Having opened with safety issues and threats of cancellation, Beijing's inaugural A1GP race closed on Sunday with chequered flags, champagne and organisers' sighs of relief.

After a hairy hairpin turn and a wayward manhole cover stopped drivers practising at the street track on Friday and Saturday, the Olympic city's late bid to host a stop on the World Cup of Motor Sport looked to be spinning out of control.

"We did not know whether the race would go on until Saturday night," Team Australia driver Karl Reindler told Reuters.

"It's been a bit of a mixed-up weekend and mixed up race," Reindler said. "But the circuit is great now that they have fixed it up."

The hastily-prepared track snaking around a looming convention complex in Beijing's outer southeastern suburbs was modified after practice runs had drivers grid-locked at its tight hairpin turn.

Practice was stopped again on Saturday after the speeding cars shook loose a manhole cover which had not been welded properly.

Team Italy's winning driver Enrico Toccacelo was critical of the track despite handling it with aplomb.

"They do need to change it. It is too tight, the straight could be longer and it needs to be wider in places," Toccacelo said.

"But they are young in motor sport, just like their team. I think they will improve."

TEAM CHINA

Fortunate to see the race at all, Chinese fans were nonetheless denied the chance to cheer Team China home.

Driver Cheng Congfu apologised after losing control and crashing out less than half way through the feature race.

"I'll try to forget it and concentrate on the next race," Cheng said.

"Of course, I'm very disappointed. If we do come back here next year, we will have a better race."

Cheng's spin-out in Beijing -- the third stop of the A1GP season -- was a blow for Team China, lauded for its improvement having garnered eight points in the first two rounds, after only managing six in the inaugural season last year.

The bigger blow, however, may be felt by organisers, who have targeted China as a country to help turn around the fortunes of the loss-making series.

As the only country to host two stops -- Shanghai had a race in the first season and will do so again this year -- organisers hope China's growing love affair with the car will translate into crowd participation and corporate support on race day.

"It was too good an opportunity to miss," A1GP chief operating officer David Clare said of the scramble to put the race together.

"Normally a street circuit would take three of four years from concept to reality, but this was put together in six months."

With the series built on the concept of cheering on countries rather than drivers, however, Team China's failure in front of the several thousand home fans that turned up may hurt harder than teething troubles with the track.

While numbers on the ground rendered the venue's temporary capacity of 25,000 optimistic, there was plenty of interest outside the track.

Crowds of spectators craned necks to take a free, split-second glimpse of the cars roaring by.

Mobile phone-toting fans jostled to snap photos and bemused security guards looked on as the more adventurous climbed trees for a better view.

"It was definitely worth coming to have a look," said Zhao Ran, a Beijing student wearing a Ferrari cap in the crowd.

"I only wish China had done better."