A1 Team Malaysia completed the second season of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch, England, with a fifth place finish in the Sprint race and ninth position in the main Feature race for the team with driver, Alex Yoong. The team took sixth place in the final Championship standings, with three race wins, three pole positions and two fastest laps.In the Sprint race Yoong made a good rolling start, overtaking the rival A1 Team India car as the field raced up to the first corner, the famous Paddock Bend, to take fifth place. With points all-important for the team this weekend, Yoong was able to maintain position from there until the chequered flag 15 laps later.
The Feature race start was one of the best of the season, with Yoong leapfrogging the French car to take fourth place in a superb move through Paddock Hill bend. An early safety car left the Malaysian team in this position for a few laps and on the return to green flag racing the team opted for an early tyre change stop. Unfortunately there was an issue with changing one of the rear wheels in the pits and by the time all the teams had completed their stops Yoong had dropped to 10th. A slowing Canada car enabled Yoong to pass for ninth place by mid-distance and the Malaysian car crossed the line in this position at the chequered flag.
Yoong said after the Feature race. "We were running fourth and although we didn't have the pace of the first two cars, we could have challenged Italy, so I was looking forward to the pitstop and thought if we had a good one we definitely had a chance of a podium, but we didn't, we had a difficult pitstop and dropped places. We went back to 10th place and as it's so difficult to overtake here, we really hadn't got much chance to improve on this. We managed to take one car for ninth place, but that's as far as we managed. At the end of the day, we've had a very good year, with three race wins and when we've been quick, we've been very good. We've proved we have the team that can do the business; we just need to more consistent."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia adds, "Sometimes things just don't go your way in this sport and in the Feature race that certainly happened for us. Just one small problem with a wheel change and it's cost us a place in the Standings. Nevertheless I think we have improved our overall performance this year with teamwork and strong driving from Alex ensuring that we are one of the favourites for the title next season. There's always room for improvement and the work won't stop now; we'll start planning for the third season of racing. We would like to thank our loyal supporters in Malaysia and we look forward to challenging for more race wins next season."
The second season of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has seen over 20 nations competing in this unique motor racing championship, travelling across the globe and visiting ten countries over the winter months. Netherlands, Czech Republic, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and the UK all hosted A1GP events and each one gave the spectators and television viewers some of the most exciting races of the international motorsport calendar.
Ends
Monday 30 Apr 2007