A1 Team Malaysia - An Analysis Of Performance

And What's Possible With 2 Rounds To Go

A1 Team Malaysia went away with a seventh and a eleventh in the Mexican round last weekend but more preciously were the 4 points scored in the Sprint race's seventh position which propelled Malaysia from ninth to seventh in this inaugural A1 Grand Prix also known as the "World Cup of Motorsports".

The nations which the Malaysian team leapfrogged over were Ireland and Portugal which had even less to show as Ireland had two non-finishes while Portugal had a non-finish in the Sprint race and a tenth with one point in the Feature race.

A recap of the results for the team over the nine rounds run thus far showed seven top tenth qualifying in nine rounds with a highest qualifying position of sixth in the Indonesian round and 11 top ten race results over 18 races with the best race result a second in the Indonesian round.

The team's performance at the mandatory pitstops of the Feature race to change tyres seemed to be lacking as there was not a single time where the team has not lost positions to other teams in the pitstop - in fact on some occasions the team lost as much as fifteen positions to other teams following a pitstop.

Car set up also clearly did not allow the Malaysian team to run as quick as the top two teams which are the championship leaders France and Switzerland. This definitely posed a serious obstacle for the team to make a serious bid to run in the front with France.

So, where does that leave the Malaysian team in relation to the 25 A1 national teams that have started the championship?

The answer is indisputably top-seven using the championship standings after Mexico as a marker. And perhaps top-five if we consider the fact that the team finished in the top-five in 5 races and the team missed out on the top-five in 6 races when the team had disastrous pitstops.

In comparison with other Asian teams, Malaysia at 7th is on top of the Asian pile as the nearest rival Indonesia in a lowly 19th position followed by Japan, China and Pakistan in 20th to 22nd positions and India yet to score a single point.

Twenty championship points tantalisingly separate Malaysia in 7th and Great Britain in 3rd. Do we dare dream that the chase for Malaysia to dislodge the GB team from 3rd with 40 maximum points available in the 2 remaining rounds of USA and China is possible?

We say anything is possible as the teams ahead of the Malaysian team's route to be the third best team in the world are afterall, Britain, Brazil, Netherlands and New Zealand, all of which the Malaysian team has the measure of - but with a qualification, the team will need to improve on the pitstop performance and dial the car in with the perfect balance for the remaining 2 races.

If, in the end Malaysia cannot be the third best A1GP team in the world, the team can reasonably be expected to reel in New Zealand which lies sixth with a 11 point advantage over Malaysia - "the sixth best team in the world" amongst 25 national teams - no one will disagree that this will be a great achievement for Malaysia.

Max Revson

A1 Team Malaysia Results (Rd.1 to Rd.8)
Rd/Host Country/Q Pos/Sprint Pos/Feature Pos
1 Britain 9th(AY) 13th(FF) 5th(AY)
2 Germany 18th(AY) 6th(AY) 16th(AY)
3 Portugal 8th(FF) 8th(FF) DNF(FF)
4 Australia 9th(AY) 8th(AY) 5th(AY)
5 Malaysia 7th(AY) 8th(FF) 5th(AY)
6 Dubai 8th (AY) 10th (AY) DNF (AY)
7 South Africa 10th (AY) DNF(AY) DNF(AY)
8 Indonesia 6th(AY) 4th(AY) 2nd(AY)
9 Mexico 11th(AY) 7th(AY) 11th(AY)

Championship Standings After Rd 9 Mexico
Pos/Nation/Points
1 France 153
2 Switzerland 121
3 Great Britain 73
4 Brazil 70
5 Netherlands 69
6 New Zealand 64
7 Malaysia 53
8 Portugal 51
9 Ireland 50
10 Canada 44
11 Czech Republic 41
12 Italy 40
13 Australia 37
14 Mexico 28
15 Germany 25
16 South Africa 20
17 USA 20
18 Austria 12
19 Indonesia 10
20 Japan 8
21 China 6
22 Pakistan 4

A1GP Mexico: Malaysia 11th In Feature Race

Malaysia's Yoong leads Germany's Scheider in Sprint race...(click image to enlarge)

Sprint & Feature Race Results Plus Championship Standings

Below are the results of both the races in Mexico plus Championship standings.

An analysis of where A1 Team Malaysia is with two rounds to run in this inaugural championship will be posted later.

