David Sears rounded off a fantastic year by winning the first of two A1 GP races in China as the Norfolk team owner tries to retain the World Cup of Motorsport.

David Sears rounded off a fantastic year by winning the first of two A1 GP races in China as the Norfolk team owner tries to retain the World Cup of Motorsport.

For the second race in a row Michael Ammermuller took control of the German car and he won his first race in the category with a fine defensive drive.

Fourth place in race two ensured he was the top point scorer at the Zhuhai Circuit.

The German rookie racer set the fastest time in the all important qualifying session to secure pole position for the opening race of two at the Chinese circuit.

"We did a good job to get first place in qualifying and it's a great result for the whole team," said a delighted Ammermuller.

"We were quite dominant in first qualifying but the track got a bit worse towards the end of the second session and we weren't in the top three but still I think fifth is a good result."

Ammermuller didn't put a wheel wrong in the opening race leading from starting lights to chequered flag holding off championship leader, Switzerland's Neel Jani, in the process to secure his maiden victory.

"It was a very nice race. I made a good start and didn't make any mistakes," said the happy winner.

During the last ten laps of the longer feature race the German racer piled massive pressure on South African racer Adrian Zaugg but was unable to find a way by and therefore narrowly missed out on a second podium visit.

New Zealander Jonny Reid endured a miserable qualifying to line up in 13th and tenth places for the races for the Norfolk outfit.

In the shorter event he managed to climb up to tenth but it was his outstanding second race, which hauled the black car onto the podium and third place in

the

championship table.

"It was a fantastic team effort," said Reid.

"Obviously I'm very pleased to come from tenth on the grid to threaten for the win in the feature race."

Reid put himself into the lead of the main race but during the second round of pit stops he was demoted to second place by former Grand Prix racer Narain Karthikeyan.

In the closing laps Reid piled on the pressure but was unable to make it a double victory for the Sears organisation.

The Norfolk squad also looks after the Brazilian and Lebanese entries but both found it tough going at the Chinese circuit.

Five cars were involved in an opening lap accident in the first race, including the Brazilian and Lebanon cars, with the former, driven by Sergio Jimenez, recovering to finish a lap down in 18th place at the end while Chris Alajajian remained stuck in the gravel.

The rolls were revered in race two with Jimenez out of the race on the first lap, with smoke pouring from his engine bay, while Alajajian evenutally finished in unlucky 13th after a massive spin.