• Offered from the Estate of John Campion
• Used by the A1 Team Ireland franchise throughout the 2007/8 A1 Grand Prix season
• Driven by former Grand Prix driver Ralph Firman and GP2 frontrunner Adam Carroll
• Recorded a race win in Mexico City and third places in Brno, Shanghai and Brands Hatch
• Further Championship points finishes in Zandvoort, Sepang, Zhuhai and Taupo
• Rebuilt by Coloni Motorsport in 2020, and supplied with a fresh Gibson engine with only minimal mileage covered

Newly launched for 2005, the A1GP series positioned itself as the “World Cup of Motorsport”, with twenty-five single-car National franchises competing to determine a Champion Nation at the season’s end. Initially contested over eleven race weekends, with each sub-divided into a Sprint and a longer Feature race, the series attracted the likes of former Grand Prix drivers Christian Fittipaldi, Ralph Firman and Jos Verstappen - not to mention former World Champions John Surtees, Alan Jones and Emerson Fittipaldi as franchise holders.

Featuring bespoke “spec” formula carbon fibre-clad aluminium honeycomb chassis from Lola, and potent 3.4-litre normally aspirated Zytek engines, the cars offered prodigious performance and afforded close, spectacular racing by virtue of their relative lack of downforce.

This particular chassis, HU07, was run by the A1 Team Ireland franchise throughout the 2007-8 A1GP season, first appearing at the official Silverstone test in August 2007 where it was driven by series Test (and former Jordan Grand Prix) driver Ralph Firman. The popular Anglo-Irishman also drove HU07 in the first race of the season at Zandvoort, where he finished a promising eighth in the Sprint race and sixth in the Feature race.

Thereafter, driving duties passed to GP2 frontrunner and BAR-Honda F1 test driver Adam Carroll. A former winner of the Monaco GP2 Support race, the Ulsterman was immediately on the pace at the second round of the series at Brno, finishing third and sixth in the Sprint and Feature races respectively. A further seven top six placings ensued over the remainder of the season, the high point being the Mexico City round in which Carroll took a resounding win in the Feature race, having already secured fourth in the Sprint race the previous day. Two further podium finishes - third in the Shanghai Feature race and third in the Sprint race at Brands Hatch - afforded the team a deserved sixth place in the championship at the season’s end.

Acquired by the vendor in 2020, the car subsequently benefitted from a comprehensive overhaul by former Formula One and front running Formula 3000/ GP2 team Coloni Motorsport of Perugia, Italy. This included a complete rebuild of the engine and gearbox, the former being completed by Gibson Motorsport (nee Zytek) and recording an impressive 534 bhp on the dynamometer. A precautionary shake down test aside, the car has not run since, and has a generous 2,000 kilometres of engine “life” remaining. It also comes with four spare wheels and tires. Impeccably presented, it is ready for immediate enjoyment on track, either as perhaps the ultimate Track Day weapon or as a highly competitive and relatively cost-effective entry into the European BOSS GP or US-based HSR series. To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am21.