Swiss motor racing champs pro NZ
29 Jan 2009
Swiss racing car drivers in New Zealand for the Taupo A1GP event were not only victorious on the track but also vocal in their praise for the country.
Neel Jani of Switzerland, who won the A1GP feature race, reckoned he couldn’t have done so had it not been for New Zealand’s climate.
Mystery illness
Ten days before the race Jani had undergone a lumbar puncture to diagnose a mystery illness.
After three days of bed rest in Austria then two more at home in Switzerland, Jani arrived in New Zealand looking pale and weak.
But within three days he was on the Taupo track and finished second in the sprint race, then won the feature race taking him from sixth to second in the world championship. The Swiss team is now 13 points behind Ireland in the A1 competition.
Clean fresh air
Jani said he thought the best cure for his illness would be the winner’s champagne but also credited New Zealand’s climate for his recovery.
"It’s just got better every day with the warm weather. It looked like the clean fresh air helped me too so that was very good," he said.
Awesome scenery
Fellow team mate Alexandre Imperatori won New Zealanders’ hearts with his comments about the scenery. The self confessed fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy said he’d thought the scenery in his favourite movies was too good to be true.
But when he arrived in Taupo in the central North Island and looked across the lake to Mt Ngauruhoe - which featured as Mt Doom in the blockbuster trilogy - he was awestruck.
"I knew it was amazing from the movies but to see it for myself is something different. I can't believe this exists on earth."
Taste of NZ culture
Geneva-based Imperatori, 21, was one of 13 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport drivers who also got a first-hand taste of New Zealand culture during their visit.
The group experienced a powhiri (Māori welcome ceremony) and had a haka lesson from the local Ngati Tuwharetoa hapu (sub tribe).
Netherlands driver Dennis Retera, 22, said he'd seen the All Blacks do the haka on television before rugby games, but learning the meaning behind it had made it so much more familiar.
More than 65,000 people attended the three-day A1GP event at the Taupo Motorsport Park and racing was broadcast to more than 150 countries.
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