Reindler lives up to Eastern promise with third in China

Australian racing ace Karl Reindler once again did his country proud by finishing on the podium in the third round of the A1 Grand Prix series.

A stunning drive in the feature race at the Beijing circuit in China saw the 21-year old from Perth, Western Australia, move up nine places over 63 laps to score third place, his first podium in the A1GP series in only his second outing with A1 Team Australia as lead driver.

In the feature race, Reindler was showing well throughout, occupying sixth and fifth positions before grabbing third when the polesitting Netherlands car retired with nine laps to go.

Reindler said: “It was quite a race. I had no idea where I was until the final safety car. The race just played into our hands with a well-timed pit stop. We had a briefing before the race to discuss our strategy, which was to wait until around lap 30 to pit for tyres. The tactic worked perfectly in the end. It has been a very interesting weekend, on a very unique circuit, and it is a great feeling to be on the podium representing my country.”

The podium finish moved Team Australia up to sixth in the series points, a superb achievement for a young man who took over from F1 test driver Ryan Briscoe in the race-driving seat in round two, in Brno, Czech Republic. 

Earlier, Reindler had scored another finish in the 15-lap sprint race, resulting in 12th place around the extremely narrow and twisting Beijing street circuit.

The A1GP series stays in the Far East for round 4, which takes place at the magnificent Malaysian Grand Prix venue at Sepang, on November 26.