Switzerland lead the way after A1GP wins

Switzerland opened up a 10-point lead at the top of the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport standings after Neel Jani claimed victory in both the Sprint and Feature races in Malaysia today.

The Swiss driver, who was on pole for both races in Sepang, dominated the Sprint race from start to end, finishing 3.792 seconds ahead of France's Loic Duval, with Michael Ammermuller of Germany in third place.

Jani then gave Switzerland its first win in a Feature race, outpacing Brazilian rookie Sergio Jimenez to win by 8.414 seconds, with Duval in third place.

With Jani also setting fastest laps in both races, Switzerland picked up a maximum 32 points from the weekend to move to the top of the A1GP standings with 61 points.

France are second on 51 after Duval picked up 12 points in the Sprint and 10 in the Feature while former leaders New Zealand are third on 45 after only managing eight points for Jonny Reid's sixth in the Sprint and eighth in the Feature.

The Swiss had not tasted victory in an A1GP since Jani won the Sprint in Malaysia 12 months ago but the 23-year-old showed his liking for the Sepang circuit by completely dominating the opening race in scorching conditions.

He enjoyed a good start and was never seriously threatened in the 10-lap race by Duval, who survived contact with Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis at the first turn to take second spot.

Driving in his maiden A1GP race, Ammermuller overtook fellow debutant Robert Wickens of Canada on the last lap to take the final spot on the podium.

Jani enjoyed another good start in the Feature race and held a 2.5 second lead over Jarvis after the opening lap.

But an incident involving South Africa's Adrian Zaugg brought out the safety car on the seventh lap and Jimenez was able to take the lead after the majority of cars pitted under yellow.

However, Jani was able to regain the lead on the 23rd lap after the cars pitted for a second time and he pulled away in the closing laps to complete a memorable day for the Swiss.

After a number of past disappointments, Jani was delighted to finally celebrate a Feature race win.

"How many times have I lead a Feature race when something happened in the last lap?" he said.

"The pit stop messed up everything, it was just a horrible dream so far of a Feature race for us," he said.

"Now we have finally got that win and for the first time, Switzerland has the championship lead in the A1GP. It's really great and I'm really looking forward to Zhuhai."

The next race on the A1GP circuit takes place at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China on December 16.