approximately 51,000 fans attended the event over the three days.
The fourth round of the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season was held in Australia, and the field was again reduced to 24 nations following the withdrawal of A1 Team Indonesia due to driver Ananda Mikola's commitments to his Formula 3 Championship. Within 10 minutes of the start of the first practice session, the lap record at Eastern Creek Raceway was broken by A1 Team Brazil driver Nelson Piquet Jr. Piquet set a time of 1'19.266 on his fourth lap of the day, breaking the previous record by more than 3 seconds. This time would end the session at the top of the sheets, but by that time another 13 teams had beaten the previous record, which was set in a Formula Holden. It rained heavily midway through the session, leaving Mexico's Salvador Durán in second place, but more than a second behind the pacesetter Piquet. A1 Team France came in third with a 1'20.627, followed by Switzerland and a resurgent New Zealand. A1 Team China managed 13th place, 3.116 seconds behind Piquet, whilst A1 Team Russia continued to struggle, down in 23rd, ahead of only A1 Team India, whose car was still slightly damaged from the previous race.
The track dried in time for the second timed session, which saw France's Nicolas Lapierre come out on top with a 1'21.037. Brazil and Switzerland continued their good form to come in 2nd and 3rd, in a session where the top 11 cars were within one second of France's best time. USA's Bryan Herta, on debut, was just outside this range, coming in 12th with a 1'22.084, followed by Great Britain's Robbie Kerr, just 0.089 seconds behind. Italian driver Andrea Montermini, also on debut, came in last, but was creditably less than one second behind Pakistan's 19th-placed time of 1'23.127. China's Tengyi Jiang suffered a 100 mph accident late in the session, causing it to be red-flagged, and leaving the Chinese team with a long night ahead of them to rebuild the car in time for qualifying.
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