A1 Team Switzerland was the Swiss team of A1 Grand Prix , an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the third season, 2007-08 .
23-561: A1 Team Switzerland is owned by Max Welti . In the inaugural season , Team Switzerland were "best of the rest", with a victory and ten podiums, finishing 2nd in the championship. Team Switzerland lost their competitive edge in 2006-07 , with only a single race victory, and finishing 8th in the championship. After a spectacular 2007–08 season , Neel Jani single-handedly clinched the championship for Team Switzerland, with four victories and seven podiums. In 2008–09 , after having scored 4 wins and 3 other podium finishes, Neel Jani scored
46-449: A Rover Vitesse in the 1986 FIA International Touring Car Championship (essentially a renamed ETCC), but dropped to 12th in the standings winning only once at Andestorp. In 1987 the Italian driver would again switch teams, driving a BMW M3 for Italian outfit CiBiemme Sport in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship where he partnered another former Formula One driver Johnny Cecotto to win
69-499: A privately entered Alfa Romeo 75 . Other than his success in the 1985 ETCC, arguably Brancatelli's biggest wins in touring car racing were the 1985 Guia Race of Macau driving a Volvo 240T, and the 1989 Spa 24 Hours driving an Eggenberger Ford Sierra RS500 along with Bernd Schneider (yet another F1 driver, this time a current one) and Win Percy . During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brancatelli also travelled to Australia to drive in
92-456: A technical infringement. Brancatelli also raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on five occasions. His best finish was second place in the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Sauber C9 for Team Sauber Mercedes , co-driving with ex-Formula One drivers Mauro Baldi and Kenny Acheson . His four other races at Le Mans ( 1979 , 1980 , 1986 and 1990 ) all saw him fail to finish the race. Brancatelli would continue racing until his retirement in
115-427: A total of 95 points for Team Switzerland. At the end of the season, the team finished second in the championship, 17 points behind the champions, Team Ireland , and just 3 points ahead of Team Portugal . Rahel Frey and Natacha Gachnang were the two first females to drive an A1 Grand Prix car during a race weekend. They first drove as test drivers during a test session at Silverstone . Natacha Gachnang drove in
138-533: Is a strategic motorsport advisor to BMW. He travels to important races of the WEC, IMSA, Formula E, DTM as well as WRX and is on site at endurance classics such as Nürburgring, Spa, Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona. Nowadays, Welti works internationally as an independent expert for promoters, sponsors and OEMs. Since 2019, he is also the Sporting Director of the all-electric SuperCharge racing series. In 1990, Max Welti
161-665: Is awarded the "BP Racing Trophy", an award for special services to motorsport, which he receives for his successes with Sauber-Mercedes. The coveted "BP Racing Trophy" was first awarded in 1965. After winning the world championship title in the A1GP season 2007/2008, A1 Team Switzerland receives in December 2008 the Auto Sport Award for special services to Swiss motorsport. Previous award winners were motorsport greats like Jo Siffert , Clay Regazzoni und Peter Sauber . In 2010, Max Welti
184-792: Is inducted into the "Wall of Fame" in the Autobau museum in Romanshorn as "Swiss legend of motor racing". Gianfranco Brancatelli Gianfranco Brancatelli (born 18 January 1950) is a former racing driver from Italy . His racing career began in 1973, in the Formula Abarth series. In 1975, he advanced to Italian Formula 3 racing. Brancatelli entered 3 Formula One Grands Prix in 1979 with Kauhsen (2 failures to qualify) and Merzario (1 failure to pre-qualify). After his departure from Formula 1, Brancatelli went on to race in several Touring Car series, with some success. He would finish 4th in
207-776: The 1984 European Touring Car Championship driving a BMW 635 CSi for Eggenberger Motorsport . For the 1985 ETCC, Eggenberger switched to the turbocharged Volvo 240T (while the championship winning Tom Walkinshaw Racing would switch from their powerful V12 Jaguar XJS ' to the V8 powered Rover Vitesse ), and along with Swedish driver Thomas Lindström, Brancatelli became the European Touring Car Champion, winning six out of fourteen races ( Anderstorp , Zeltweg , Salzburgring , Nürburgring , Zolder and Estoril ), along with three 2nd places and two 3rd places. In 1986 , Brancatelli switched to Tom Walkinshaw Racing where he drove
230-802: The 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as two-time sports car world champion with Sauber Mercedes . Five years later, he wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a second time with Porsche as the responsible race director. He then returns to Sauber as overall manager of the Sauber Formula One operation. In 2000 Welti becomes CEO of the European silhouette touring car racing series " V8STAR " before becoming team owner of A1 A1 Team Switzerland in 2005. As an international motorsport strategist and consultant, Welti nowadays works for OEMs, promoters and organisers. Welti studied mechanical engineering at EPFL , and ETH Zurich while he began racing. He raced for three years in
253-495: The 500 km de Bourgogne at Dijon-Prenois . He finished 8th in the WTCC while finishing 5th in the 1987 ETCC, also for CiBiemme, winning twice at Estoril and Zolder. The 1988 ETCC saw Brancatelli on the move again, this time going back to Eggenberger Motorsport where he would serve as a driver in the team's 3rd Texaco Ford Sierra RS500 in a number of rounds. Brancatelli would also win the 1988 Italian Touring Car Championship driving