Mexico - Sprint Race Results
Nation/Team/Driver/Time

1 France Alex Premat 29.20.743

2 Switzerland Neel Jani 29.21.026

3 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 29.21.617

4 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 29.22.884

5 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 29.34.296

6 USA Bryan Herta 29.40.822

7 Malaysia Alex Yoong 29.43.613

8 Germany Timo Scheider 29.44.100

9 Canada Patrick Capentier 29.46.979

10 Austria Patrick Friesacher 29.47.654

11 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 29.49.444

12 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 29.59.203

13 Lebanon Graham Rahal 30.02.149

14 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 30.11.492

15 China Tengyi Jiang 30.12.464

16 Australia Christian Jones 30.33.185

17 South Africa Stephen Simpson 9 Laps

18 New Zealand Matt Halliday 4 Laps

19 Portugal Alvaro Parente 4 Laps

20 Japan Hayanari Shimoda 3 Laps

21 Ireland Ralph Firman 0 Laps

22 Mexico Salvador Duran 0 Laps

Mexico - Feature Race Results:
Nation/Driver/Time/Gap

1 France Alexandre Premat 52.26.709 -

2 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 52.27.489 +0.780

3 Switzerland Neel Jani 52.30.234 +3.525

4 Germany Timo Scheider 52.31.297 +4.588

5 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 52.31.703 +4.994

6 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 52.38.211 +11.502

7 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 52.41.549 +14.840

8 New Zealand Matt Halliday 52.45.537 +18.828

9 Austria Patrick Fiesacher 52.45.849 +19.140

10 Portugal Alvaro Parente 52.46.286 +19.577

11 Malaysia Alex Yoong 52.49.709 +23.000

12 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 52.50.270 +23.561

13 USA Bryan Herta 52.50.585 +23.876

14 Lebanon Graham Rahal 52.52.226 +25.517

15 Canada Patrick Carpentier 52.39.578 1 lap

16 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 53.05.966 1 lap

17 China Tengyi Jiang 53.12.807 1 lap

18 South Africa Stephen Simpson 55.20.794 1 lap

19 Australia Christian Jones 20 laps 16 laps

20 Ireland Ralph Firman 16 laps 20 laps

21 Mexico Salvador Duran 6 laps 30 laps

22 Japan Hayanari Shimoda Did not start

Championship Standings After Rd 9 Mexico

1 France 153

2 Switzerland 121

3 Great Britain 73

4 Brazil 70

5 Netherlands 69

6 New Zealand 64

7 Malaysia 53

8 Portugal 51

9 Ireland 50

10 Canada 44

11 Czech Republic 41

12 Italy 40

13 Australia 37

14 Mexico 28

15 Germany 25

16 South Africa 20

17 USA 20

18 Austria 12

19 Indonesia 10

20 Japan 8

21 China 6

22 Pakistan 4

Rd 10 USA 10-12 Mar 06: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California

A1GP Mexico: Malaysia 7th In Sprint Race

And Moves Up From 9th To 7th In Championship

Lap By Lap Report:

lap1: green flag...clean start for all...but 3/4 way done and a crash between ireland and mex pulled out the safety car...mal 8th...ita made up a place on rsa to 3rd...

lap2: por pits with mechanical problems...top 10 are fra, sui, ita, rsa, usa, cze, ned, mal, ger and mal...

lap3: jap crashed into another car under safety car and flips!!...debris all over, driver crawled out and ok...it was nzl whom jap clipped and nzl pits...

lap6: green flag and racing...ned and cze touched...ned takes cze for 5th...

lap7: usa passed rsa... so do cze and mal who moved up to 6th and 7th respectively...

lap8: rsa pits with problems...ned pressuring usa...ned passes usa to 4th...

lap9: top 10 are fra, sui, ita, ned, usa, cze, mal, ger, bra and can...

lap10: gap grown between cze in 6th and mal in 7th...cze takes usa for 5th...

lap 12: mal holds on to 7th under pressure from ger...top 10 are fra, sui, ita, ned, cze, usa, mal, ger, bra and gbr...

lap14: mal defends it's 7th as the pace is not there to catch usa in 6th...gbr tried a move on bra and touched...body parts flying but both stayed on track...

lap15: top10 are now fra, sui, ita, ned, cze, usa, mal, ger, can and aut...

lap16: ned now closes on ita with 4 laps to go...mal still 7th as ger cannot take advantage...

lap 17: top 10 remains the same...ita has responded to ned attack and reopen a gap...

lap18: chequered flag! fra takes win from sui, with ita 3rd, ned 4th, cze 5th, usa 6th, mal 7th, ger 8th, can 9th and aut rounding up the top 10...other positions are gbr 11th ina 12th, lib 13th, bra 14th, chn 15th and aus in 16th...

