A1 Team Malaysia were able to add another World Cup of Motorsport point to its tally with a sixth place finish in this morning's Sprint race, but missed out on further points by a whisker, finishing 11th in the Feature race, with driver Alex Yoong at the wheel of the team's car.
The Sprint race began with a rolling start, with Yoong using this to his advantage with daring overtaking through the first corners to pass the French and Indian cars to move up to sixth spot. Through the first lap he defended his position with India attempting to retake the place, but the experienced former F1 driver was able to keep his Asian rival behind him. The Malaysian team was able to hold position through the remainder of the Sprint race to take the chequered flag with another point-scoring finish.
In the Feature race Yoong started from his sixth place, but first lap incidents behind the Malaysian team brought out the safety car for three laps. On the return to green flag racing Yoong made a rare error, out braking himself in the run down to the first corner and needing the marshals to restart the Malaysian car in order for him to return to the track. Dropping to 21st place after this incident, Yoong began his fight back through the field. He made headway as the race progressed; climbing to tenth, but the mandatory pitstop put Team Malaysia back down to 17th. With the racing continuing at a strong pace, Yoong pushed hard, working his way back through the field again to finally finish in 11th place.
Yoong said, "The Sprint race gave us another point, which is important for us at this stage in the season, but I would have hoped to have finished higher. I made a mistake on the restart after the first safety car period, but luckily I was able to get back on track. As the track is good for overtaking we were able to make up some places, but we just didn't have quite enough pace to break into the top ten. The team, as always, did a good pitstop and we made up some time there, but it wasn't enough today and we'll be looking to improve for our final outing in the UK."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, commented, "Adding to our points tally and keeping in sight of Team France and ahead of Switzerland and Netherlands was the aim of this weekend as we strive to finish the season in as high a position as possible. Earning another point was important as this has kept us in fifth place in the standings. The Feature race was a hard fought race, with Alex driving well to recover from falling off the track early on and dropping to the back of the grid. We'll now turn our focus to the next race and prepare ourselves for the final battles of the season now. Wherever we finish this season in the top ten will be quite an achievement but our aim for Brands is to maintain our 5th spot if at all possible."
The A1GP Series reaches its conclusion for the 2006/07 season at Brands Hatch in the UK, in two weeks time. The British round of the World Cup of Motorsport is held at the venue which heralded the arrival of this championship on to the motorsport scene in 2005. The Kent circuit is expected to attract substantial crowds and, as at each event, the A1GP Series is anticipated to provide plenty of hard, wheel-to-wheel racing.
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