ChampCar Vet, Neel Jani Wins In Taupo

Neel Jani At Speed - A1 Team Switzerland claimed its second win of the season in this afternoon’s Feature race in A1GP Taupo, New Zealand. Image Credit: A1GP – SUI

ChampCar Vet, Neel Jani Wins In Taupo

Neel Jani drove for the PKV Racing team in the Champ Car World Series in 2007. He ended the series in ninth place with a total of 231 points. After choosing to focus on the 2007-2008 A1GP season rather than stay in ChampCar/IRL for 2008 season (the series was absorbed by the IRL).

Jani has not been linked to any 2009 IRL rides to date. PKV Racing became KV Racing Technology upon the transition phase of ChampCar into the IRL at the beginning of the 2008 season.

Neel Jani On The Podium - He got ahead the pole-sitter, A1 Team Ireland’s Adam Carroll, in a crucial moment in the second round of pit stops, when it was slightly slower in getting away than Jani’s Swiss machine. Jani then controlled the race, surviving a late scare when the field close up after a late safety car period. Image Credit: A1GP – SUI

This Excerpted and edited from Autosport –

Jani wins Taupo feature race
By Mark Glendenning - Sunday, January 25th 2009, 04:53 GMT

Team Switzerland's Neel Jani took advantage of a Team Ireland pitlane mishap to win the feature race in this weekend's A1GP round at Taupo.

After a brilliant start from fifth, Jani had been running second behind Ireland's Adam Carroll until the pair made the second and final of their compulsory stops.

Both pitted on the same lap and the Irish crew was able to release Carroll into the lead, only for the car to suffer a problem with its anti-stall and stop momentarily in the pitroad.

Ironically, it stopped right beside the Swiss pit crew, who were just completing their own stop, and by the time Carroll had got his car moving again Jani had already gone past.
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Neel Jani On The Podium - Two other ChampCar refugees (Robert Doornbos, Dan Clarke) and one IRL driver (Marco Andretti) were in the field as well. Image Credit: A1GP – SUI

How the field finished (ChampCar/IRL drivers in bold):
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Pos Driver Team Time
1. Neel Jani Switzerland 1:06:19.574
2. Adam Carroll Ireland + 1.047
3. F. Albuquerque Portugal + 2.379
4. John Martin Australia + 10.593
5. Robert Doornbos Netherlands + 14.402
6. Loic Duval France + 17.423
7. N. Karthikeyan India + 20.215
8. Marco Andretti USA + 20.799
9. Edoardo Piscopo Italy + 23.156
10. Adrian Zaugg South Africa + 23.347
11. Fairuz Fauzy Malaysia + 26.832
12. Felipe Guimaraes Brazil + 1 lap
13. Dan Clarke Great Britain + 1 lap
14. C. van der Drift New Zealand + 1 lap
15. Cheng Cong Fu China + 1 lap
16. Salvador Duran Mexico + 7 laps
17. Satrio Hermanto Indonesia + 8 laps
18. Clivio Piccione Monaco + 17 laps
19. Daniel Morad Lebanon + 49 laps
Reference Here>>

Dan Clarke is confident that he will return to racing full-time this year, and expects to secure a drive in the IndyCar Series.The Briton lost his drive when the Champ Car World Series merged with IndyCar on the eve of the 2008 season, and spent last year on the sidelines. But he has returned to action with Team Great Britain at the Taupo A1GP races this weekend, and while he wouldn't rule out more A1GP appearances, he said his priority was getting an IndyCar seat. "I'm still living in Indianapolis, and we're still gearing up for a season in IndyCar," Clarke told autosport.com. Caption and Image Credit: Autosport

... notes from The EDJE