ON TOP; Brazil wins as A1 GP series makes debut.(Motorsports)

Byline: QUENTIN SPURRING

The self-styled "World Cup of Motorsport'' has kicked off at Brands Hatch in impressive style. In fact, no international motor racing series ever has started stronger: 25 countries were represented and A1 Grand Prix has TV deals in all but four. After a spectacular opening ceremony, the inaugural race was full of incident and A1 Team Brazil's Nelson Piquet Jr. overcame Australia's Will Power to take the win. A crowd of 46,000 basking in warm September sunshine contributed to the compelling ambience reminiscent of the glory days of Britain's best racetrack.

Turns out this innovative, 12-event, 24-race series has been well prepared. Some drivers and crews showed their inexperience, but the cars (purpose-designed Lola chassis with 3.4-liter, 520-hp Zytek V8s, Xtrac transmissions, and spec Cooper-Avon tires) seemed almost bulletproof. As to the commercial networking so important these days in top-level motorsports, A1 GP founder Sheikh Maktoum's sumptuous VIP enclosure already accommodates movers and shakers of real influence. As a member of the Dubai ruling family, he operates at a level-a national government level-that seems beyond the reach of Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One.

In the paddock all weekend, in fact, were smiling, optimistic people who believe they are putting a powerful blast of fresh air into motorsports. Some of the smiles disappeared during a tedious sprint race that decided the grid positions for the feature, because everyone knows that all depends on the quality of the racing. But they returned when the main event was packed with action.

American Scott Speed was in strong form in the dry Friday practice session, more than half a second up on Piquet, and it was clear that the U.S. and Brazil were the class acts. On Saturday, Speed missed his braking point up at the Druids hairpin and beached the car, and in qualifying that afternoon, it wasn't handling right on a light fuel load. The problem might have been caused by a faulty damper, which was replaced, but the inconsolable driver struggled with oversteer for the duration of the weekend. Speed came from 17th to 11th in the sprint race, and did not finish the feature (each race weekend has a sprint race and a main feature), suffering front-end damage inflicted by debris from a collision between Ireland and Indonesia.

A1 Team USA's handling problem left Brazil to trundle through the sprint race unopposed, ahead of France, New Zealand, Australia, Britain and Mexico. Even before the feature, two front-runners were out of contention: first Matt Halliday's car was stranded before the parade lap and had to start dead last, and then France's Alexandre Premat stalled on the grid and was excluded altogether.

Brazil led from the standing start, going away, with Australia and Britain hotly disputing second place as they waited for the inevitable yellow to make their mandatory pit stops. The safety car was deployed on lap 14 when Italy rammed Lebanon into a wild barrel-roll at the Paddock Bend big-dipper. Neither driver was harmed.