Duval takes maiden A1GP win
Loic Duval took his breakthrough A1GP win for Team France in a chaotic sprint race at Eastern Creek this Sunday
Duval's start-to-finish victory also ends a French win drought that stretches back to the first season of A1GP, and gives France a two-point lead over Team New Zealand.
Duval was totally calm when rain arrived in the middle of the race, and despite the treacherous conditions (racing on slicks in the wet), he held on to the healthy lead he had built up in the dry early stages.
Others didn't manage quite so well. The race looked settled after a few laps with Duval leading Neel Jani (Team Switzerland), Adrian Zaugg (Team South Africa) and Jonny Reid (Team New Zealand).
When the rain fell that all changed. Zaugg passed Jani and then spun off almost immediately. Then Jani came under pressure from Reid, who eventually made it past before Jani dropped several positions with an off.
The opened the door for Robert Wickens (Team Canada) to take a stunning podium. Wickens started way down in 15th and had a quiet start to the race, but as soon as the rain came along he put in a brilliant charge to come all the way through to third.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Loic Duval France 20:18.536 2. Jonny Reid New Zealand + 9.198 3. Robert Wickens Canada + 11.016 4. M.Ammermuller Germany + 11.929 5. J.Summerton USA + 12.604 6. John Martin Australia + 14.210 7. Adrian Zaugg South Africa + 14.523 8. Sergio Jimenez Brazil + 30.260 9. J.Bleekemolen Netherlands + 33.471 10. Neel Jani Switzerland + 33.806 11. N.Karthikeyan India + 44.742 12. Joao Urbano Portugal + 46.131 13. Edoardo Piscopo Italy + 46.196 14. Cheng Cong Fu China + 49.423 15. Adam Carroll Ireland + 50.300 16. Robbie Kerr Great Britain + 56.715 17. David Garza Mexico +1:02.846 18. Tomas Enge Czech Republic +1:03.033 19. Chris Alajajian Lebanon +1:05.029 20. Fairuz Fauzy Malaysia +1:20.880 21. Satrio Hermanto Indonesia +1:22.642 22. Adam Khan Pakistan + 13 Laps
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