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#1732876909148276-526: The Bathurst 1000 touring car race, though success would generally elude him. His best finish was in the 1987 WTCC round, the 1987 James Hardie 1000 where he and Johnny Cecotto would finish 7th outright and 3rd in class, though as they were the first registered WTCC drivers to finish the race they would receive top points for the round. His three other races at Bathurst in 1989 , 1990 and 1991 would result in two failed to finish and one disqualification due to
299-524: The Constructors' title for a second time in 1990. In 1991, Sportscar Racing went into decline and Welti was offered the job of being F1 Project Manager for Porsche Motorsport , in a new relationship with the Footwork team . The Porsche engine was, however, a disaster and as a result Welti pulled the team out of F1 . As Porsche Motorsport Director worldwide, he was responsible for the complete reorganization of
322-720: The German electrical giant AEG , the Swiss team battles Jaguar for the World Sportscar title. Mercedes-Benz officially returns to racing and the Sport Prototypes are painted silver again in 1989, for the first time since 1956. Jean-Louis Schlesser wins the Drivers' World title that year. The team dominates the Constructors' title , winning seven of a total of eight races. In the Le Mans 24 Hours
345-491: The Le Mans race. In May 1995 Welti decided to return to Sauber as team director of the new Formula 1 team. He was particularly instrumental in establishing a new and more efficient structural team organisation and building up an especially tight relationship with its Malaysian sponsor Petronas as well as with its engine manufacturer Ferrari as of 1997. . Furthermore, he led the team to its first podium finish. From 2000, Welti
368-615: The Swiss Sports Prototype Championship, which he won in 1980 on a Wittwer March BMW. After his active racing days, Welti moves into operational racing and becomes Sauber's first Team Manager. He helps the team become one of the most successful in Sports car racing . In 1986, Mike Thackwell and Henri Pescarolo gave the Sauber-Mercedes team its first win at Nürburgring 1000 km. Two years later, with backing from
391-553: The Swiss national motorsport team. With Neel Jani , the A1 Team Switzerland won the World Cup of Motorsport in 2008 and was runner-up in 2006 and 2009. The team also supported other Swiss drivers such as Marcel Fässler , Sébastian Buemi , Alexandre Imperatori , Tom Dillmann , Rahel Frey and Natacha Gachnang . No other team nor driver were more successful than Switzerland and Jani in this global championship. Welti entered
414-675: The international limelight again in 2013. As member of the Volkswagen Group Motorsprt Steering Committee, he was sent to Italy as Motorsport Director of Lamborghini Squadra Corse to build up a new motorsport department there. After that task was completed, Welti traveled to all important races in Europe and on the American continent for six years, leading negotiations with organizers, promoters, federations and technicians of different racing series. Between 2018 and 2020 Welti
437-415: The late 1990s. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) ( key ) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Despite finishing 7th outright at Bathurst, as the highest placed registered WTCC car Brancatelli
460-736: The motorsport department. In 1993, Welti launched the Porsche Supercup and himself led the negotiations with F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone as it was to take place as an international one-make cup and support series in Formula One. In 1994, once again, Welti celebrated with Porsche and his team another triumph with the modified version of the 962 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans driven by Mauro Baldi/ Hurley Haywood / Yannick Dalmas . With Max Welti as racing director and racing engineer Norbert Singer as project leader, two racing cars and one reserve car were developed, built and tested in record time and brought to
483-562: The rookie sessions in the 2007-08 Czech round , on October 12, 2007; and Rahel Frey in the 2007-08 Malaysian rookie sessions, on November 23, 2007. ( key ), "spr" indicates the Sprint Race, "fea" indicates the Feature Race. Max Welti Max Welti (born 6 September 1952 in Zürich , Switzerland ) is a former Swiss racing driver, Sauber's first team manager and thus double winner of
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#1732876909148506-408: The team scored a 1–2 victory with "the new Silver Arrows" driven by Jochen Mass / Manuel Reuter / Stanley Dickens , with Mauro Baldi / Kenny Acheson / Gianfranco Brancatelli finishing in second place. In 1990, Schlesser and Baldi shares the Drivers' title while Mass drives alternately with the three Mercedes Juniors: Michael Schumacher , Karl Wendlinger and Heinz-Harald Frentzen . The team wins
529-588: Was responsible as chief executive officer for setting up the V8STAR touring car series in Germany, a championship for tubular frame vehicles with silhouettes of well-known manufacturers such as Jaguar, Volkswagen, Opel, Ford, Lexus, Audi and BMW with uniform V8 engines under the hood and renowned pilots at the steering wheel. In 2004, Welti became Franchisee and Team Principal in the A1 GP Worldcup of Motorsport and built up
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