A1GP Switzerland Storms To Sepang Double Victory

Malaysia - 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.

All results remain provisional while the stewards of the circuit continue to carry out investigations. Keep checking www.A1GP.com for further updates and the final results.

Feature race results

Fastest lap: A1 Team Switzerland set the fastest lap in the Feature race, lapping Sepang circuit in 1m49.260s with a speed of 182.6 kph on lap 25 of the 35 lap race.

Next race: A1GP Zhuhai, China, 14-16 December 2007

A1GP Switzerland Takes Supreme Sprint Race Victory

Malaysia - Pole sitter A1 Team Switerzland's Neel Jani took his second consecutive Sepang Sprint race victory this morning at the third round of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season in Malaysia. He dominated from start to finish to cross the line almost four seconds ahead of second-placed A1 Team France driver Loic Duval. The pair were joined on the podium by Germany's Michael Ammermüller, who put in a superb performance to secure a top-three finish in his maiden A1GP race.

As the ten-lap Sprint race got underway in hot and humid weather conditions (air 29 degrees C, humidity 78 per cent), Jani stormed off the grid to take the lead as Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis made contact with France into turn one. The British car sustained damage to the front wing and fell back to sixth place, letting Canada, Germany and Brazil through into third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

By the end of lap two, Switzerland had romped into the distance and pulled out a two-second lead from France. The excitement continued just behind the leading pair as German new boy Ammermüller piled the pressure onto third-placed Canadian driver, Robert Wickens, also making his A1GP race debut.

On lap four New Zealand's Jonny Reid stole sixth position from the damaged GBR car coming out of turn 14 onto the main straight and two laps later the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen snatched eighth place from Ireland's Adam Carroll, as Jani extended his lead over France to a commanding 3.5 seconds.

The Swiss ace went on to take victory by almost four seconds from second-placed France while Germany's Ammermüller, who had made several attempts to pass Wickens in the closing stages of the race, finally made it stick with an ambitious move past the Canadian. They touched during the manoeuvre on the last lap, to take third place, demoting Canada to fourth.

Brazil's Sergio Jimenez enjoyed a strong race to cross the line fifth and record his best finish in an A1GP race while New Zealand, GBR and the Netherlands finished in sixth, seventh and eighth position respectively.

Irish rookie Adam Carroll, who qualified 13th, made the most of a great start to bring the emerald green car home in ninth place while Malaysia's Alex Yoong thrilled his home crowd by carving his way through the pack from 19th on the grid, enjoying a thrilling battle with India's Narain Karthikeyan in the opening laps to eventually cross the line in 11th position.

On form Jani was delighted with his team's win and is hoping for a repeat performance in this afternoon's Feature race:

'The car was perfect so I have to thank the team and I hope we get another car like that for the second race. I braked a little bit too late going into the first corner and went wide, I was very lucky that I didn't touch with Loic there, but after it was ok - I had a gap and I thought ok, this I can manage now. Sepang is a great track, it's got quick and slow corners and I like the flow, it's a little bit like Spa. I like these flowing tracks, it's definitely one of my favourites.'

Duval, who finished second in the French car, commented:

'I took a good start and we were side-by-side, Neel braked really late and I tried to come in to overtake him but unfortunately I think it was actually Canada who crashed into me and I lost the rear. It was quite scary for the first corner and then after it was ok. I was not so far off the pace compared to Neel so we can be confident for the second race this afternoon.'

On his last lap tussle with Canada, German rookie Ammermüller said:

'I think it was quite fair, it was racing. It's the last lap and everybody wants to be in a position if he is behind and not first. We tried to push a lot and I tried to overtake him on the main straight, but it's quite difficult because you have very good gip on the inside for braking and I tried on the outside but it didn't work. Then on the next corner I was on the inside and I just went as much to the inside as I could and I overtook him. I had a little bit of contact with him but I think it was just normal race overtaking I would say.'

