A1 Team Malaysia with driver, Fairuz Fauzy, will line up in 14th place on the grid for the Sprint race and 12th place for the Feature race, the final race of the third season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, following the today’s qualifying session at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, the historic English racetrack which hosts the tenth and final round of the Series.
A1 Team Malaysia was determined to use every minute of track time to be as prepared as possible for the final two races in the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport calendar. Running on used tyres for the final practice session to keep three sets for the all-important qualifying, Fauzy set strong, consistent lap times and worked on improving the balance of the car for the afternoon session, ending the session with the eleventh quickest lap.  The A1GP qualifying session in the afternoon saw the 22 nations completing four ‘flying laps’ within the four 15 minute qualifying segments. With three sets of new tyres Fauzy made the most of the fresh rubber to set 14th best time for the Sprint race, and 12th fastest lap of the final two segments to take his place for the Feature race. Fauzy said of his day, “We had a puncture during this morning’s session, which reduced our running and left us a little behind with our preparations for qualifying. This afternoon was close; just two tenths would have put us comfortably in the top ten. It’s the last race weekend of the season and the times have just got closer as the season has progressed so it’s very tight and very competitive. >From our start positions we can get into the top ten, particularly in the Feature race. It’ll be important to keep out of trouble at the start and then we can try to make up some ground.” Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive of A1 Team Malaysia, reviewed the day commenting, “We haven’t had the top ten starts that we were aiming for, but we’re close and should be able to make progress into the points from these starting positions. It’s a very close contest with the front of the grid all running on a very similar pace, so it’s going to be an exciting battle tomorrow. We are very determined to finish as strongly as we can. I also hope that A1GP will put on a great showing of thrilling motor racing, so that the loyal British fans trackside and fans of A1GP all around the world are given a finale to remember.”
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport concludes tomorrow with the final two races of the season set to entertain the spectators at the Kent circuit. With a full schedule of racing throughout the day and the headline 70 minute Feature race with its mandatory tyre change pit stop, the fans will be given plenty to cheer about.
A1 Team Malaysia finished the final race weekend of the 2007/08 season today with mixed fortunes. A retirement in the Feature race followed an 11th place finish in the Sprint, closing out the most competitive season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport so far. With the introduction of new Ferrari-powered cars for next season, Brands Hatch was the venue to bid farewell to the original A1GP car that has introduced this popular Series to a worldwide audience. A1 Team Malaysia started the Sprint from the 14th place grid position with the team sporting the logo of a new commercial partner, MAS Kargo, the cargo division of Malaysia Airlines, on the front wing end plates of the car. The sprint race rolling start saw the field race down to Paddock Hill Bend, one of the most dramatic corners of this British track, and Fauzy was one of the few drivers to make any improvement on his start position, gaining a position on the opening lap to lie 13th. With only 15 laps of racing and only four ‘PowerBoost’ opportunities, the field was very evenly matched and uncharacteristically produced an uneventful Sprint race. After 20 minutes of racing, Fauzy brought the Malaysia car home in 13th place Malaysia once again made a good start for the Feature race, making up a position by the end of the first lap. Three laps later a clash between Australia and Pakistan brought out the safety car and Malaysia held position in 11th until racing resumed. The first pit stop window opened one lap later and Malaysia, along with many others made their stop. They returned to the track and after all the nations had pitted, Fauzy remained in 11th. Fauzy moved up to 10th place and into the points shortly after all the pit stops had been completed and as the race entered the mid-phase he was on the pace but unable to challenge the cars ahead. As the laps counted down the drama continued with the German car off into the gravel with a slow puncture, which would have elevated Malaysia to ninth place, but in a turn of bad luck, electronic problems ended the team’s race, with Fauzy having to return to the pits and retire.
Fauzy said after a highly competitive day of racing, “The sprint race just didn’t give us a chance to make up many positions. I don’t think there were many overtaking manoeuvres, but we were able to take one at the beginning however we didn’t make it into the points. In the second race I think we were on for a strong top ten finish but the car was misfiring and there was no alternative but to retire, which was a disappointing way to finish the season.Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive of the team, added, “In closing, I would like to pay tribute to all at A1 Team Switzerland who are worthy winners this season and to Lola and Zytek for the enduring and unparalleled reliability of the car/engine combination that we have run in the first three seasons of the World Cup of Motorsport.” Today’s races marked the conclusion of the 2007/08 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, with the 22 nations competing in the Series having completed ten rounds of competition and 20 races in nine different countries, including Malaysia.
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