Proton Confirms Partnership With A1 Team Malaysia Till 2008

at the moment when the world watches Alex Yoong made his Durban qualifying run in Proton branding

28 Jan 2006 - Proton Bhd. through it's wholly owned subsidiary, Proton Marketing Sdn. Bhd. has confirmed their partnership with A1 Team Malaysia through a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the team's parent company A1 Grand Prix (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.

A1 Team Malaysia has thus pulled off a major coup in being the first A1 Grand Prix team to introduce a motor manufacturer to the World Cup of Motorsport.

The sponsorship deal with Malaysia's national automotive manufacturer has been inked through until the end of the third A1 Grand Prix season till April 2008.

The revelation was made when guaranteed TV coverage worldwide was possible as it was when Alex Yoong guided the proud yellow A1 Team Malaysia car out of its pit garage for the start of the first qualifying session. The world saw through their TV sets the team's first qualifying run for the entire lap around the Durban street circuit of South Africa.

Proton Managing Director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohd Tarir said that he saw sponsorship of the team as an excellent avenue for Proton to reach an international audience as well as participate in a recognised global motorsport series.

"The sponsorship will allow us to play our role in promoting Malaysia as well as the Proton brand to global spectators all year round," continued Syed Zainal. "At the same time, this sponsorship gives us access to valuable skills and experience in areas of professional race team logistics, support and promotion as well as management know-how. The partnership with A1 Team Malaysia, including the drivers, mechanics and supporting members adds value to Proton's core business and products."

A1 Team Principal Jack Cunningham said that he was delighted to be taking as the first step in the development of a long-term relationship that will encompass technical and branding opportunities.

"Our new partner Proton has had the vision to see the strength of the A1 Grand Prix platform and recognises the excellent branding opportunity that A1 Team Malaysia represents for Malaysian companies to reach an international audience," said Cunningham.

It was particularly fitting that the announcement was made here in South Africa, as this is one of Proton's new markets as they started selling their model range here only two months ago.

Malaysia qualified in the top ten for the Sprint race on Sunday.

DURBAN SOUTH AFRICA - QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos/A1 Team/Driver/Aggregate Time
1 France Alexandre Premat 2.36.841
2 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 2.38.079
3 Switzerland Neel Jani 2.38.093
4 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 2.38.452
5 Ireland Ralph Firman 2.38.509
6 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 2.38.541
7 New Zealand Matt Halliday 2.38.856
8 Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr 2.38.876
9 Canada Sean McIntosh 2.38.996
10 Malaysia Alex Yoong 2.39.197
11 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 2.39.240
12 Germany Timo Scheider 2.39.325
13 USA Philip Giebler 2.39.355
14 Italy Massimiliano Busnelli 2.39.419
15 Portugal Alvaro Parente 2.39.671
16 South Africa Stephen Simpson 2.40.193
17 Australia Will Davison 2.40.652
18 Lebanon Basil Shaaban 2.41.845
19 Mexico David Martinez 2.41.846
20 China Tengyi Jiang 2.42.824
21 Austria Mathias Lauda 2.42.871
22 India Armaan Ebrahim 2.46.880
23 Pakistan Adam Khan N/A

Alex To Drive The Whole Weekend In South Africa

As Fairuz concentrates on new GP2 programme

Malaysia's Alex Yoong will be doing all the driving at the A1 Grand Prix South Africa round in the streets of Durban this weekend.

He will be involved in the free practice sessions, the qualifying as well as race in the Sprint and Feature races.

Fairuz Fauzy has earlier last week said in a press release that he wants to concentrate in his new GP2 programme for 2006 and he is in the midst of deciding on a new team. January and February traditionally involves alot of testing in the European season.

Max Revson

A1 Team Malaysia Ready To Take To The Streets of Durban

A1 Team Malaysia will return to track action in the A1 Grand Prix of Durban, South Africa this weekend, the seventh round of the 11-event A1 Grand Prix series. This event will be the first, and only, street race of the inaugural season, with a temporary circuit being built along the Durban shoreline.

Alex Yoong will be back behind the wheel for this historic event, the first-ever street race for the city. With three fifth place and three eighth place finishes in the season so far, the team moves into the second half of the season with Yoong ready to step back into the car and bring home more points for Malaysia in the concluding five races of the season.

“Street racing is very exciting” says Yoong. “There are a few more challenges than on the permanent tracks, primarily from the barriers being a lot closer at street events than on a racetrack. So it’s really important to keep away from these and place your car carefully on the track. I’ve driven at the Monaco Grand Prix which is held on the public roads, so I have some experience of this type of track and know what to expect, so I hope that I can use this to my advantage."

