Jonny Reid Hot Ferrari Lap A1GP Taupo

When the World Cup of Motorsport last visited these shores in January last year, then driver, Jonny Reid, bought Black Beauty home ahead of the pack in the sprint race and gained a fourth in the feature race.

Therefore, it must have been a bit of a bitter pill to swallow when he found himself relegated to the bench at a round where the New Zealand team had one of its best results.

Reid had been a talisman for the team. He had bagged the team's first podium finish, in Malaysia in 2006 and made the main driving role his own.

A popular figure with fans last year, Reid's affable smile grinned out of advertising billboards and from the pages of newspapers. As the A1GP series won much friendly publicity, Reid was the visible, smiling face of the Kiwi team.

He raced an Air New Zealand Boeing 777 and charmed the public.

Now he's watching the A1GP from the sidelines. Youngster Chris van der Drift has been handed the reins of the flying Kiwi car in Taupo this weekend.

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• A1GP
• jonny
• reid
• ferrari
• taupo
• nz
• herald
• motorsport
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• zealand
• black
• beauty