Malaysia gains 4 points in the championship for the seventh position in the Sprint race and thus leapfrogs Portugal and Ireland to 7th in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix championship.

Malaysia will start the 36 lap Feature race 7th on the grid in an hour's time.

Max Revson

A1GP Mexico: A1 Team Malaysia To Start Sprint Race From Mid-Grid

Alex, "The competition is tough and I don't underestimate the task ahead for the races."

The rain of opening day practice at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Mexico, left Monterrey to be replaced with clear blue sky and bright sunshine, giving Proton sponsored A1 Team Malaysia and driver Alex Yoong a chance to experience the handling of the A1 car in the dry. In final practice Yoong posted 17th fastest time and in afternoon qualifying he finished 11th quickest.

Oil laid on the circuit from the support race cars running earlier in the day delayed final practice and also created a dusty track from the clean up operation. Yoong opted to wait in the pits for the first quarter hour leaving others to clear the dust and with previous experience of the circuit he could afford this luxury. His knowledge showed through as he got on the pace quickly and ran comfortably around the top ten for much of the session.

In qualifying Yoong also drove well and showed his talent posting eighth quickest time in the first segment and following this with another quick lap to position him ninth overall. Dropping to 13th place after the third segment, Yoong recovered with a strong fourth qualifying segment to finish 11th quickest.

Yoong reviewed his day saying, “It’s a tough, demanding circuit with high kerbs and big bumps, which makes it a challenge to find the right setup for the car and the changing weather conditions. We weren’t pleased with the car in the morning and made a number of fairly radical changes. Happily, they helped to improve the handling of the car and we were able to improve our performance this afternoon. Even in the last session, though, we were still having trouble getting temperature into the tyres due to the smooth surface of the track. I’m pleased we’re starting just outside the top ten; we have a real shot at getting more points for Malaysia in the Sprint race from there and if we can do this, we’ll be set for a good start position in the main Feature race. But the competition is tough and I don’t underestimate the task ahead tomorrow, particularly with the unpredictable weather we’ve seen so far this weekend.”

Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia adds, “A1 Grand Prix has become more and more competitive as it has progressed through the season. There are now a number of ex-Formula One and IRL or Champ car drivers such as Jos Verstappen, Christian Fittipladi, Tomas Enge, Patrick Freisacher, Ralph Firman, Bryan Herta and Patrick Carpentier, and there are also the up and coming drivers who are doing well in GP2.

The competition is growing race by race. Against that background, our task will be more difficult each weekend as the series matures and we will need to respond to that challenge. Our qualifying position is, therefore, all the more gratifying. Alex is proving that he has the talent as a leading driver in the Series and the team is performing well. From 11th we know we can position ourselves well for another good result against this quality field.” The A1 Grand Prix of Nations Mexico culminates tomorrow with two races, a 30 minute Sprint race and a one-hour Feature race. Fans will also be entertained with the colourful pageant of the traditional A1 Grand Prix drivers parade, have an opportunity to obtain their favourite driver’s autograph at the official all-driver autograph session, and to watch the support races which include historic Formula One cars and celebrity drivers.

A1 Team Malaysia Release

Note: Live telecasts of races starts at 3.00am Malaysian time on Monday 27th Feb over Star Sports.

Mexico Qualifying Results

A1 Team Driver/Aggregate Time
1 South Africa Stephen Simpson 2.44.895
2 France Alexandre Premat 2.45.848
3 Switzerland Neel Jani 2.46.147
4 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 2.46.657
5 USA Bryan Herta 2.46.820
6 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 2.46.894
7 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 2.46.975
8 Ireland Ralph Firman 2.46.991
9 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 2.47.066
10 Portugal Alvaro Parente 2.48.071
11 Malaysia Alex Yoong 2.48.447
12 Germany Timo Scheider 2.48.810
13 New Zealand Matt Halliday 2.49.025
14 Mexico Salvador Duran 2.49.090
15 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 2.49.147
16 Lebanon Graham Rahal 2.49.266
17 Japan Hayanari Shimoda 2.49.364
18 Austria Patrick Friesacher 2.49.343
19 Canada Patrick Carpentier 2.49.511
20 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 2.50.169
21 Australia Christian Jones 2.54.116
22 China Ma Quinghua 2.56.400

Mexico A1GP: A1 Team Malaysia Goes Through Set Up Programme In Practice 1 & 2

Alex going through setup programme in the wet...(click image to enlarge)

Alex: "Not Going For Times At The Moment"

Rain greeted the A1 Grand Prix field for the first practice session at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Parque Fundidora, Monterrey, Mexico today.