Switzerland now lead the championship by three points from New Zealand with France just a point behind in third. All 22 nations are now preparing for the Sepang Feature race, which starts at 15:00 this afternoon.

Sprint race results

Fastest lap: A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani set the fastest lap (1m49.221s) of the Sprint race on lap 10.

A1GP Switzerland Secures Double Pole at Sepang

Malaysia - Switzerland's Neel Jani put in a sensational performance during qualifying for the A1GP Sepang, Malaysia this afternoon to take pole position for tomorrow's Sprint and Feature race. The Swiss star will start the Sprint race from P1 tomorrow morning for the third consecutive season at Sepang and he will lead the drivers off the grid for A1GP's 50th ever race tomorrow afternoon.

Sprint race qualifying
Neel Jani continued his magnificent form around the Sepang circuit, setting the quickest lap during the first qualifying segment and going on to better it in the second to snatch pole position for the Sprint race from A1 Team France, demoting Loic Duval to second on the grid.

Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis and German rookie Michael Ammermüller will line up alongside each other on the second row of the Sprint race grid, followed by Canada's Robert Wickens and championship leader New Zealand's Jonny Reid in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Feature race qualifying
Having secured pole position for the Sprint race, Jani stamped his authority on the weekend by going on to also take pole for the Feature race, recording an outstanding lap of 1m47.648s in the closing minutes of the session, almost a second quicker than GBR's Oliver Jarvis who will line up alongside him on the front row.

Germany's Michael Ammermüller and Frenchman Loic Duval qualified in third and fourth position respectively while the Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen will start the Feature race from fifth on the grid. Brazilian rookie Sergio Jimenez will line up alongside the Dutchman in sixth place on the third row.

After a challenging session, home nation Malaysia's Alex Yoong will start the Sprint race from 19th position and the Feature race from 15th.

Neel Jani was delighted with his final flying lap in the Swiss car and is aiming to convert his team's double pole into a double victory tomorrow:

'I thought that my 48.4 which I did on old tyres might already be enough for pole position. So on my last round I just went out and thought just go easy, don't push too much or break too late, and suddenly there was a 47.7 so maybe that was the solution! James, my engineer, and the team adjusted the car for each segment - we made some little adjustments on the tyres with ride heights and each time I went out the car was better and everything was just perfect. I hope we do tomorrow what we didn't do the last two years - get both race wins.'

The 23-year-old driver was also keen to recognise the contribution of Swiss rookie Rahel Frey, who took part in the first practice session at Sepang on Friday morning:

'My set up was not so far from what she (Rahel) figured out more or less so I have to thank her for that. It's a team effort with the rookie session and you have to go step by step.'

French driver Loic Duval knows the Sepang circuit well but struggled with the balance of the car during today's qualifying session:

'I've raced here before in a different category so it wasn't so difficult for me to learn the track. The braking points are a bit different in an A1GP car obviously but anyway it was enough to be at the front this weekend. We had quite a bit of understeer during the first three qualifying segments, so we tried something different in the last one to try to take pole, but then I suffered from big oversteer so it wasn't good actually. We're not quick enough to beat Neel this weekend in qualifying anyway.'

Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis, who will start the Sprint race from third on the grid and the Feature race from second, commented:

'We put on a new set of tyres for Qualifying 1 and the difference was amazing. Unfortunately it just caught me out as the car had a lot of oversteer. I turned into the double right hander and the car turned in immediately and I clipped the curb and nearly went off. So we didn't really set a competitive time in Q1 which meant we had to take Qualifying 2 quite cautiously. I think it would have been possible to get pole for the Sprint but we didn't have the pace for a 1.47, so congratulations to Neel and the team, they did a fantastic job to take pole in both.'

Tomorrow's Sprint race at Sepang, Malaysia will start at 11.00 local time and the 70-minute Feature race will start at 15:00.

