PKV Racing's Neel Jani vying for top five position in the championship standings source: PKV Racing Teammate Tristan Gommenday looking to close gap to 10th place. PKV Racing driver Neel Jani will be trying to regain his position in the top-five in the championship standings while teammate Tristan Gommendy will attempt to close the gap to 10th in the points this weekend at the inaugural Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix at TT Circuit Assen in Assen, Holland. Jani, #21 Red Bull Gulfstream PKV Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone, who is coming off an eighth place finish last weekend in Belgium is working on a streak of seven consecutive top-10 finishes. He has been as high as fifth in the standings and is currently seventh in the championship standings with 182 points, just 14 points out of fifth and 39 out of third. Jani is third in the Roshfrans Rookie of the Year race. The 23-year-old native of Jens, Switzerland has finished in the top-10 nine times in the 11 races this season with three podiums. The three podium performances, season high seconds in Toronto and San Jose, where he led his first Champ Car laps, plus a third in Cleveland, established a single season team record for most by an individual driver and tied the record for the most by the team in a season. In addition to the three podiums and the eighth in Belgium, Jani has finished sixth in Mont-Tremblant, seventh at Long Beach, ninth at Edmonton and 10th at Road America and Las Vegas. At Long Beach, fueling problems, Las Vegas, mechanical failure, Houston, knocked out of the race while running fourth and Road America, sixth when forced to pit for a splash of fuel, Jani was in contention for top-five finishes. Only in Portland, where he finished 12th has he been out of contention. Jani has qualified in the top-10 nine times in 11 attempts, with a season best starting position of fourth in Houston. His other top-10 qualifying spots include fifth's in Edmonton and San Jose, sixth in Mont-Tremblant, seventh at Road America, ninths in Las Vegas and here in Zolder, plus 10ths in Toronto and Portland (11th in Cleveland and Long Beach). Jani is third in laps completed (854 out of a possible 893) and miles completed (1816.569 out of a possible 1891.571). He is ninth in laps led with 30. Jani, whose father hails from India, began his open wheel racing career in Europe before joining Champ Car this season. He has been a member of the Red Bull driver development program since 2005 and was a test driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One Team in 2006.
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