Motorsport: NZ tops points table after Reid delivers

A jubilant Jonny Reid (centre) salutes the crowd after his victory in the A1GP sprint race. Photo / Paul Estcourt

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The country expected, and A1GP driver Jonny Reid delivered. He may not have been able to repeat his sprint win in yesterday's feature race, finishing fourth, but Reid and A1 Team.NZL secured enough points to leave Taupo with the championship lead.

Just two points now cover the top three teams with New Zealand atop the heap on 82 and Switzerland and France on 80 apiece.

"It was a very hard race," said Reid. "I made hard work of it because of the start. I didn't pop the clutch properly and it got bogged down and we lost a lot of places and I'll put my hand up for that."

Reid had his work cut out after his poor beginning meant he lost the advantage afforded by a handy fifth place on the starting grid. By the end of the first lap he had slipped to 12th.

The next 52 laps were a hard slog, the Kiwi driver fighting his way up through the field. As he climbed up the leaderboard, Reid had to be mindful of keeping out of trouble and not damaging the car.

"It was probably the hardest race I've ever had," said Reid. "It was very tough."

French driver Loic Duval continued his love affair with the Taupo track on Saturday morning by dominating the time-sheets at the end of the last free practice session.

Crowd-favourite Reid snatched the all-important pole for the sprint race, but saw Duval snatch pole for the feature race.

"It was a fantastic feeling to see everyone on their feet in the grandstands as I came across the line," said Reid. "I had no radio communication during the session but I could see the crowd were pretty excited and I was hoping it was at least the front row."

Sunday morning's sprint race was the perfect start to the day's racing. Reid posted his first win on home soil by beating Germany by almost three seconds with France a distant third. With Switzerland crashing out, New Zealand moved within five points of the championship leaders.

The crowd was on their feet as Reid crossed the line to secure the first win for New Zealand since the double victory in Brno.

It was also only the second time in the series that a driver has won on home soil.

"Marvellous, marvellous, marvellous! We've now closed within five points of Switzerland," said seat holder Colin Giltrap.

The afternoon's feature race was a war of attrition with a number of cars going off at turn one after the flag dropped and three cars spinning out on the infield midway through the race. Eventual winner Germany followed France until the first pit stop where quick work saw them take the lead on the track.

New Zealand had already climbed to seventh by the same time, and executing a slick wheel change, also picked up a place.

When Black Beauty pitted on lap 35 for the second mandatory stop Reid had the car up to fifth, and after more good work by the pit crew, he moved up to fourth where he finished.

For German driver Christian Vietoris, the feature race win capped a fine day where he secured second in the sprint.

"It was a really brilliant weekend for us," he said. "The car was a little bit off the pace on Friday but we improved it all weekend and we were on the pace for qualifying and the sprint race.

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

Canada had a quick second pit stop and got ahead of France on the track to finish second at the chequered flag.

Reid heads to Eastern Creek for the next round of the series in Australia, on February 3.

* A1GP STANDINGS

NEW ZEALAND 82

Switzerland 80

France 80

Germany 65

South Africa 59