Switzerland win again in feature
Neel Jani made it an emphatic double in Malaysia by winning the A1GP feature race at Sepang this afternoon
But the Team Switzerland driver did not have it all his own way this time, having to work hard throughout a thrilling encounter.
Jani took the lead easily at the start, ahead of an intense fight between Team GB's Oliver Jarvis, Team Brazil's Sergio Jiminez and Loic Duval for Team France. Duval was up to second by the end of an entertaining first lap, ahead of Jiminez and Jarvis.
A safety car on lap eight interrupted Jani's efforts to build a lead, and led to everyone rushing for the pits under the caution. Jani briefly stalled, and got to the end of the pit lane to find Jiminez alongside him.
Unexpectedly, the cars were held at the pit exit. Jarvis and Duval had formed a 'second row' in the pits and it made for a mini-start procedure when they were released, despite the safety car still being out.
Jiminez won the race for the first corner, ahead of Jani, Jarvis and Duval. At the restart proper, Jarvis pounced on Jani only to get repassed by Jani and Duval a couple of corners later. This battle allowed Jiminez to build a lead of a couple of seconds.
Jani took little time to catch Jiminez, but struggled to get past him. Meanwhile, on lap 20, Team Germany's Michael Ammermuller repeated his unpopular race one move by hitting Jarvis at the second corner.
For this he earned a drive-through penalty and Jarvis lost significant time. Meanwhile Jeroen Bleekemolen for Team Netherlands impressively passed Duval.
Jani was finally able to retake the lead at the second round of stops, by pitting a couple of laps before Jiminez and emerging in front of him.
Duval regained third through the second stops, and with Jarvis ruled out of contention by a drive-through penalty (possibly for speeding in the pits), Bleekemolen took fourth.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Neel Jani Switzerland 1:08:13.459 2. Sergio Jimenez Brazil + 8.414 3. Loic Duval France + 8.928 4. J. Bleekemolen Netherlands + 11.222 5. Cheng Cong Fu China + 17.354 6. N. Karthikeyan India + 17.594 7. Adam Carroll Ireland + 19.372 8. Jonny Reid New Zealand + 20.397 9. Ian Dyk Australia + 44.294 10. Oliver Jarvis Great Britain + 44.359 11. J. Summerton USA + 44.549 12. M. Jourdain Mexico + 44.715 13. M. Ammermuller Germany + 46.409 14. Alex Yoong Malaysia + 48.795 15. Adam Khan Pakistan + 56.877 16. Erik Janis Czech Republic + 58.319 17. Satrio Hermanto Indonesia + 1:20.906 18. Chris Alajajian Lebanon + 9 laps 19. Enrico Toccacelo Italy + 18 laps 20. Adrian Zaugg South Africa + 28 laps 21. Robert Wickens Canada + 28 laps 22. Joao Urbano Portugal + 35 laps
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