Robert Wickens produced a superb performance to seal Canada's maiden A1GP success in the Durban sprint race, whilst no-scores for France and South Africa and a disaster for New Zealand and Germany saw third-placed Switzerland regain the championship lead.
In glorious sunshine, Wickens made a good start from pole position, and survived an assault from Jonny Reid in
Black Beauty into the first corner to retain his composure – and his advantage. He then saw his five-second lead disappear close to the end of the race courtesy of a safety car period – brought out when fellow front row sitter Bruno Junqueira hit the wall on lap nine after bouncing over the kerbs at the chicane, damaging the bodywork of the Brazilian car in the process – but he soaked up the pressure of Great Britain's Oliver Jarvis and Swiss star Neel Jani behind him to take the chequered flag just under a second to the good. The 18-year-old's delight afterwards was palpable.
“I knew we had a very good chance at winning the race,” the Toronto rookie admitted, “because we were quick in qualifying and we had a really solid race car through practice.
“I was basically going into the start with my whole goal just to make it into the first corner well, and that was slightly hairy. I braked and I think either Jonny thought I was going to brake later or maybe he overshot it, I don't know.
“I'm not going to jump to any conclusions, but I saw him coming really quick behind me so I actually let off the brake to try and give him more space. We still made contact though, and that damaged my car a little bit as well.”
Damage or not, Wickens held on supremely at the head of the pack, whilst Reid's missing front wing from the start-line fracas saw the Kiwi ace forced to pit for a new one and rejoin right at the rear of the field. The 24-year-old would ultimately cross the finish line 21st and last – though he did at least take some small consolation away from the race by gaining a point for setting the fastest lap.
![A1 Team Canada's Robert Wickens celebrates his Durban sprint race pole position - Canada's first in the nation vs nation series [pic credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/409374.jpg)
