Kerr wins race, Jani title at Brands Hatch

A1 Team Switzerland has won the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, after finishing fourth in this morning's sensational Brands Hatch Sprint race in the UK, in which Great Britain's Robbie Kerr took a fantastic home race victory ahead of USA and Ireland.

Kerr grabs lead on first lap
A1GP

The crowd went wild as home favorite GBR's Robbie Kerr dominated the action from pole position to win the 20-minute race, moving the British team up into third place in the championship before this afternoon's final race of the season. Kerr, who took victory in the Brands Hatch Sprint race last year, has now scored three wins for his nation during his A1GP career.

Much to the delight of the home fans, Ireland's Adam Carroll finished on the podium in third place, after making a brilliant start from fourth on the grid, diving past the Swiss car going into Paddock Hill and seizing third. Twenty-five-year-old Carroll has now notched up a total of four podium finishes – including one win – for the Irish team in his debut A1GP season.

USA's Jonathan Summerton, who started second and has been on impressive form all weekend, held position throughout the race and, despite pressure from Carroll in the Celtic Tiger, went on to finish second and take his third podium for the American squad this season.

New Zealand's Jonny Reid, who had a poor qualifying session on Saturday but was still in with a chance of overhauling the Swiss team in the title fight this morning, crossed the line eighth. The Kiwis are now preparing to defend second overall in the championship during this afternoon's season finale Feature race, as third-placed GBR is set to pile on the pressure.

Hugs all around for Neel Jani from his Swiss team
A1GP

An emotional Max Welti, seat holder of newly crowned A1GP champion A1 Team Switzerland, said:

'It's absolutely outstanding. It's such a great feeling – you just cannot believe it! To represent Switzerland all over the globe and to actually do it is fantastic. We're writing a page in the history books. Neel came on the radio after he crossed the line to thank the team – he knows that to win the world championship is not only his achievement, but everybody in the team as well."

Results

Pos
A1 Team Driver Laps Time Gap
1 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 15 19'19.143
2 USA Jonathan Summerton 15 19'20.269 1.126
3 Ireland Adam Carroll 15 19'21.329 2.186
4 Switzerland Neel Jani 15 19'23.268 4.125
5 India Narain Karthikeyan 15 19'23.610 4.467
6 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque 15 19'24.540 5.397
7 South Africa Adrian Zaugg 15 19'25.257 6.114
8 New Zealand Jonny Reid 15 19'27.528 8.385
9 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 15 19'28.968 9.825
10 France Franck Montagny 15 19'30.021 10.878
11 Germany Michael Ammermüller 15 19'30.346 11.203
12 Czech Republic Filip Salaquarda 15 19'31.138 11.995
13 Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 15 19'33.497 14.354
14 Australia John Martin 15 19'34.989 15.846
15 Canada James Hinchcliffe 15 19'36.460 17.317
16 Brazil Alexandre Negrão 15 19'37.250 18.107
17 Italy Edoardo Piscopo 15 19'37.744 18.601
18 Pakistan Adam Khan 15 19'43.030 23.887
19 Indonesia Satrio Hermanto 15 19'49.097 29.954
20 Mexico David Martínez 15 19'49.465 30.322
21 China Cheng Cong Fu 15 19'50.664 31.521
22 Lebanon Khalil Beschir 15 19'55.381 36.238

2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points standings

POS A1 TEAM POINTS
1 Switzerland 158
2 New Zealand 124
3 Great Britain 114
4 France 112
5 South Africa 96
7 Germany 83
8 Netherlands 82
9 Canada 75
10 USA 56
11 Portugal 55
12 China 47
13 India 46
14 Brazil 44
15 Malaysia 25
16 Mexico 22
17 Australia 20
18 Czech Republic 10
19 Italy 10
20 Pakistan 1

Fastest lap: A1 Team China's Congfu Cheng set the fastest lap (1m16.184s) of the Sprint race on lap 14.