MOTORSPORT: Fraud probe into failed A1 GP

Creditors $635m out of pocket from open-wheeler fiasco
The A1 Grand Prix circus that collapsed almost 18 months ago, having failed to front for the Gold Coast street racing carnival, is now the subject of a serious fraud investigation in Britain.

A1's creditors are owed about $635 million, with the Queensland government among them – owed at least $1.8 million it paid as a deposit on A1's "World Cup of Motorsport" replacing the American Indycars at Surfers' Paradise in 2009.

London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper has reported that "top fraud investigators have now become interested in A1 Grand Prix Operations, which is in administration with debts of £100 million (A$158.75 million), and A1 Holdings, which is in compulsory liquidation with creditors claiming more than £300 million (A$476.25 million).

The companies were controlled by South African diamond entrepreneur Tony Teixeira, who kept telling Gold Coast and Queensland government officials throughout 2009 that A1 would front.

When he had to admit that the open-wheeler Ferrari-engined cars would not make it to the Surfers' Paradise grid in October that year Teixeira promised a $50,000 donation to charity that he hasn't come good on either.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Serious Fraud Office investigators in Britain "are looking into the (A1) companies' accounting and how they claimed to have raised financing".

A1 Grand Prix Operations went into administration in June 2009 with its 20 race cars impounded in an aircraft hangar in Oxfordshire, where the Top Gear TV program is filmed Teixeira had assured Queensland officials that administration would not affect the Gold Coast event and that 18 to 20 teams would turn up to race.

When they didn't the carnival lost its international open-wheeler content and the past two years has been purely a V8 Supercar Championship round – now on a shortened version of the street circuit and with guest international drivers partnering the local regulars.

Teixeira also had claimed at the time that €500million (almost A$680 million) was about to be injected into the A1 group of companies, but that never happened.

Private equity firm RAB Capital had earlier invested £200million (A$317.5 million) into the A1 group but has had to write off all of that.

A mining company linked to Teixeira, Energem, which had lent more than $50 million to the A1 companies, went under in the fiasco.

The Sunday Telegraph said there were now "15 unsatisfied county court judgments for financial claims against A1 Grand Prix Operations" and "two against A1 Holdings", plus a US court order for it to pay $4.5 million to the US A1 Grand Prix team – which was operated by Michael Andretti.

"In an ironic twist, a new website promised to resurrect the A1 series under the new name of A10 Grand Prix by (northern) autumn 2011," the paper said.

"It is not known whether the backers of A10 are in any way linked to the men behind A1."

Williams on share market tomorrow – and why it's in Germany
While V8 Supercars Australia hopes to finalise a sale of about half of itself in the next couple of months, the Williams Formula One team will be listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany this Wednesday.

About 28 per cent of the team – mainly shares from founding technical director Patrick Head – is being floated, with the shares being issued slightly cheaper than was originally intended.

Head's stake in the Williams business will drop from 23.5 per cent to 5.8 per cent as he pockets more than $85 million.

Sir Frank Williams will remain the major and controlling shareholder, with his stake worth about $180 million.

We mentioned here some weeks ago that it was ironic Williams was being floated in Germany in light of the fallout between the team and its former German engine supplier BMW.

Williams executive chairman Adam Parr has explained that the reason the listing is not taking place in Britain is that UK rules require companies to disclose price-sensitive contractual information which he said "could damage their competitive standing".

There has been speculation that the Williams move could lead to other F1 teams floating on stock markets.

Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne recently broached the possibility of selling a slice of Ferrari to outside investors, although that is unlikely in a hurry as he said there were "no active discussions".

Infiniti name on Vettel and Webber engines
The Renault engines in the Red Bull RB7 cars of world champion Sebastian Vettel and Australian Mark Webber this year will be called Infinitis – after the premium brand of Nissan, which is largely owned by Renault.

The deal will save reigning world champion constructor Red Bull about $11 million for the year.

It has been the only front-running F1 team paying for its engines.

The Infiniti branding exercise in F1, to boost its global profile, is expected to be officially confirmed at the Geneva Motor Show tomorrow.

Nissan and Renault are trying to boost Infiniti's presence in a market against Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Jaguar.

The Japanese and French companies have been in partnership since 1999, with Renault owning 44.3 per cent of Nissan, which in turn owns 15 per cent of Renault.

Jeff Gordon ends 66-race Sprint Cup win drought
NASCAR's Sprint Cup has had a fairytale start, with four-time Jeff Gordon today ending his 66-race losing streak by winning the second round of the season a week after 20-year-old rookie Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500.

Gordon broke the drought in his Chevrolet by overtaking Kyle Busch's Toyota eight laps from the finish of the 312-lap race at Phoenix, Arizona.

It was Gordon's first win a round in Texas in early 2009 but the 83rd of his Cup career.

Busch held on for second ahead of the series champion of the past five years, Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) and Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet).

Bayne (Chevrolet) crashed out at Phoenix, as he had done in yesterday's second-tier Nationwide race (and in Sprint Cup practice, requiring a switch to a back-up car), while Australia's Marcos Ambrose (Ford) finished 16th, a lap down, although he ran as high as fourth early in his second start with Richard Petty Motorsports.

As at Daytona, there was another big shunt which began when Kyle Busch made contact with Carl Edwards (Ford).

Ryan Newman (Chevrolet) and Kasey Kahne (Toyota) finished finish fifth and sixth, while Tony "Smoke" Stewart (Chevrolet) wound up seventh – paying the price for taking only two fresh tyres on his last pitstop.

Ambrose was relieved to finish after being a victim of the early pile-up in the Daytona 500.

"We just had to finish today," he said.

"We've got a good vibe going. I know I can really do well - we just had to get a start somewhere, and today was a pretty good start."

Ambrose is 27th in the standings with 35 points under this year's new scoring system after two races.

Kyle Busch, who won the Nationwide and pick-up truck rounds at Phoenix, leads the Cup with 80 points from his brother Kurt (Chevrolet) on 77, then Stewart and Ambrose's RPM teammate A.J. Allmendinger (Ford) on 69, then Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin (Chevrolet) on 65.

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