MEXICO CITY, Mexico — A1 Team Ireland became the 15th national team to win an A1GP feature race Sunday, taking a thriller over Great Britain and the United States at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez one day before St. Patrick’s Day.
Ireland’s Adam Carroll started in fifth place, but quickly moved to second behind Switzerland’s Neel Jani, who dominated the race until lap 34 when both Jani and Carroll came in for compulsory pit stops.
The Irish crew got Carroll out ahead of Jani, who was then hit with a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release from his stop and finished 19th.
Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis notched a double-podium on his final outing for the British team this season, while picking up more valuable championship points. Jarvis also scored a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race and this weekend’s points haul moves GBR up to fourth in the title table behind France.
American Jonathan Summerton, who scored his nation’s best ever result at Mexico City last year when he finished second in the feature race, charged from seventh on the grid to finish third and take the final podium position ahead of the Netherlands’s Jeroen Bleekemolen.
In Saturday’s Sprint race, Team New Zealand raced to its third victory of the season in an incident-packed race that began with an eight-car crash during the rolling start. The race was red-flagged as the grid was reformed.
New Zealand’s Jonny Reid captured the win with Jarvis in second and Jani taking the final spot on the podium.
The victory vaulted New Zealand into second in the standings with 113 points as Switzerland (128 points) held onto its point lead with a third-place finish behind Great Britain.