New Zealand

The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix team is still a pleasing 4th on the championship points table despite slim pickings in a thrilling Round 4 at Eastern Creek, Sydney.

Kiwi driver Jonny Reid didn't pick up any points in the Sprint Race with his 14th place finish, but he did score three points with an 8th place finish in the day's second race, an incident-packed 40-lap Feature Race which saw 10 of the 24 starters fail to finish.

Reid actually finished the race in 9th place, but Ireland incurred a time penalty for passing New Zealand before the start-finish line on the second re-start of the race and dropped to 14 th place.

The meagre points haul saw A1 Team.NZL lose ground on the front-runners and a number of nations have narrowed the gap in behind the team, but A1 Team.NZL chief executive Bob McMurray was proud of his driver and crew.

"It was a difficult weekend given we do not, as yet, have a perfect race car, but coming out with points and holding on to fourth spot on the table is really pleasing," McMurray said.

"It's great that we can bring the car to New Zealand this week as a front-runner. Kiwis should be proud of our team because we aced the pit stop, Jonny gave it everything he had and we tried desperately hard to score points."

France, which won both races today for the third round in succession, took their tally to 71 points, including a bonus point for the day's fastest lap.

Brazil remain second on 52 points and Switzerland stay third on 47 points. New Zealand is fourth on 32, just one point ahead of 5 th placed Great Britain, with Portugal moving up to sixth on 27 and Australia and Netherlands seventh equal on 26 points.

The Feature Race was a crash fest with the biggest incident involving Japan splitting their car in two and causing 13 of the final 15 laps to be run under a yellow flag.

France was followed home by Great Britain with Switzerland 3rd, the Netherlands 4th and Malaysia 5th. The Australian team edged out Portugal, with Reid just holding out a fast-finishing Brazil to pick up his three points for 8th. The USA was 10th.

The 22-year-old Reid had earlier finished the Sprint Race out of the points in 14th place. A good start where he picked up three places from 14 th was ruined when he was pushed off the track into the kitty litter by Mexico.

Reid dropped back to 20th after the Mexican stand off, but picked up six places through good driving and attrition. Six of the 24 starters crashed out, but the usual suspects picked up points with France cruising to victory ahead of Portugal and Brazil. Ireland and Great Britain rounded out the top five.

An exhausted Reid said the weekend had been a big learning experience and he was rapt with the whole team's efforts.

"I know how hard the mechanics worked to put in our original engine and also another gearbox overnight," Reid said. "The racing itself wasn't a personal best, but I was working pretty darn hard for my supper!

"It'll be good to relax for a few days and Matt (Halliday) and I are looking forward to heading home with the car to show it off."

McMurray says he was happy the team made the engine and gearbox changes to the car following Saturday's qualifying, where Reid could only manage 14th after spending most of the weekend among the pace-setters.

"It gives us more information to work with for the next race and it gave Jonny peace of mind," McMurray said. "We still have a lot of work to do to get the car where we want it, but we'll be leaving no nut or bolt unturned to do that."

McMurray said the team was gratified to hear that Japanese driver Hayanari Shimoda emerged from his horrific crash with no major injuries.

"We're a tight community and wish Hayanari all the best. It's testament to the strength of the Lola chassis that he remained safe after such a major mishap."

Switzerland

Packed grandstands of excited fans welcomed another podium for Neel Jani on occasion of the first race of the new A1 Grand Prix series at the Eastern Creek track. The weather was kind too with blue skies and bright sunshine chasing away any sign of clouds or rain.

After a morning warm-up where Neel Jani finished in ninth position, A1 Team Switzerland finished the sprint race in sixth place. It was a tough race for Neel Jani still suffering from fever since the start of the week and not fully fit. The Swiss driver finished on the podium in third place for the 40 laps long feature race.