Alex Yoong, with previous experience at the track from his time in the American-based Champ Car series, was able to run strongly from the first time out in the A1 car.

In the first practice session Yoong used the time to reacquaint himself with the characteristics of the track, particularly with the wet conditions creating areas of standing water. Lying 10th quickest after the first hour of practice, Yoong was comfortable with his performance. In the second session he concentrated his efforts on car setup rather than quick times, finishing 18th quickest at its conclusion.

Yoong reviewed his day saying, “We’re satisfied with our opening practice sessions. This morning the car felt good, but it was difficult in these weather conditions to really get the best from the car. This afternoon we weren’t really going for a time, but putting our efforts in to making car setup changes, so our time is not representative of our potential performance on Sunday.”

Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia adds, “Alex’s knowledge of the track gives us a small advantage which are able to use to positive effect – so he doesn’t need to run just to learn the track.

Due to the poor weather conditions and how dirty the track was today, we decided we wouldn’t run that much in today’s sessions and certainly wouldn’t push for a time. We ran only fourteen laps this morning and sixteen this afternoon, using the sessions to learn an appropriate set-up for the car for the races just in case these are the conditions that we have on Sunday. We understand, from our research, that it’s likely to be wet on Sunday.

In any case we’re confident that there’s more to come from Alex and that our overall position will be improved in the session tomorrow morning and in qualifying. We are back on track tomorrow morning at which time, weather permitting, we will push a little harder.”

The A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Monterrey, Mexico continues tomorrow with a one-hour final practice session before qualifying takes place in the afternoon. A1 Grand Prix qualifying comprises four ‘flying lap’ segments, with the fastest two laps aggregated to determine the qualifying time and grid position for the first of the two races on Sunday.

Proton is the Official Sponsor of A1 Team Malaysia and 8TV is the official Malaysian broadcaster of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations series.

A1 Team Malaysia Release

* For full results of Official Practice 1 & 2 click HERE.

A1 Grand Prix of Nations - Mexico - Round 9

Weekend's Programme And Live Telecast Times

Monterrey in Mexico is in the time zone of "GMT -6 hours" - therefore, when the Sprint race starts on Sunday 26th Feb at 1.30pm Mexican time its 3.30am Malaysian standard time (MST) the next morning on the 27th Feb.

For the convenience of all A1 Team Malaysia fans here are the weekend's programme in Mexican and Malaysian times.

A1GP Monterrey, Mexico Programme (GMT - 6)
Friday, 24th Feb 06
Practice 1: 1.00pm (MST 3.00am Sat 25th Feb)
Practice 2: 4.00pm (MST 6.00am Sat 25th Feb)
Saturday, 25th Feb 06
Practice 3: 11.00am (MST 1.00am Sun 26th Feb)
Qualifying: 2.15pm (MST 4.15am Sun 26th Feb)
Sunday, 26th Feb 06
Sprint Race: 1.30pm (MST 3.30am Mon 27th Feb)
Feature Race: 3.00pm (MST 5.00am Mon 27th Feb)

Live internet timings can be viewed HERE for all the above sessions.

TV broadcasts for qualifying and the races are done by Star Sports on Astro as well as on 8TV - below are the telecast times for Star Sports:

Astro Star Sports (Ch.82) Coverage
Sat, 25th Feb - 7.00pm MST - A1 Grand Prix Highlights
Sun, 26th Feb - 4.00am MST - Mexico A1GP Qualifying (Live)
Sun, 26th Feb - 7.00pm MST - Mexico A1GP Qualifying (Repeat)
Mon, 27th Feb - 3.00am MST - Mexico A1GP Races (Live)
Mon, 27th Feb - 7.00pm MST - Mexico A1GP Races (Repeat)

Max Revson

A1 Team Malaysia Mexico Preview Release

Alex Yoong And Team Looking Forward To Weekend In The Americas

Proton sponsored A1 Team Malaysia arrived in Mexico this week for round nine of the A1 Grand Prix series which is being held at the Parque Fundidora in Monterrey. Team spirits are high following the team’s first A1 Grand Prix podium, earned at the previous round in Indonesia two weeks ago.

