Frenchman Loic Duval ultimately wound up seventh after being hit with a drive-through penalty on lap 16 as a result of his team releasing the car unsafely from its first pit-stop. As he drove past the USA pit box, the 25-year-old caught the hose connected to one of the airguns, causing a Team USA mechanic to be pulled to the ground.
Tomas Enge – making his A1GP race return for the Czech Republic after an absence of ten months – had a superb afternoon as he stormed up from 16th on the grid to finish a solid eighth, firing his country up the nations' standings into 13th spot level with Canada.
Home hero CongFu Cheng – who had earlier taken a superb and immensely popular rostrum finish in the sprint race – was running in sixth place on lap 31 after the second round of pit-stops, only to receive a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane that dropped him down to tenth. The gritty British F3 National Class ace was determined not to give up, though, charging back past Jonathan Summerton in the ‘We The People' car with five laps remaining to finally cross the line ninth and pick up two valuable championship points.
The Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen was forced out of the action on lap nine due to a puncture caused by suspected suspension failure at the final corner, whilst twelfth-placed Joao Urbano (Portugal) received a drive-through penalty on lap five for making a false start.
Following the Chinese weekend, Switzerland has extended its series lead over France to 19 points, with New Zealand just one more point adrift in third and Great Britain, South Africa and the Netherlands completing the top six.
The championship now takes a five-week break before heading to New Zealand for round five in Taupo, marking the first race of the New Year on 18-20 January.
![Narain Karthikeyan - A1 Team India [pic credit: A1 GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/398969.jpg)
