Vietoris: Victorious

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Germany's Christian Vietoris grabbed his maiden A1GP win in the Feature Race in New Zealand, though there was still plenty to cheer about for the home fans.

Local favourite Jonny Reid overcame a terrible start to finish in fourth place to follow on from his victory in the Sprint Race earlier in the day.

His efforts mean New Zealand now top the overall standings with 82 points, two clear of previous leaders Switzerland and France.

Germany now sit in fourth thanks to the efforts of teenager Vietoris at a dusty Taupo Motorsport Park.

The 18-year-old managed a second-placed finish in the Sprint Race to pick up useful points and then went one better in the main event thanks to two excellent pit stops.

Canada recorded their best result of the season when rookie Robert Wickens came home in second. France's Loic Duval - who had started on pole - was third.

Brilliant week

"It was a really brilliant week for us," Vietoris told www.A1GP.com after clinching Germany's second win of the season.

"The team did two good pit stops in the Feature which put me to the front and held me there.

"It was really hard to keep Loic Duval behind me, especially on the long back straight, but we managed to hold position and I am very happy."

Reid delighted the Kiwi crowd with his great recovery to get up to fourth, while Ireland's Adam Carroll put in a superb performance to clinch fifth spot.

Brazil's Sergio Jimenez rounded out the top six of a race that saw eight of the 22 teams fail to complete the required 50 laps.

Switzerland's Neel Jani endured a difficult afternoon after crashing out at the first corner of the Sprint Race and then receiving two drive through penalties in the Feature: one for a false start and for also overtaking under yellow flags.

The Swiss team nevertheless picked up a bonus point for the fastest lap of the Feature and finally crossed the line a disappointing 14th behind Portugal.

Frustrating

Great Britain were amongst the list of casualties on a tricky track, Robbie Kerr twice having to retire early.

His participation in the Feature event was cut short by technical problems after he had already been forced to quit in the Sprint following a collision with USA's Jonathan Summerton on lap five.

"It's been an extremely disappointing day," Katie Clements, GB's Team Principal, admitted.

"Robbie did well to avoid the collision at the start of the Sprint race, gained five places, and from then on he was determined to move forward but unfortunately USA shunted us, putting us out of contention.

"We're still looking into the engine problems that caused us to pull out of the Feature race, but hopefully everything will be resolved and GBR will be back racing at the front of the pack in Australia where we belong."

Sprint Race: 1 New Zealand (Jonny Reid) 19mins 25.408secs
2 Germany (Christian Vietoris) 19:28.600
3 France (Loic Duval) 19:30.307
4 South Africa (Adrian Zaugg) 19:33.231
5 Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen) 19:34.989
6 Ireland (Adam Carroll) 19:36.320
7 USA (Jonathan Summerton) 19:36.825
8 Portugal (Joao Urbano) 19:38.723
9 Australia (John Martin) 19:40.988
10 India (Narain Karthikeyan) 19:48.376
11 Pakistan (Adam Khan) 19:51.181
12 Italy (Eduardo Piscopo) 19:51.456
13 Brazil (Sergio Jimenez) 19:51.949
14 China (Congfu Cheng) 19:52.181
15 Lebanon (Chris Alajajian) 19:54.891
16 Indonesia (Satrio Hermanto) 19:56.515
17 Mexico (David Garza) 19:56.757
18 Canada (Robert Wickens) 16:15.661 +3 Laps
19 Czech Republic (Tomas Enge) 14:51.686 +4 Laps
20 Great Britain (Robbie Kerr) 20:32.011 + 5 Laps
21 Malaysia (Alex Yoong) +14 Laps
22 Switzerland (Neel Jani) + 14 Laps

Feature Race: 1 Germany (Vietoris) 1hrs 10mins 40.168secs
2 Canada (Wickens) 1:10:41.348
3 France (Duval) 1:10:42.193
4 New Zealand (Reid) 1:10:43.199
5 Ireland (Carroll) 1:10:44.256
6 Brazil (Jimenez) 1:10:45.285
7 South Africa (Zaugg) 1:10:50.275
8 USA (Summerton) 1:10:50.802
9 Netherlands (Bleekemolen) 1:10:51.343
10 Mexico (Garza) 1:10:59.646
11 Pakistan (Khan) 1:11:05.727
12 Czech Republic (Enge) 1:11:06.674
13 Portugal (Urbano) 1:11:10.016
14 Switzerland (Jani) 1:11:14.619
15 China (Congfu) 1:01:52.027 + 7 Laps
16 Malaysia (Yoong) 55:37.015 + 12 Laps
17 Australia (Martin) 1:11:03.435 + 13 Laps
18 Indonesia (Hermanto) 30:39.755 + 29 Laps
19 Great Britain (Kerr) 06:21.667 + 46 Laps
20 Italy (Piscopo) 04:57.448 + 47 Laps
21 Lebanon (Alajajian)04:57.889 + 47 laps
22 India (Karthikeyan) 03:20.795 + 49 Laps

Championship Standings: 1 New Zealand 82
2 Switzerland 80
3 France 80
4 Germany 65
5 South Africa 59
6 Ireland 50
7 Netherlands 49
8 Great Britain 48
9 India 28
10 China 28
11 Brazil 27
12 Canada 22
13 Mexico 18
14 Czech Republic 10
15 USA 9
16 Portugal 5
17 Italy 4
18 Australia 4
19 Malaysia 2
20 Pakistan 0
21 Lebanon 0
22 Indonesia 0