A1 QUALIFYING ROUND

TOP FOUR START FOR A1 TEAM MALAYSIA TOMORROW

A1 Team Malaysia completed their final preparations for the home round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport today, with a strong fourth place start for the Feature race and 13th place for the morning Sprint race.

Fauzy was tenth fastest in the first practice session yesterday and continued with his solid form, finishing 10th fastest in final practice this morning, despite not using his PowerBoost, while most of the other nations used this to post quick laps. It was a cool and calm team effort that saw A1 Team Malaysia work through a planned programme of set up changes to improve performance. Running on worn tyres to save the new sets for afternoon qualifying, it was an opportunity for the team to evaluate the car setup in these conditions and the team were keen to put their preparations to good use in qualifying.

Events did not go to plan for the team for the Sprint race qualifying. Fauzy was out on track for his first flying lap when the Korean car stopped on the circuit and caused a red flag, which left Fauzy faced with restarting his flying lap but losing out on the benefit of new tyres. With less than two minutes of the session remaining all the cars had to take to the track to post a qualifying time, however the home team were unable to make it out losing out severely. However, the second of the two runs saw Malaysia post 13th quickest lap.

Fairuz Fauzy said of the session, "There are mixed emotions, but overall I'm happy with our performance. We went out early for the first run but were caught out by the red flag. Being in the first garage as we enter the pitlane made it difficult to get back out in time for another run and we didn't make it, so I only had one shot at the Sprint race qualifying. On my second run we went out and tried to find a space but ended up catching the traffic so I'm a bit disappointed for the sprint race qualifying. For the Feature race we started over and put in a solid lap to start with, saving our PowerBoost for the final run making a very strong recovery.

"After the Sprint race qualifying I was very disappointed and frustrated in the car but I tried to keep my mind strong and positive and was feeling very determined. I think we can target the top three for the feature race tomorrow, with a good strategy and good weather on our side. For the Sprint race the aim will be a points finish and I think that's achievable

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, added, "All credit to the team for keeping calm under intense pressure this afternoon. Obviously we're a little disappointed not to have had the optimum two runs for Sprint race qualifying but we certainly made up for this with our Feature race efforts. There's a lot of focus on us this weekend and Fairuz has handled well all the demands of him. With good luck and extremely hard work from everyone tomorrow we could come away with some points and as always we cannot underestimate the competition. The field is full of very talented drivers, including Fairuz, and we know that the racing tomorrow will be fast and furious. Our strength is our teamwork and I know we'll all be on top form tomorrow and giving all the fans here very exciting racing.

The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport culminates tomorrow with two races, a 30 minutes Sprint race and a 70 minutes Feature race. Fans will also be entertained with the colourful pageant of the traditional A1GP driver parade, the spectacle of the Malaysian opening ceremony and to watch the support races.

Tickets for the A1GP Malaysian event tomorrow are available at the circuit, with the racing programme starting at nine o'clock in the morning with the Malaysian Super Series. The A1GP Sprint race takes place at 11.00 am local time and the Feature race starts at 3.00 pm local time.

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