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Over a hundred thousand cheering fans welcomed the return of A1 Grand Prix in the Netherlands yesterday.

The ‘World Cup of Motorsport’ duly provided two thrilling races packed with incident, overtaking and action – and not a hint of the controversy which has dogged the likes of Formula One.

So can A1 ever overtake F1 as the world’s favourite motor sport? Keith Collantine thinks it can.

A1 Grand Prix headed into its’ second season this weekend with two action-packed races at the historic Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands.

The series has split motor sports fans between those who welcome it as an entertaining, fan-friendly new formula, and those who deride it as slow and contrived.

But when Formula One often struggles to put on entertaining races and has had a year dogged by controversies, A1 starts to look like an increasingly convincing prospect – especially when you hear about their plans for the future.

Many motor sports pundits didn’t think the ‘World Cup of Motorsport’ would even make it to a second year. Their first year losses were $212 million – twice the expected figure.

But a change of management has brought some much-needed fixes to the formula and some bold plans for the future.

New CEO Tony Teixeira has already turned his attention to remedying some of the problems from the first year: From improving the wheel assemblies to make pit stops easier, to tweaking the race-day format to make it more TV-friendly.

Wisely, he has left the overtaking-friendly tyres and aerodynamics well alone. The amount of exciting, wheel-to-wheel racing in A1 is an embarrassment to Formula One, which has had a string of processional races in 2006.

A1’s critics have two major bones of contention: that the cars are slow compared to F1, and that many of the series’ racers are young unknowns or complete amateurs.

Both charges are fair: at the same circuits, A1 cars are 20 per cent slower per lap than F1 racers. And at Zandvoort this weekend new Pakistani driver Nur Ali qualified last, four seconds slower than the next slowest driver, and in the race managed to spin in the pit lane and hold up the field during a restart.

But Teixeira has big plans. For the 2008-09 season he wants the cars to take a leap forward in speed and has promised they will have 750 hp at their disposal – 200 hp more than this year and roughly equivalent to a current F1 car.

A1 has the core ingredients of good racing absolutely right: equal cars that can run close to each other and overtake, interesting and varied circuits, and hungry young drivers.

But this second year is make-or-break for the series. The capacity crowd at Zandvoort shows it is beginning to develop a following – especially considering how few of them applied for refunds when local hero Jos Verstappen dropped out.

As long as it provides racing of the calibre we saw yesterday – when Verstappen’s substitute Jeroen Bleekemolen heroically swept around reigning champions France on the outside of the legendary Tarzan corner – A1GP deserves every success.

Racing round-up

A1 Grand Prix, Zandvoort

The season-opening rounds saw two new winners. South Africa’s Andreas Zaugg triumphed in morning’s sprint race, only to crash out at the start of the feature race in the afternoon.

The feature was won by young German Niko Hulkenberg after a dramatic tussle with American Phil Giebler and home racer Jeroen Bleekemolen. Bleekemolen led after a heavy downpour but Hulkenberg and Giebler overwhelmed him as the track dried.

Formula One, Shanghai

Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso are tied on points at the top of the Formula One World championship after finishing first and second respectively in yesterday’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Alonso was robbed of a shot at victory when the right-rear wheel changer dropped a wheel nut during his second pit stop.

British Formula Three, Thruxton

Mike Conway may already have the championship wrapped up but the first race belonged to Danny Watts, who sensationally won in a one-off appearance in the series. Yelmer Buurman won the final race of the season.

Champion Conway is courting a ride in GP2 – the gateway series to Formula One – for 2007.

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