A1GP: Malaysia Friday Practices - Fairuz 8th and 9th

Sepang, 18 November - The A1 drivers and A1 Cooper tyres were tested to the limit today in the searing heat of the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. With a track temperature of 39ºC and an ambient temperature of 32ºC, this was A1 Grand Prix's hottest two sessions to date.

A1 Team Malaysia are among only three teams that are preparing to share the driving duties this weekend, with both Alex Yoong and Fairuz Fauzy taking their turn in the yellow A1 car.

Fauzy, who drove in both of today's practice sessions said: 'During the first session we had a problem with the rear suspension and by the time we had solved it the session had finished. The tyres started to go away during the second session and by the end of the session, I could not push anymore.'

Asked if the publicity surrounding his home race was distracting, Alex Yoong who will be in the Malaysian car for tomorrow's session, said 'I am doing promotional activity, but I'm here as a racing driver and that is what I concentrate on. Both Fairuz and I have raced here before so we both have experience on the track.

'In a relatively trouble free day, with no red flags, the drivers took their time to learn their way around this highly technical circuit. The fastest lap time of the day was put in by a master of the Sepang circuit, A1 Team Netherland's Jos Verstappen. Verstappen last raced at Sepang with F1 in 2001 when he went from seventeenth to sixth in the first lap of the race and then worked his way up tosecond place as the rain fell. A slow pit stop and drying track saw Verstappen finish the race in seventh.

Commenting on his performance Verstappen said: 'We were trying a lot of different set ups with the car, but not a lot of things worked as the grip level was falling and the track was very slippery. It will certainly make for a very interesting qualifying session tomorrow.'

A1 Team Brazil recorded the day's second fastest lap time in practice session one despite a run in with A1 Team Canada. Commenting on the collision Nelson Piquet Jr said 'I was doing a quick lap and I think Sean had just left the pits. I saw him going slower in front of me and came off the throttle, which put the car into a spin. Unfortunately I hit Sean slightly, although our car had littledamage. We always do well in the practice sessions with new tyres, and I think we will do well in the qualifying tomorrow.'

Another master of the Sepang circuit, Ralph Firman put in the fastest lap of practice session two, with a time of 1.56.663. He said, 'It's great now that I will be able to concentrate on A1GP for the rest of the season. We had a good day today, even though it was hard and there was little grip. It isn't quite as hot here as it is in Japan where I have raced before, but it will be very difficult towards the end of the second race on Sunday. The main difficulty will be to keep hydrated. Drivers who have a good level of fitness should be fine.'

Malaysia - Official Practice 2 Classification
Pos/Team/Driver/Time/Gap/Laps
1 IRL Ralph FIRMAN 1'56.663 - 20
2 CAN Sean McINTOSH 1'56.952 +0.289 18
3 USA Bryan HERTA 1'57.188 +0.525 19
4 CZE Tomas ENGE 1'57.273 +0.610 23
5 FRA Alexandre PREMAT 1'57.316 +0.653 19
6 BRA Nelson PIQUET 1'57.344 +0.681 15
7 GBR Robbie KERR 1'57.347 +0.684 18
8 SUI Neel JANI 1'57.374 +0.71117
9 MAL Fairuz FAUZY 1'57.506 +0.843 18
10 NED Jos VERSTAPPEN 1'57.525 +0.862 16
11 INA Ananda MIKOLA 1'57.605 +0.942 13
12 RSA Stephen SIMPSON 1'57.871 +1.208 20
13 ITA Enrico TOCCACELO 1'57.918 +1.255 13
14 JPN Hayanari SHIMODA 1'57.929 +1.266 17
15 CHN Tengyi JIANG 1'57.959 +1.296 19
16 NZL Matt HALLIDAY 1'57.994 +1.331 21
17 AUS Will DAVISON 1'58.040 +1.377 19
18 PAK Adam KHAN 1'58.066 +1.403 12
19 POR Alvaro PARENTE 1'58.488 +1.825 15
20MEXLuis DIAZ1'58.796+2.13320
21 IND Armaan EBRAHIM 1'59.043 +2.380 22
22 LIB Khalil BESCHIR 2'00.146 +3.483 5
23 AUT Mathias LAUDA

Malaysia - Official Practice 1 Classification
Pos/Team/Driver/Time/Gap/Laps
1 NED Jos VERSTAPPEN 1'56.342 - 17
2 BRA Nelson PIQUET 1'56.351 +0.009 12
3 IRL Ralph FIRMAN 1'56.737 +0.395 10
4 FRA Alexandre PREMAT 1'56.917 +0.575 16
5 POR Alvaro PARENTE 1'57.272 +0.930 16
6 NZL Matt HALLIDAY 1'57.282 +0.940 19
7 PAK Adam KHAN 1'57.393 +1.051 18
8 MAL Fairuz FAUZY 1'57.494 +1.152 9
9 SUI Neel JANI 1'57.564 +1.222 19
10 CAN Sean McINTOSH 1'57.818 +1.476 12
11 CZE Jaroslav JANIS 1'57.899 +1.557 18
12 GBR Robbie KERR 1'58.002 +1.660 19
13 RSA Stephen SIMPSON 1'58.246 +1.904 16
14 USA Bryan HERTA 1'58.251 +1.909 16
15 JPN Hayanari SHIMODA 1'58.324 +1.982 20
16 INA Ananda MIKOLA 1'58.379 +2.037 9
17 AUT Mathias LAUDA 1'58.414 +2.072 18
18 ITA Enrico TOCCACELO 1'58.507 +2.165 18
19 AUS Christian JONES 1'58.968 +2.626 19
20 LIB Khalil BESCHIR 1'59.139 +2.797 19
21 MEX Luis DIAZ 1'59.562 +3.220 18
22 IND Armaan EBRAHIM 1'59.791 +3.449 21
23 CHN Tengyi JIANG 2'00.019 +3.677 8