Ireland (Adam Carroll) strengthened their position in the lead of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport with a win in the sprint race and second in the feature race in round four at Taupo in New Zealand on Sunday.

Switzerland (Neel Jani) won the afternoon feature race after coming second in the morning?s sprint race. South Africa (Adrian Zaugg) finished 10th in the sprint and ninth in the feature races and now lie ninth in the championship with five rounds remaining.

Zaugg, starting from 11th position on the grid in the 15-lap sprint race, made up a place shortly after the mandatory pit stop to change tyres when Australia (John Martin) clipped a tyre curb and damaged its suspension.

Switzerland, who earned a bonus point for fastest lap of the race, made up two places as a result of a slick pit stop, while Portugal (Felipe Albuquerque) was the big loser, dropping from second at the start to sixth after the anti-stall device on his Ferrari-engined car kicked in as he exited the pits.

It was Ireland and Carroll's third win of the season.

The standing start feature race, held over 50 laps, got underway on Sunday afternoon in cool and overcast conditions. Pole sitter Ireland led until the first of the two mandatory pit stops from Switzerland, Portugal and Australia. South Africa, starting from 16th on the 19-car grid, made up a place in the opening lap and, with rivals making mistakes and running into problems ahead of him, Zaugg found himself in 10th place at half distance.

He dropped back to 11th after the second pit stop after looking like he was baulked by USA (Marco Andretti) as they exited the pits together. Andretti crossed a solid white barrier line as the pair rejoined the race and, although he went on to finish eighth with Zaugg 10th, the American was penalised 25 seconds after the race, dropping him back to 11th and promoting Zaugg to ninth.

Switzerland, in the meantime, had jumped ahead of early leader Ireland in the pit lane during the first pit stop after Carroll was one of several drivers caught out by the anti-stall system as he drove slowly out of the pits.

Portugal scored a bonus point for fastest lap of the race.

It was Switzerland's second win of the season on a day when Jani matched the record number of A1GP starts of 54 held by Malaysia's Alex Yoong. The Swiss star has now won eight A1GP races altogether and closed in on Germany's Nico Hulkenberg's record of nine (achieved in a single season).

"It was a difficult weekend for the team," said Mike Carroll, general manager of A1 Team South Africa. "Adrian's pace was much improved in the two races compared to qualifying, but in this very competitive form of motor racing ? the first six on the grid for the feature race were covered by less than a second ? you have to have a good qualifying performance if you hope to challenge for a podium position or a win.

"We'll be doing everything we can to put ourselves in a stronger position for the next round, the A1GP Gauteng, South Africa. This is our home race and we don't want to disappoint the fans."

Sprint race results:

1. Ireland (Adam Carroll), 15 laps, 19:40.271
2. Switzerland (Neel Jani), 15, 19:41.759, +1.488
3. Netherlands (Robert Doornbos), 15, 19:43.830, +3.559
4. France (Loic Duval), 15, 19:48.865, +8.594
5. New Zealand (Chris Van Der Drift), 15, 19:51.937, +11.666
6. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), 15, 19:52.936, +12.665
7. Italy (Edoardo Piscopo), 15, 19:55.230, +14.959
8. Malaysia (Fairuz Fauzy), 15, 19:56.068, +15.797
9. India (Narain Karthikeyan), 15, 20:01.244, +20.973
10. South Africa (Adrian Zaugg), 15, 20:02.301, +22.03
11. Usa (Marco Andretti), 15, 20:10.836, +30.565
12. Great Britain (Daniel Clarke), 15, 20:11.276, +31.005
13. Indonesia (Satrio Hermanto), 15, 20:12.632, +32.361
14. Brazil (Felipe Guimaraes), 15, 20:13.405, +33.134
15. Mexico (Salvador Duran), 15, 20:20.872, + 40.601
16. Monaco (Clivio Piccione), 15, 20:29.552, +49.281
17. China (Congfu Cheng), 11, 15:13.744, +4 Laps
18. Lebanon (Daniel Morad), 8, 11:30.701, +7 Laps
19. Australia (John Martin), 5, 06:55.050, +10 Laps

Feature race results:

1. Switzerland (Neel Jani), 50 laps, 06:19.574
2. Ireland (Adam Carroll), 50, 06:20.621, +1.047
3. Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque), 50, 06:21.953, +2.379
4. Australia (John Martin), 50, 06:30.167, +10.593
5. Netherlands (Robert Doornbos), 50, 06:33.976, +14.402
6. France (Loic Duval), 50, 06:36.997, +17.423
7. India (Narain Karthikeyan), 50, 06:39.789, +20.215
8. Italy (Edoardo Piscopo), 50, 06:42.730, +23.156
9. South Africa (Adrian Zaugg), 50, 06:42.921, +23.347
10. Malaysia (Fairuz Fauzy), 50, 06:46.406, +26.832
11. USA (Marco Andretti), 50, 07:05.373, +45.799
12. Great Britain (Daniel Clarke), 49, 06:32.633, +1 Lap
13. New Zealand (Chris Van Der Drift), 49, 06:43.944, +1 Lap
14. China (Congfu Cheng), 49, 06:45.245, +1 Lap
15. Brazil (Felipe Guimaraes), 49, 06:57.238, +1 Lap
16. Mexico (Salvador Duran), 43, 58:11.542, +7 Laps
17. Indonesia (Satrio Hermanto), 42, 57:36.757, +8 Laps
18. Monaco (Clivio Piccione), 33, 46:53.801, +17 Laps
19. Lebanon (Daniel Morad), 1, 01:45.294, +49 Laps

Championship points after four rounds of nine:

1 Ireland 65
2 Switzerland 52
3 Portugal 49
4 France 41
5 Netherlands 38
6 New Zealand 35
7 Malaysia 31
8 Australia 30
9 South Africa 17
10 United States and Great Britain 16.

Next round:

A1GP Gauteng, South Africa on 20 to 22 February.