Neel Jani Wins Kyalami's Feature Race

Switzerland's Neel Jani equaled Germany's Nico Hulkenberg as the winningest driver in the A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport following his win in the Future Race of Kyalami, South Africa. Although he started the second race of the weekend from 5th place, Jani got off to a great start in the race and eventually made the best of his pit stop strategy to clinch his 9th win of the season.

The Swiss driver went from 5th to 2nd place by the first corner of the race, trailing A1 Team Monaco's Clivio Piccione for the lead. The duo kept their positions until the first round of mandatory pit stops, when A1 Team Switzerland made a quicker stop to hand Jani the lead in the race. From that point on, it was a one-man-show for the Swiss driver, who eventually crossed the finish line with a comfortable lead of more than 13 seconds.

“I was a bit worried starting from fifth, because I knew the first two turns would be very close and you could get knocked off easily, so my strategy was to just try the outside and it really worked and was a fantastic start. I then tried to follow Clivio (Piccione) and I struggled a bit. But then we had a great pit stop and I had good pace. I think Monaco had a bit of bad luck in the pit stop so that helped us too. But after it I could really keep up my pace,” said Jani after the race.

Piccione would eventually lose 2nd place in the race to A1 Team Brazil's Felipe Guimaraes, who managed to pass the Monaco driver on Lap 24. That wasn't to be the last passing maneuver of the day inside the Top 6, as A1 Team Lebanon's Daniel Morad managed to overtake Great Britain's Danny Watts later on for a remarkable 6th place overall. The pass would also give Lebanon its best race finish since competing in the A1 GP series.

Jani's win lifted A1 Team Switzerland to the top of the overall standings, as A1 Team Ireland's Adam Carroll failed to get to the finish line. The Irish driver crashed out of the race in the first lap following an incident with A1 Team Malaysia.