A1GP: Malaysia 5th in Australian Feature Race

Alex in practice on Saturday in Australia...(click image to enlarge)

and Alex achieved his country's best results over a A1GP race weekend...

The 40 lap Feature race was reduced to 35 laps as the maximum one hour of racing was applied when three safety car periods prolonged the race time period with a number of incidents from various teams as Malaysia recorded the country's best weekend result by Alex Yoong with a fifth in this race following an eighth in the Sprint race earlier.

A spectacular and potentially very serious accident involving Japan's driver Hayanari Shimoda sent shivers down the spines of millions watching the race from the comfort of their homes. But thankfully, he was pronounced OK although somewhat suffering from concussion and a huge headache. The A1GP car was broken into two parts following the mega shunt onto the barriers.

Earlier, Alex starting from eighth on the grid, when interviewed by the start-grid TV predicted that, "A top 5 is within the team's capability this weekend...lets wait and see...". True to his words he drove steadfastedly following another good start to make true his promise for the Malaysian fans at home ahead of his country's home round in two weeks time.

France consolidated their championship lead with yet another win followed by Great Britain and Switzerland.

Malaysia moves up to 10th in the championship after collecting 6 points in the Feature race's fifth to add to the 3 points from the Sprint race earlier. The next highest Asian nation is Japan in 16th position of 25 nations with 6 points.

The next round will be held at Malaysia's home track, Sepang International circuit on the 18th to 20th of November 2005.

Max Revson

Feature race lap by lap transcript:

lap1: lights green...great start from alex once again...from 8th to 6th...por leads from fra, bra, gb, sui, mal, aus, ned, nzl and pak in 10th...ire into the gravel from 4th!

lap2: gb takes bra for 3rd...ire, ger, ind and can pits...

lap3: usa pits...lap5: top 10 remains unchanged...top 10 yet to make pitstops...

lap6: rsa shunted out of t7...hard into the wall...ita in the pits with mechanical problems.. por penalised drive-through penalty for jump start...

lap7: ger off grass cutting...bra makes pitstop...mex braked too late and rode over rus and both crashed out...top3 are fra, gb, sui, with mal in 4th!

lap8-11: sc...mal went into pit in 4th but emerged in 6th...top 10 are lib (not pitted yet), fra, gb, sui, ned, mal, ire, aus, por, and nzl 10th...

lap12: green...mal tried a move on ned but didn't make it...

lap14: top 5 are fra, gb, sui, ned and mal 5th...followed by aus, por, lib, ire and bra in 10th...bra informed of drive through penalty for pitlane infringement...

lap15: op 10 are fra, gb, sui, ned, mal, aus, por, nzl, irl, and can 10th...

lap17-20: cze and aut contact...sc called out to clear cze and aut cars...17 cars left running with 7 cars out of running...aut, cze, rus, mex, ger, ita and rsa out...

lap21: green...top 5 are fra, gb, sui, ned and mal...aus behind mal has 3 power boost chances with mal with 5 power boost chances...

lap22: china locked out big time and off into gravel...lap25: mal still 5th, 6s from leader...

lap26: huge huge accident from jap...car split into 2...driver hardly moving...sc...can pulled off to grass verge...was it a contact between can and jap that caused the huge shunt by jap???lap27-32: sc...medical doctors announced jap driver shimoda ok, phew...14 cars left running...full running order on lap 32 is 1st fra, 2nd gb, 3rd sui, 4th ned, 5th mal, 6th aus, 7th por, 8th ire, 9th nzl, 10th bra, 11th usa, 12th pak, 13th ind and 14th lib...

lap33: green...but 2 minutes to the hour...so maybe one or two laps left of racing...racing! lap35: final lap...top 5 fra, gb, sui, ned and mal...

chequered flag: fra wins from gb second, sui third, ned fourth and mal (alex yoong) fifth!

Rd 4 Australia - Feature Race Results

Pos/Team/Driver/Laps/Time/Gap F/Gap P

1 FRA Nicolas Lapiere 35 1:00:54.068 - -

2 GB Robbie Kerr 35 1:00:56.547 +2.479 +2.479

3 SUI Neel Jani 35 1:00:57.086 +3.018 +0.539

4 NED Jos Verstappen 35 1:00:57.593 +3.525 +0.507

5 MAL Alex Yoong 35 1:00:58.955 +4.887 +1.362

6 AUS Will Davison 35 1:00:59.499 +5.431 +0.544

7 POR Alvaro Parente 35 1:01:00.070 +6.002 +0.571

8 IRE Michael Daveney 35 1:01:01.140 +7.072 +1.070

9 NZL Jonny Reid 35 1:01:02.989 +8.921 +1.849

10 BRA Nelson Piquet 35 1:01:03.108 +9.040 +0.119

11 USA Bryan Herta 35 1:01:03.896 +9.828 +0.788

12 PAK Adam Khan 35 1:01:05.010 +10.942 +1.114

13 LIB Basil Shaaban 35 1:01:07.071 +13.003 +2.061

14 IND Armaan Ebrahim 35 1:01:08.343 +14.275 +1.27

DNF: CAN, JAP, CHN, AUT, CZE, RUS, MEX, GER, ITA, RSA