“I haven’t seen the track yet, so I don’t know how twisty, bumpy or tight it will be, but I’ll try and walk or drive round it before the event to get a feel for the flow of it. I think it’ll be a popular race for the local motor racing fans. The South Africans are avid motorsport enthusiasts and I expect we’ll have good support which will be very welcome and will add to the atmosphere and spectacle of the event. It should be fun.”

The 3.2 km track uses the city’s highways, runs alongside the Sun Coast Casino and the beach, featuring nine turns and grandstands for over 20,000 spectators. The city is expecting a sell-out event with full grandstands and spectators watching from every vantage point.

Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia, says of the next round, “We’ve had a long break away from the racetrack and it’ll be hard to get back into race-mode quickly, but we have a highly professional team of mechanics, and engineers, Alex knows his job and what is required from him, so if we can bring it all together quickly and be on the pace after the first session, we should be in a good position for the races on Sunday.”

The A1 Grand Prix of Durban takes place on Sunday 29th January with practice and qualifying earlier in the weekend. The Indonesian round of the Series to be held at Sentul was due to be held earlier in the month, but has been postponed until February and will now follow the Durban race, with race day on February 12. A1 Grand Prix then moves across the globe with a race in Monterrey, Mexico and in California, USA before the finale of the Series in Shanghai, China.

From A1 Team Malaysia

The Secret of Success In A1 Team Malaysia

Julian Randles (l.) and Greg Wheeler

Top Management and Engineer Team

A1 Team Malaysia is proving to be one of the top contenders in the new A1 Grand Prix series, lying ninth at the halfway stage of the season with its two talented and high profile professional drivers, Alex Yoong and Fairuz Fauzy.

So what are the ingredients of success for a team like A1 Team Malaysia?

Undoubtedly the two men in the cockpit of the A1 Team Malaysia race car are highly experienced and skilled racing drivers, but it’s also the support network around them that is giving the team an edge on its rivals in the series.

In particular, two individuals within the team are making valuable contributions to the technical operations and providing the specialist engineering guidance that makes a real difference. These men are Julian Randles, Technical Director (pictured left) and Greg Wheeler, Chief Engineer (pictured right), who bring a wealth of experience that ensures the team is able to perform competitively at each race weekend.

Julian Randles has an illustrious career with many top racing teams and drivers. He started his career with Sid Taylor Racing, fielding a Lola T70 sports car driven by Jack Brabham. After working in sports car racing in the UK for a number of years Randles moved to America, running cars for Jody Schekter and Alan Jones among others. Returning to the UK, he worked with Patrick Tambay, Derek Warwick and Desire Wilson in Formula One before another transatlantic move to USA sportscar racing in the 90s.

There Randles enjoyed developing a natural gas-powered Chrysler Patriot sports racing car for the giant General Motors Corporation, but with the technology some years ahead of itself, the car was never able to run competitively and Randles moved back to the UK to continue his sportscar racing career with British racing teams before joining A1 Team Malaysia in August 2005.

Greg Wheeler’s biography also reads like a “Who’s Who of Motorsport”, with his career including roles with Mitsubishi and the works World Rally team, engineering the Williams Touring Car team competing in the British Touring Car Championship as well as the Williams Formula One Team with Alex Zanardi, and latterly with Jos Verstappen at Arrows Grand Prix and with Verstappen and Alex Yoong at Minardi F1. The breadth of experience that Wheeler brings to the team has also assisted in its ongoing success.

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, says of their contribution, “These two motorsport professionals have been instrumental in the success of our team. Many of the races are held at circuits which are new to the drivers and the team, but through the skills and experience of both Julian and Greg, working with the drivers and mechanics, we have been able to set the car up for the track conditions quickly enabling Alex and Fairuz to concentrate on learning the circuit where necessary and then improving their performance by working with the technical team to optimise the car for the different requirements, for example, the ‘flying lap’ style of qualifying. Every team has had a steep learning curve in this new series and we’ve been able to accelerate our development programme with the input and direction from Julian and Greg. We’re now looking forwards to the second half of the season and are confident that we can continue to improve our race weekend performance in the upcoming races. Julian and Greg are also spending a great deal of timing training and assisting our team members where necessary – they are dedicated to passing on the experience they have gained over a collective 50 years or more of motor racing. This is an integral part of our on-going effort as we build the team and try to improve our standard, performance and results.”

A1 Team Malaysia is one of twenty five teams competing in the new A1 Grand Prix series and has enjoyed strong results in the first half of the season including three fifth place finishes and three eighth place finishes, which have contributed to the overall ninth place in the World Cup of Motorsport standings for this inaugural season.

8TV is the official Malaysian broadcaster of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations.

From: A1 Team Malaysia