Despite a worrying first half to the feature race, with Black Beauty' sitting some way outside the points-scoring positions and Kerr looking odds-on for victory, a slow pit-stop by the British crew and a late charge saw Reid take eighth place once more and with Britain finishing second, it would prove enough to see off their threat by just a sole point for the second consecutive season.
We were sitting in about 15th spot for a long time, he acknowledged, but once I got into some clear air I was able to belt some good lap times in, the boys gave me some very good stops and my in-laps and out-laps were really on the button; they were mega. As a team we did a great job both on and off the track.
At least we went forward in both races with two eighth positions, but it was far from the result we went to Brands for. Given the circumstances after qualifying, second [in the championship] was a realistic goal, and we achieved that. Even with Great Britain putting us under all sorts of pressure up front, we managed to keep our composure inside the team and that showed our strength.
We're a good enough team to win this championship we just had a few things not go our way, and the Brands weekend was a classic example of that. We were blocked in the final qualifying segment; you get one lap to do your time, and if you get blocked by another car then that's going to destroy everything.
We were much quicker than 17th as you could see in the race but second is what it is, and I appreciate everyone's work. The whole team has put a lot of effort into this, including myself, and I'm still happy with second.
Turning his focus forwards now, the Auckland native and World Cup of Motorsport mainstay says he is confident New Zealand can prevail once the action gets into gear again at Mugello in Italy in September provided, he underlines, that the team proves itself capable of whittling out all the tiny little mistakes that crept in to deny it glory in 2007/08.
![Home favourite Jonny Reid celebrates securing pole position in qualifying for the sprint 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/403119.jpg)
