SA wins soaked A1 GP down under

03/02/2008 17:51



A1 Team South Africa scored its second win of the season when 21-year-old Adrian Zaugg, in the race of his young career, scored a faultless victory in atrocious conditions in round six of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
The South African made an excellent start from sixth on the standing start grid and was up to third in turn two behind Switzerland's Neel Jani and Robbie Kerr of Great Britain.
As the drivers struggled to find grip in the sodden conditions - rain fell throughout the race and all 22 runners started on wet weather tyres - Zaugg challenged Kerr for second place and took over the lead on lap eight when both Jani and Kerr made the first of the two mandatory pit stops.
In a smooth and mature performance, under the most trying of conditions in which he never looked in any trouble, Zaugg drove a faultless race to take the chequered flag after 42 laps and 70-minutes of demanding driving a comfortable 19,5 sec ahead of Jani, with Great Britain's Kerr over 25 seconds in arrears in third place.
Fifteen points for the team's first feature race win and a bonus point for fastest lap of the race sees South Africa move up to fourth in the championship behind France and New Zealand (joint leaders) and Switzerland.
Earlier in the day, Zaugg finished seventh in the Sprint race behind race winner Luc Duval of France after starting from third on the grid.
He took second place from Switzerland's Jani in turn one on lap four of the 14-lap race as rain started to fall, but then slipped off the circuit on his slick tyres and dropped to 12th. He recovered well to take seventh place at the flag.
"Brilliant! Fantastic! What a drive!" race engineer Humphrey Corbett told Zaugg over the radio as he enjoyed his slow down lap. It perfectly summed up the talented South African's performance.
"It was one of my best races," admitted an elated Zaugg in the post-race interview with co-commentator John Watson, who had earlier described the South African's performance as "a drive of absolute class under the most difficult of conditions".
The timing could not have been better, with the seventh round of the A1GP World cup of Motorsport to be run in Durban, South Africa in three weeks time from February 22-24.
Championship points after six rounds of ten:
1 New Zealand 96
2 France 96
3 Switzerland 93
4 South Africa 79
5 Germany 77