The A1GP championship will go down to the final Sunday of the season at Brands Hatch in three weeks time after leaders Team Switzerland failed to clinch the title in Shanghai.
Having dominated Sunday morning’s sprint race from pole with New Zealand failing to finish, a multitude of scenarios would have seen Neel Jani claim the championship with one round to go, the simplest of which was the Swiss driver winning the feature race.
But having started on pole, Jani was beaten off the line by USA’s Jonathan Summerton before a gearbox problem saw the 24-year-old slip down the field and eventually finish fifth.
After leading into the first corner, Summerton never relinquished his grip at the front to claim USA’s first-A1GP victory.
Switzerland proved difficult to shake off in the early stages but a fantastic out lap saw Summerton establish a gap over Jani after the first round of pit stops, which he extended to more than seven seconds by lap 20 due to his rival’s mechanical woes.
Summerton, driving with a bruised hand after a collision with Kiwi Johnny Reid in the sprint race, cruised to the chequered flag 9.729 seconds ahead of Filipe Albuquerque, who recorded a second podium of the day for Portugal after finishing third in the sprint.
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