“The main aim was to get on the podium for the sprint race so I'm really happy,” Vietoris added. “I feel really comfortable and the car now feels fine, so I'm looking forward to the feature race. I'm starting from the first row, and with a good start I hope I can do well.”
Reid and Vietoris were joined up on the rostrum by France's Loic Duval, who raced to a strong third place, followed by South Africa's Adrian Zaugg in fourth.
“I think Adrian took a really good start and actually was in front of Jonny,” feature race pole-sitter Duval explained. “Christian could pass me in the first two corners and then I managed to come back and get on the podium. I had a good chance to overtake the South African car, so it wasn't too bad and the car was ok.
“We are going to start first for the feature race, so I'm still really confident. I have to take a good start, and if I am leading from the front then I think we have a really good chance.”
The Netherlands (Jeroen Bleekemolen), Ireland (Adam Carroll) and the USA (Jonathan Summerton) wound up fifth, sixth and seventh respectively, whilst Portugal recorded its best finish the 2007/08 campaign when the on-form Joao Urbano crossed the line eighth.
Australia's John Martin and India's Narain Karthikeyan fought hard to take the final two points-paying positions, with Pakistan's Adam Khan putting in his finest performance of the season to secure eleventh spot. Indeed, Lebanon had been on course for its first-ever A1GP point until Tomas Enge hit Chris Alajajian from behind on the lap nine, causing the latter to pit for repairs and ultimately drop down to 15th place.
The opening lap turn one mêlée that saw to Switzerland's hopes also accounted for Malaysia's Alex Yoong, Canadian Robert Wickens and Brazilian star Sergio Jimenez. The incident brought out the safety car for two laps, with only the latter pair being able to rejoin the action.
![New Zealand's Jonny Reid celebrates a popular home victory with his team at Taupo in the nation vs nation series [pic credit: A1GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/403130.jpg)
