Duran wound up fourth, barely a tenth of a second adrift of the bright orange Dutch machine and having overcome an early scare when the Mexican was put under investigation for having allegedly crossed the pit-lane exit white line while leaving the pits to join the grid. Jani took fifth and Christian Vietoris sixth for reigning champions Germany, chased all the way to the line by a racy-looking Jarvis. Ralph Firman another driver to fall prey to the hard-charging Englishman Reid and Narain Karthikeyan completed the top ten.
Lebanon's Chris Alajajian also produced a memorable performance on his A1GP debut, finishing in 14th place having started 18th on the grid and enjoying a mid-race tussle with the Czech Republic and China, the trio of cars at one point getting side-by-side.
We prepared a really good car for today in the dry and yesterday in the wet conditions, enthused the jubilant race-winner afterwards. We have shown we can be competitive in both the wet and the dry, so it's looking good.
After two or three laps I looked in my rear mirrors and I couldn't see anyone anymore so from then I never had to go to the maximum, but it was very hard not to lose my rhythm. I hope to do it again in the feature race. When you look at the times we should be the ones to beat in that race so we have every chance.
Duval was similarly pleased with the result, as France bids to re-establish its credentials as a title challenger following a disappointing 2006/07 campaign in which it finished a distant fourth in the nations' standings. The 25-year-old had a fairly uneventful race to pick up twelve championship points for his country, and insisted he had not felt under any great pressure despite the constant attentions of Bleekemolen in his rear-view mirrors.
![Victory! South African A1GP star Adrian Zaugg celebrates his repeat success in the sprint race of the 2007/08 season-opener at Zandvoort [pic credit: A1GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/383544.jpg)
