Mixed day for Jani in Dubai, Firman fourth

Switzerland’s Neel Jani ended France’s A1 Grand Prix winning streak with his first victory of the season in Dubai today but lost ground in the title battle after a disastrous second race.

France started the sixth round of the new championship on the back of a remarkable eight successive wins.

However, Nicolas Lapierre’s spin in race one in Dubai finally ended that streak and allowed Jani a clean run to take his first win in A1.

The Swiss driver won easily from Italy’s Enrico Toccacelo, who finally found his form after a difficult start to life in the new series.

Tomas Enge rounded out the podium for the Czech Republic while Ireland’s Ralph Firman was fourth.

But Robbie Kerr had to make do with ninth for Great Britain after spinning. Yorkshireman Adam Khan, driving for Pakistan, was out of the points in 16th.

Jani’s luck ran out in race two when he suffered during a safety car period as Lapierre hit back with victory.

Jani missed the opportunity to make his mandatory pit stop and lost time behind the safety car as his rivals stopped.

That opened the door for Kerr and he overtook Lebanon’s Basil Shaaban for the lead on the restart to set up a fight with Lapierre.