TEAM Switzerland’s Neel Jani paid tribute to the unique Brands Hatch atmosphere after speeding his country to victory in the A1GP on Sunday.

The Swiss went into the championship finale with a commanding lead of 29 points over New Zealand, their nearest challengers.

And Jani’s fourth place in the morning sprint and a third-place podium finish in the feature race in the afternoon was enough to see the Swiss side claim the title by 41 points.

“Brands Hatch gave us a fantastic atmosphere and it was a great place to win the title,” said Jani.

“This is the greatest moment of my career. I can’t put it into words this moment. A1GP has been getting tougher every season and this year we got the title.

“After the first race, winning the title with fourth place felt a little empty but after the podium it feels fantastic.

“I was a little bit worried by still being sixth after the first pit stop but we had a great second pit stop, and we had great pace afterwards.”

New Zealand, the only team that could have overtaken Switzerland in the title standings, needed to finish at least second in the race to have a chance of keeping the title race alive to the final race of the season. However, Jonny Reid could only finish eighth.

Meanwhile Great Britain were looking to go one better than the two bronze medal finishes they have managed in the last two seasons but despite an heroic effort from Robbie Kerr, Team GB ended up trailing New Zealand by one point.

Kerr won the sprint race – his third A1GP win for his country – and then finished second in the feature event, just one second behind the winner, India’s Narain Karthikeyan.

“It was a fantastic weekend for GBR,” said Kerr.

“It was just a shame we couldn’t pull the second win off.

“Narain and I were so equal and after the first pit stop we thought we had done enough. Then unfortunately the second pit stop didn’t quite go our way, but it’s a team sport and we all worked hard. It’s just one of those things.”