New Zealand driver Jonny Reid (right) is revved up for what could be his last drive of the season in this weekend's 10 th and penultimate round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Shanghai.

Reid suspects team mate Matt Halliday will be back behind the wheel of Black Beauty for the final round at Brand's Hatch later this month and he wants to sign off his personal contribution in positive fashion.

"I'm still feeling as fresh and as focused as I did at the start of the championship." Reid said. "I wish I could race every weekend, but if this is to be my last race for the season I want to get out and enjoy it."

New Zealand is second in the title race and is the only team that can overtake runaway championship leader Germany, but Reid won't be focusing on his growing rivalry with German driver Nico Hülkenberg.

"We can't control what happens to Germany, but we will be going out there to win both races. The target is to secure maximum points and if everything goes right that's what we're capable of."

Only three drivers return to the Shanghai International Circuit that hosted last season's final round, but any perceived advantage may be negated by a new configuration for this year's event which cuts the lap distance from 5.453km to 4.602km.

Reid has seen the track up close by viewing on-board race footage on his computer, but says it didn't prepare him for yesterday's first visit in person. "It's mindblowing," he said. "The circuit is simply massive and unbelievably New Age and hi-tech. The straights are just so long, it's going to be one of those tracks where pure speed is vitally important."

The 23-year-old was confident bumps and bruises inflicted on Black Beauty in the latest round in Mexico, after scrapes with Italy and France , would be well healed and the car would be back up to speed.

His optimism has been heightened after engine manufacturers Zytek last night decided to change the New Zealand car's engine after detecting a potential problem following the Mexican round.

"I'm confident the car will be back to its best and we'll be over the problems we had in Mexico with straight line speed, because we certainly need to be up with the pace on the circuit's monster straights.

"Set-up will be crucial. You can get a good tow down the straights before blowing into the corners, which look fast, flowing and quite wide. Because the track's so smooth, you should be able to use different lines and position yourself for overtaking…but if we qualify up front hopefully we won't have to do any this weekend!"

A1 Team.NZL spokesman Bob McMurray believes the new engine will make Daniel Gaunt's role as the driver in tomorrow's rookie sessions all the more important.

"Daniel has a role to play in setting up the car and even though this is his first time driving Black Beauty, he's now vital for giving us more time to run in the new engine," McMurray said.