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Pole sitter
and Sprint race winner A1 Team Switzerland took its second win
of the day in this afternoon's incident-packed Feature race at
Sepang in scorching weather conditions, moving the team into
the championship lead by 10 points. Jani was joined on the
podium by Brazilian rookie Sergio Jimenez, who started the
race sixth and led for 15 laps, in second position and French
driver Loic Duval in third.
Jani made a perfect getaway in the Swiss car as Great
Britain's Oliver Jarvis held second off the grid and further
down the pack five cars tangled going into turn one. Jani
pulled out a 2.5 second advantage by the end of lap one as
third and fourth-placed France and Brazil concentrated on
making their way past GBR, demoting Jarvis to fourth.
After a second lap tussle for 10th position, New Zealand's
Jonny Reid and local hero Malaysia's Alex Yoong were forced to
pit for repairs, rejoining the action at the back of the
field. Lap five saw German rookie Michael Ammermüller snatch
fifth from Ireland's Adam Carroll, who had made another superb
start to make up two places from seventh on the grid.
Two laps later eighth-placed South Africa's Adrian Zaugg
made a mistake going into turn seven and spun off into the
gravel before returning 'Vulindlela' to the track, forcing
Canada's Robert Wickens to run wide to avoid him.
The incident brought out the safety car and as the first
pit stop window opened on lap eight, 20 of the 22 nations
decided to pit under yellow. The crowds watched in amazement
as the pack was then held at the end of pit lane for an
unusual standing start as they waited to rejoin behind the
safety car.
Brazil's Jimenez took the lead and pulled away as
Switzerland, GBR and France went side-by-side in a battle for
second place, Jani taking position followed by Duval and
Jarvis in third and fourth place.
By lap 16 the order had settled behind the top four to
Germany, Netherlands, India and China, followed by Mexico and
Ireland in ninth and tenth. Race leader Jimenez did an
incredible job to hold off the Swiss driver who was all over
the back of the Brazilian car while Germany's Ammermüller
received a drive through penalty for hitting GBR when he tried
an ambitious move on Jarvis at turn two on lap 19.
The second pit stop window opened on lap 22 and Brazil
decided to stay out while Switzerland pitted from second on
lap 23. Jimenez pitted one lap later and rejoined the action
behind Jani, as the Swiss driver regained the lead and started
to pull away once again. GBR continued to endure a difficult
race as the team struggled with a sticking wheel nut in their
second stop on lap 24 and then received a drive through
penalty three laps later for speeding in the pit lane.
With seven laps remaining, Ammermüller launched the German
car ambitiously into turn two for the third time this weekend,
taking out the Czech Republic's Erik Janis on his way.
Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Jani continued to pull
away from Jimenez and went on to cross the line in first
position, giving the Swiss team a perfect end to the weekend
with its first double victory and Feature race win. Jimenez,
who has been improving all weekend, brought the Brazilian car
home in second place, scoring the nation's first podium finish
since round four of season one. Third place went to Duval in
the French car, promoting the team to second in the
championship while the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen crossed
the line a well-earned fourth.
A1 Team China's CongFu Cheng put in a strong performance to
finish fifth, having started from eighth on the grid while
India's Narain Karthikeyan crossed the line sixth. Ireland's
Adam Carroll finished seventh while the final three
point-scoring positions were taken by New Zealand, Australia
and Great Britain, as Jarvis snatched tenth from USA in the
closing seconds of the race.
Jani was clearly delighted to take Switzerland's first
Feature race win and can't wait to get back on track at the
next round in China:
'I mean how many times have I lead a Feature race when
something happened in the last lap, the pit stop messed up
everything, it was just a horrible dream so far of a Feature
race for us. And now finally we got that win and the first
time in the championship lead for the A1GP for Switzerland, so
it's really great and I'm really looking forward to
Zhuhai.'
Jimenez, who crossed the line second and gave Brazil its
first podium since season one, said:
'I'm really happy but it was a very tough race for me. I
had a very good start - we jumped to third and I could keep
Switzerland and France in my sights. After the first pit stop
we had red lights but it was lucky for me because I could stop
side by side with Neel and go to the front, and after that I
was with new tyres so I was able to put some distance between
us and we were on a different strategy. It was good, but it
could be better though!'
Duval, who has impressed all weekend, brought the French
car home in third place, moving his nation into second in the
championship:
'It was a very difficult race for me, quite tough. I had a
good fight with Oliver, good overtaking before the fast
corners and then I overtook Jimenez before the main straight.
So I was quite OK during the first stint. I had the same
problem as Neel during the first pit stop on the safety car
when we arrived at the end of the pit at the red light. So
like him, I don't know if it's allowed to overtake under the
safety car in the pit. So I was fourth again and I had to
overtake Oliver again, and then I couldn't follow the guys
because I had massive understeer during the second stint. We
put the new tyres on for the last stint which was good, the
car was much better like this so I could catch the Brazil car
but not enough to finish second. It's quite a good weekend.'
Switzerland now leads the title challenge on 61 points,
ahead of France on 51, as the series heads to Zhuhai, China
for the first time on 14-16 December 2007.
Home nation Malaysia scored its first point by default this
morning after A1 Team Netherlands was given a 42-second
penalty for jump starting the Sprint race. The penalty dropped
them from eighth to 20th in the Sprint race classification,
stripping the team of the three points it scored. The penalty
also meant that Ireland and Italy received an extra point.
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