The Monterrey circuit is located in the historical Parque Fundidora, which was built on the site of Latin America’s first steel mill in 1983. The 3.38 km track runs in an anti-clockwise direction and has 12 high and low speed corners along with fast straights where speeds of upwards of 280 km/h can be expected.

Alex Yoong is looking forward to returning to track action in Mexico at the challenging circuit, where he has previously raced when competing in the US Champ Car series three years ago. The Malaysian driver says, “There are only a few A1GP drivers with experience of this circuit, so I hope that I have the edge on some of the others at the beginning of the weekend. This track hasn’t been used for a while, so it’s very dusty and will take some cleaning during the practice sessions before we see just how quick these cars can be at this parkland venue.”

Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia adds, “The team’s second place finish really gave us a welcome boost. To achieve a podium was just a great lift for us and the team’s fans at home in Malaysia. Can we go higher and lift the winner’s trophy? We’re out to do the best that we can at each weekend race. The team will be working hard to do everything possible for the best result we can achieve here in Mexico.”

A1 Team Malaysia Release

Track Experience Counts A Great Deal In Mexico

With So Little Testing For The A1GP Drivers

With so little testing opportunities before the inaugural A1 Grand Prix season started in Britain in September last year and with zero testing once after the season has started, driver experience for the Fundidora Park circuit in Monterrey, Mexico where this weekend's races are run is a paramount jigsaw piece to a possible good result.

Especially so when this circuit has been described as "A tight and twisty circuit almost like a street course." and "Interesting circuit with very little grip and slow corners." by Malaysia's Alex Yoong and Ireland's Ralph Firman respectively.

So, who are those with experience on the Monterrey circuit?

Before this weekend, there were only three A1 team drivers with experience are A1 Team Malaysia's Yoong who finished 9th in the points in his first ChampCar race there in 2003, Christian Fittipaldi, who joined A1 Team Brazil in place of Nelson Piquet Jr last time out at Sentul, who finished third there in the 2002 ChampCar season and Marcus Marshall of A1 Team Australia, who had his first taste of Fundidora Park last year.

The ranks of drivers with experience on the Fundidora circuit swelled to five with new team driver appointees announced for Canada and home team Mexico.

Patrick Carpentier, who is taking over the A1 Team Canada seat from Sean McIntosh - winner last time out in Indonesia - has raced on this northern Mexican circuit three times in ChampCars. And David Martinez, who has raced in Fundidora twice in junior formula races before, was picked ahead of Salvador Duran to represent A1 Team Mexico in this weekend's A1 Grand Prix of Nations in his home city, Monterrey.

But the advantage of track experience that these two new appointees have must surely be wiped out by the fact that they are stepping into these A1 cars for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, France's pair of Alex Premat and Nicolas Lapierre must be the last of the drivers to arrive in Monterrey as they just wrapped up their GP2 tests at Paul Ricard yesterday (Thursday) to travel transatlantic with little hope of getting over their jetlag before practices start today.
How will this weekend go?

My money is as usual placed with consideration for the championship leaders, France and Switzerland, but with the French drivers having to contend with jetlag, Swiss Neel Jani having a purple patch and all three of them without the benfit of track experience, I would also cast an eye on Brazil, Australia and of course Malaysia.

With Mexico being 14 hours behind Malaysia, I've changed my sleep pattern since 2 nights ago to stay up from 3am on Monday morning Malaysian time to catch the live actions of this Sunday's races on Star Sports and 8TV.

Roll on Mexico!

Max Revson

Six former F1 drivers and Four Champ Car drivers Line Up For Mexico

A1 Grand Prix field is getting stronger by the day

Patrick Friesacher, Minardi F1 race driver in 2005, will replace Mathias Lauda in this weekend's Mexico A1 Grand Prix round, A1 Team Austria announced yesterday.

ChampCar winners, Patrick Carpentier and Bryan Herta have also been announced to drive for Team Canada and USA respectively in Mexico for the first time.

