A1GP news

Jani comes close to podium on return

A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani finished fifth in the sprint race scoring two points and earned another seven points in the feature race to take Switzerland's overall total to 45 points in the championship. 

"The start of the sprint race was not easy as New Zealand, France and Netherlands
were suddenly in front of me," said Jani. "I did not want to take any big risks at that stage. I am satisfied to have finished in fifth scored two points." 

Jani continued: "I had a good start in the feature race and made up a place as the safety car came. After the restart I moved up to third, but on the next lap I couldn't do anything to keep Great Britain from passing. It was quite tough then as New Zealand was all over my rear wing and trying to find a way past. As I completed my pit stop after ten laps Matt Halliday passed us in the pits. I resumed in fourth place behind Germany, Great Britain and New Zealand with 40 tough laps ahead of me. About
mid-race, as Robbie Kerr almost lost the car, I was ready to take advantage of the situation but I still had Portugal and Netherlands right behind me. Then it was a bit of routine trying to keep my position. Overall, it was a tough race. I had to fight a lot. This result is not what I hoped for, but it is OK at the end. Unfortunately we had some problems with the rear end of the car which meant we couldn't finish on the podium. I
am proud to have helped my team and my country to score many good points." 

Max Welti, team principal, A1 Team Switzerland added: "With Neel Jani, the team comes to 45 points in the classification. He missed the podium in the feature race but had an excellent weekend and drove a solid feature race without mistakes despite the pressure and he returned the car in one piece, which is really a challenge on a city track. Anyway, this is a dream race in front of so many spectators. After its second
year, it is now possible to compare this Durban street race to Monaco's traditional glamorous race."

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