Sprint race qualifying results - A1GP Sepang, Malaysia (round 3 of 10)

Feature race qualifying results - A1GP Sepang, Malaysia (round 3 of 10)

* A1 Team Lebanon will start tomorrow's Feature race from the back of the grid after having its lap time from the third qualifying session disqualified when the car was found to be under the minimum weight at the end of that segment.

Great Britain Tops Friday Practice as Lap Times Tumble

Malaysia - A1 Team Great Britain dominated today's free practice sessions at Sepang circuit in hot and humid conditions, as round three of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season kicked off in Malaysia.

23-year-old Oliver Jarvis set the pace, clocking an outstanding lap of 1m49.459s on worn tyres around the 5.54km circuit, slashing New Zealand's lap record of 1m53.343s which was set by Jonny Reid at last year's A1GP Sepang event in November 2006.

Jarvis was pleased with his team's start to the weekend but is adamant there is still work to be done and is targeting a strong qualifying performance tomorrow afternoon:

'It was a reasonable day. I would've liked a bit more pace early on in the session with the new tyres but I'm very happy with the lap time set at the end - for the age of the tyres it was fairly fantastic. But tomorrow's when it really counts and the guys will sit down tonight and analyse the data and hopefully we'll come back even stronger tomorrow.'

Switzerland's Neel Jani, whose driving style suits the smooth and flowing Sepang circuit, finished the day second fastest, just under half a second off the British car. Jani took over from Rahel Frey who was in the Swiss car this morning for the rookie session. Frey set the 13th quickest time and became the fifth female to drive an A1GP car during a race weekend.

France's Loic Duval set the third fastest time of the day while the fourth spot was taken by current championship leader New Zealand's Jonny Reid, closely followed by China and defending champion Germany in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Home nation Malaysia's Alex Yoong had a difficult session this afternoon and was not able to improve on 17th place due to the session being yellow flagged when Pakistan's Adam Khan spun off towards the end of the hour.

Commenting on his performance today and his team's chances this weekend, Yoong said:

'We're losing quite a bit of time through the middle sector - the medium and high speed corners are where we're struggling a bit. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much grip there is out there and they've done a good job resurfacing it - it doesn't feel at all like the track we had last year. We made a couple of changes to the car during the session in the right direction but there's still a lot of work to be done overnight. I don't think today's time is truly representative of where we are and we should be able to improve that quite a bit tomorrow. There are still a couple of things we can improve on the car for sure. I am feeling more confident since Brno but I'm not going to count my chickens before they've hatched and we've got to keep pushing and hopefully keep improving throughout the weekend.'

Official Practice Session 1 - Rookie drivers and developing nations only

Official Practice session 2 (14.00 - 15.00)

A1GP Formula One Legend Fittipaldi To Return To The Track

London, Great Britain - Emerson Fittipaldi has vowed to come out of retirement to test the new Ferrari-powered A1GP World Cup of Motorsport car next season.

The 60-year-old A1 Team Brazil boss is so excited about A1GP’s involvement with Ferrari that he has confirmed he will get back behind the wheel to test the contemporary single-seater.

Following last week’s historic announcement that the Italian sports car manufacturer will supply all engines to A1GP from next season, Fittipaldi, who never drove for Ferrari in his Formula One career, will not race the car but instead will look to get behind the wheel at the earliest opportunity.

‘When I was told about the possibility of Ferrari coming on board I thought it was brilliant,’ Fittipaldi said.

‘The Ferrari name alone is incredible and people are going to give A1GP more respect and we are going to be much bigger. When Ferrari’s people visited us in Zandvoort they loved our A1GP weekend and they are very enthusiastic to get involved with A1GP.

‘Ferrari will help design a beautiful car. I always wanted to drive for Ferrari and now I can! I will at least test the car. I won’t race it, but I want to test the car. I’m very excited about it.

‘The partnership with Ferrari will make more drivers want to get involved in A1GP too. It will be an exciting formula for the racing.’