KEY POINTS:
The whole premise of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport is that any country can mix it with any other country.
It doesn't matter about size, population, or how big the chequebook is. Each country gets the same equipment, so it's all about which team has the
best driver - who must be a national of that country.
Like A1 Team Monaco. The principality is smaller than most New Zealand farms and only has 6500 passport holders who can call themselves Monegasque.
In normal motorsport parlance, it's equivalent to Kerikeri fielding an international motor racing team in a global series.
It's not as strange as it may seem - Monaco has a rich heritage in motor racing and holds one the most famous events on the Formula One calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix.
Their driver, Clivio Piccione, is also a co-seat-holder with Hubertus Bahlsen. And Prince Albert of Monaco is the president of Piccione's fan club.
"As a race car driver, you always want to go racing and the A1 platform allowed us to race for our country and carry the Monaco colours all around the world," said Piccione. "We are also working on having a round of the A1 on the Grand Prix circuit.
"The Prince [Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco], is a big fan of motor sport and has been following my career since I started. In fact he is the president of my fan club."
Team manager Graham Taylor, who spent six years in Formula One, likes the nation v nation aspect also.
"The draw of A1GP is the level playing field. Instead of people going to Monaco to race, Monaco is going everywhere else to race."
For a small nation that doesn't have a national team to be competitive on a global scale, A1 is the perfect vehicle. Lebanon is another example. Perched on the edge of the Mediterranean, it only has a population of one million but there are four million of them scattered all over the globe.
They don't even have a race circuit, but signed up anyway and are the only Arabic country in the series. Each time the team races, everyone gets behind the team and tune in via the internet.
"A1GP is unique in that you have the fans who are behind the team rather than an individual," said Lebanon's nominated driver Daniel Morad. "It's like having another man on the team and the supporters really pump you up."
Seat-holder Tameem Auchi wanted to give something back to his country and decided A1 would be the best avenue. Motor racing is a sport watched by people all over the world, so no matter where anyone was living, they'd be able to follow the team.
"To start with, people in Lebanon didn't know what A1GP was, but know when I go there people stop me in the street and ask me for my autograph and stuff like that," said Morad.
This sort of adulation is also evident in Ireland, which does, of course, have other sporting teams that punch above their weight on a world scale.
A1 Team Ireland is leading the series heading into today's racing and back home the drivers and the team are being feted like stars. They've had near-blanket media coverage and A1 is at the top of the sports' bulletins and news items. The hype in Ireland is getting to the stage where the country is looking at trying to get a round of the championship on home soil.
"With our success of late, we've got a lot more support and following back home now, which is really nice to see considering the hard work that's been put in," said driver Adam Carroll.
Last season Ireland won the most improved award and has built on that success in the 2008/09 season.
"You're racing for your nation, so it's nice to do well knowing people are following it. A lot of the teams swap their drivers back and forward but we tend to stick with just me as the race driver and Niall [Quinn] as the rookie.
"The fans can support the team and the driver and it's all together and we can't do without each other."