Sepang - Gara 1
Neel Jani ritrova la vittoria

Neel Jani ha trasformato la pole in vittoria. Il pilota del team Svizzera ha infatti condotto la corsa sprint di Sepang per tutti i 10 giri precedendo sul traguardo Nico Hulkenberg del team Germania e Jonny Reid del team Nuova Zelanda. Jani ha condotto con tranquillità la gara mantenendo con costanza il vantaggio di 1" su Hulkenberg. Il tedesco partiva dalla seconda fila e alla prima curva ha avuto la meglio su Reid con una manovra un po' forzata. Le due vetture sono entrate in leggero contatto e il neozelandese a fine corsa si è lamentato del comportamento del rivale tedesco. Da sottolineare che entrambe le squadre sono gestite dalla Super Nova. Il clima non era troppo sereno in casa David Sears anche perché tra Hulkenberg e Reid c'era stato il precedente di Brno con l'incidente, ben più grave, in fase di partenza.

Quarto posto il pilota locale Alex Yoong, partiva dalla quarta fila, che si è fatto largo nei primissimi chilometri di gara avendo la meglio su Robbie Kerr, Nicolas Lapierre e Jeroen Bleekemolen. Nel corso del primo passaggio si sono verificati dei contatti in mezzo al gruppo che hanno penalizzato Ananda Mikola, Tomas Enge, Raphael Matos ed Enrico Toccacelo. Mentre il brasiliano è riuscito a tornare in pista dopo una sosta ai box, Mikola, Enge e Toccacelo si sono dovuti ritirare: il ceco con la scatola del cambio danneggiata, l'italiano con la sospensione posteriore distrutta. Nel corso della gara, bel duello tra Adrian Zaugg e Ryan Briscoe per la dodicesima posizione.

English
A1 Team Switzerland's Neel Jani has converted pole position to a win in the Sprint race at the Astro A1GP Sepang, Malaysia. The Swiss driver led from start to finish to win by over a second from Germany's Nico Hülkenberg and New Zealand's Jonny Reid. A1 Team Malaysia's Alex Yoong was a popular fourth position in his home race, with Great Britain and France completing the top six. There were no such problems for the Swiss this year however as he pulled away cleanly from the start and steadily extended his advantage over the 10-lap race. Second on the grid Jonny Reid pulled level with Jani going into the first corner, but with the Swiss held his line to stay in front.
Hülkenberg however used the battle in front to his advantage, driving round the outside of Reid into second position. There was light contact between the New Zealand and German cars and Reid's machine sustained suspension damage, which affected the car's handling in the later stages of the race. Reid was distinctly unimpressed by Hülkenberg's actions - a repeat of their clash into the first corner at Brno, which led to both their retirements. With the German and New Zealand teams run by the same outfit, Super Nova Racing, the atmosphere in the post-race conference was frosty.

There were clashes off the start further down the field too with Italy, Brazil and Czech Republic picking up damage and returning to the pits. The left-rear suspension of the Italian car was smashed in the impact and driver Enrico Toccacelo fought to bring the car to the garage as the steering slewed it off to the side. While the Brazilian team made repairs and sent Raphael Matos out again, the right-rear suspension and right wing of Tomas Enge's Czech car was too badly damaged and Enge retired in the pits. With the gearbox undamaged, Enge fully expected to be back on the pace for the Feature race. Indonesia's Ananda Mikola also came into the pits and straight into the garage with suspension damage.
The wide, flowing Sepang track provided many overtaking opportunities for the closely matched competition, with South Africa and Australia enjoying a race-long battle for 12th position. After three laps Australian Ryan Briscoe squeezed ahead, but Adrian Zaugg pushed him hard throughout the remaining laps. Singapore and India similarly raced side-by-side over the race with Christian Murchison almost running into the back of Armaan Ebrahim as he outbraked himself on lap seven. Murchison's sustained pressure eventually paid off on the penultimate lap when he pushed through into 15th position.

Massimo Costa

Nella foto, Jani (a sinistra) e Hulkenberg

L'ordine di arrivo di gara 1, domenica 26 novembre 2006

1 - Svizzera - Neel Jani - 10 giri in 19'06"289
2 - Germania - Nico Hulkenberg - 1"203
3 - Nuova Zelanda - Jonny Reid - 3"601
4 - Malesia - Alex Yoong - 11"826
5 - Gran Bretagna - Robbie Kerr - 12"858
6 - Francia - Nicolas Lapierre - 13"731
7 - Olanda - Jeroen Bleekemolen - 16"097
8 - Canada - Sean McIntosh - 17"358
9 - Stati Uniti - Phil Giebler - 18"292
10 - Cina - Cheng Cong Fu - 21"207
11 - Messico - Salvador Duran - 22"572
12 - Australia - Ryan Briscoe - 23"628
13 - Sud Africa - Adrian Zaugg - 24"686
14 - Irlanda - Michael Devaney - 25"433
15 - Singapore - Christian Murchison - 33"516
16 - India - Armaan Ebrahim - 35"184
17 - Libano - Khalil Beschir - 45"218
18 - Pakistan - Nur Ali - 1'35"573
19 - Brasile - Raphael Matos - 1'39"417
20 - Indonesia - Ananda Mikola - 9 giri
21 - Repubblica Ceca - Tomas Enge - 9 giri
22 - Italia - Enrico Toccacelo - 9 giri

Giro più veloce: Jonny Reid in 1'53"343

L'ordine di arrivo sopra riportato determina lo schieramento di partenza di gara 2.