Following New Zealand's victory, France's fine form, Germany's resurgence and Switzerland's abject weekend in Taupo, the A1GP championship has hit the halfway point of its 2007/08 season the closest it has ever been.
Jonny Reid's immensely popular success on home turf has propelled ‘Black Beauty' to a narrow two-point advantage over France and erstwhile pace-setter Switzerland in the nations' standings – a remarkable turnaround given that following the sprint outing in Zhuhai, just three races ago, the Kiwis had languished some 27 points adrift of their Swiss rivals.
The situation is also in stark contrast to the series' previous two campaigns – in 2005/06 France held a commanding 36-point lead over the third-placed competitor at the midway stage of proceedings, whilst the following year Germany's margin of supremacy over its second-nearest challenger was 18 points.
“Coming out of Taupo with the title lead was way more than I expected,” Reid candidly admitted following his stunning victory and strong fight back to fourth place in the later feature event. “With the points the way they were before Taupo, I thought maybe we would come out second if we had a good weekend, but we had a fantastic weekend and we're now leading. We can't ask for more than that. It's anyone's game at the moment, but we're on top and we've got to build on that.”
The Swiss outfit's weekend, in comparison, could barely have been any worse, with but a solitary point garnered courtesy of Neel Jani's fastest lap in the feature race. Indeed, the nation saw its pre-meeting 19 point lead wiped out in one fell swoop, after the ex-GP2 and Champ Car ace fell victim to an opening lap skirmish in the sprint and suffered a brace of drive-through penalties and a broken front wing in the feature.
![Team France's Loic Duval celebrates securing pole position in qualifying for the feature race of round five of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport in Taupo, New Zealand [pic credit: A1GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/403120.jpg)
