Reid had also run wheel-to-wheel with Jarvis at the start, and the Briton benefited from his rival's mistake to steal second place – though his car too sustained race-long damage.
“I got a great start and managed to brake extremely late around the outside,” the newly-signed Audi DTM ace explained afterwards. “I actually thought I was going to get the lead, but unfortunately New Zealand tagged Robbie Wickens of Canada, which just pushed him out wide and compromised me a little bit.
“Then as I tried to go around the outside of the corner, New Zealand again drove into the side of me and damaged the car quite a bit. I managed to get into second, but from then on I was really struggling so was never quick enough to challenge for the lead. I was happy to finish on the podium, though.”
Wickens and Jarvis were joined up on the rostrum by Jani, who was perhaps the happiest man of all three after reclaiming the title lead in the nations' standings. The former Champ Car and GP2 star began the race fifth, but failures to score for France (eleventh), South Africa (13th), New Zealand and Germany (excluded) left the Swiss squad sitting pretty.
Michael Ammermüller was removed from the results after he ran into the back of Jeroen Bleekemolen in the bright orange Dutch machine heading into the final corner following the late-race safety car period. Both cars were out on the spot, but with the race being stopped and the results counted back a lap, Bleekemolen was initially classified fifth and Ammermüller sixth. The young German was subsequently disqualified over his manoeuvre after being deemed to have caused an avoidable collision, but his victim was less than impressed.
“He has been pushing people off in every race,” the former DTM and sportscar ace exclaimed of his assailant. “You brake and he just knocks you off. This guy is impossible to drive with; you can't race with him in a fair way. There are 20 drivers you can drive fairly with, but not him.”
![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)
