NEW ZEALAND TAKE FIRST A1GP VICTORY IN SENTUL

teamcar - New Zealand has secured its first-ever A1GP World Cup of Motorsport victory with a dominant lights-to-flag drive from Jonny Reid in the Sprint race at the Sentul circuit, Indonesia. A1 Team Mexico's Salvador Duran put Reid under pressure in the closing laps of the race to finish a fighting second ahead of Great Britain's Robbie Kerr.

Reid led the field away from the grid and steadily extended his advantage over the 15-lap Sprint race until Duran's push over the last two laps closed the gap to just under a second. Reid was delighted to score New Zealand's first win in 31 A1GP races, "This is a very emotional feeling for me. The whole team has been working really, really hard and the result is fantastic as we came back from 16th in practice to the pole and now the win. I stayed focussed and I'm totally over the moon with what's happened. Now we've got to re-focus and get the job done this afternoon."

Home team Indonesia enjoyed a race long battle with Malaysia and Netherlands for 12th position. On lap nine, Malaysia took the Dutch car for 12th, leaving the door open for Indonesian Ananda Mikola to gain position. Mikola seized the opening and forced his way into 13th, much to the delight of the packed grandstands.

Mikola put Malaysian Alex Yoong under heavy pressure and feinted to get past the following lap, but the Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen was determined to get back his lost position. The Dutchman capitalised on the Malaysian-Indonesian battle in front and, seeing a small gap, pushed through to relegate Mikola back to 14th.