Jani eager to get back to winning ways

The 24-year-old retired from the sprint race after clashing with Team Malaysia's Alex Yoong at the first corner, and was 13th in the feature race after a harshly imposed jump start penalty.

A sprint race victory for Jonny Reid helped New Zealand to steal the top spot in the standings by two points.

Jani is eager to return to winning form in Australia: "New Zealand was one of the biggest disasters for Team Switzerland for a long time. The target for Sydney is simple, to get back to the lead of the championship. I want two pole positions and two wins.

"It was frustrating to have a potential win taken away at Taupo, but I am very confident because we had the pace there so we have every chance of being at the front at Eastern Creek, too."

Jani hopes that success in the championship this year will help A1GP to catch on in Switzerland.

"It still needs to be embraced more. It hasn't caught on as well as in some countries yet," he said. "I can walk down the street at home and nobody knows me, and I come to New Zealand and there are people coming for my autograph!

"I would be very proud to win the championship for my country and hopefully make A1GP bigger in Switzerland, and of course it would be an ever bigger boost for my career."

Team Australia driver John Martin is also looking forward to his home event, and is keen to get a good result on familiar ground.

He said: "It's good to have Taupo out of the way, I learned a lot there and it's time to move on to Eastern Creek where I did a lot of racing in 2005. Most of the top A1 guys have done races here in this car so they probably have more of an advantage, but I'm hoping for a top five result.

"It'll be good to have the home support, but you know Aussies. If you do well they really get behind you but if you don't go well, you're not the greatest person in the world to them."