The A1GP drivers lineup is looking increasingly stronger by the day as there are now 6 former Formula 1 drivers (Jos Verstappen-Ned, Tomas Enge-Cze, Ralph Firman-Irl, Christian Fittipaldi-Bra, Friesacher-Aut and Alex Yoong-Mal) and 4 ChampCar drivers (Carpentier-Can, Herta-USA, Marcus Marshall-Aus and Salvador Duran-Mex) not to mention F1 tester, Neel Jani of Switzerland as well as F1 hopes Alex Premat of France, Robbie Kerr of GBR and Timo Scheider of Germany.

So, how can Max Mosley, FIA's President, say that the A1GP driver lineup is weak?

The competition in A1 Grand Prix is second to none bar Formula 1 and arguably ChampCar, AND it is mere fear of it going to greater heights that draw this sort of criticisms.

Meanwhile, it was reliably learnt that A1 Team India will not be at Mexico as it continues to be embroiled in a management tussle over driver choice. Rumours also have it that the management will be changed and a more experienced driver be appointed for the USA round.

Max Revson

A Great Performance From A1 Team Malaysia

Malaysia flag flies proudly on Indonesian podium with Alex...(click image to enlarge)

As they grab their first podium 2nd in Indonesia's Feature Race

A1 Team Malaysia's Alex Yoong was elated with his podium second for the team in the Feature race run over 36 laps of Bogor's Sentul circuit in the A1 Grand Prix of Nations Indonesia today.

His last podium was when he won in the Porsche Cup Asia race in Macau Grand Prix in 2003 and the one before that was at the Formula 3000 Donnington Park round in 1999 when he mounted the second step of the podium.

Yoong said after the race, "I'm elated for the team. The car was very strong. We should have pitted earlier though, we could have been even closer. This is what the Series is all about, there was so much overtaking, the cars are strong and built to overtake. Jos Verstappen and I had a real cat and mouse fight as we made our way through the field. It is such a good result for the team and for our new sponsor Proton. Having Proton on board has made such a difference for the team, as we have been able to concentrate on the racing rather than getting to the next race."

The race was full of incidents throughout the Feature race and there were three involving the Malaysian team but the team got off cleanly from all these three incidents. The first was when France's Nicolas Lapiere who clipped the back of the Malaysian car and lost it's rear wing in lap 3, then on lap 8, Indonesia's Ananda Mikola also drove into the right rear of the Malaysian car and spun and finally from Jos Verstappen of the Netherland team who looked like he turned in to Alex, made contact and also spun off the race on lap 28.

Yoong had moved up to second in the early part of the race and then dropped to 15th after a mediocre pitstop. They climbed up steadily partly by taking advantage of cars dropping off from the wayside but mainly from overtaking cars in tandem with Verstappen.

Malaysia was just 0.9 of a second from leader Canada in the penultimate lap but had to ease off to preserve their second spot due to heavy batterings from the three coming together with the other cars as described earlier.

Malaysia consolidated it's 9th overall position in the championship with 49 points after Indonesia and have a realistic chance to improve to 6th by catching Netherlands who are just 4 points away.

A1 Team Canada fought their way from back of the grid to win the A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Sentul Circuit, Indonesia giving them their first win of the season. In front of a packed grandstand of 32,000 spectators, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and government representatives including the Ministers for Sport and Tourism, A1 Grand Prix laid on a spectacular race, action-packed from start to finish.

It was a great weekend for newcomers to A1 Grand Prix as Marcus Marshall for A1 Team Australia and Christian Fittipaldi for A1 Team Brazil finished third and fourth respectively. Fittipaldi's spectacular drive put them back up above A1 Team Great Britain at third place in the championship points standing.

First-time winner, Sean McIntosh, A1 Team Canada: 'It's just an unbelievable result after the Sprint race. I shot myself in the foot in the Sprint race, and came to win from the back, even with a drive through penalty. It wasn't an easy decision to pit early and then having to do the drive through penalty I lost all the ground I made up. I overtook about six cars after that and by the end of the race there were quite severe vibrations in the tyres.'

Finishing on the podium in his first outing for A1 Team Australia, Marcus Marshall said: 'It feels really good to be on the podium, especially after I didn't even know whether I was coming or not. We really struggled in the dry and a bit in Qualifying but we kept pushing all weekend. We never gave up, and although there was too much wing on the car, which meant I was losing time on the straights, I was setting good times in the other sectors. I'm really stoked for the team, Fosters and everyone at home. A big hello to everyone in Australia.'

The ninth round of A1 Grand Prix, the World Cup of Motorsport will be held at Parque Fundidora Monterrey, Mexico on 24 - 26 February 2006.

End

INDONESIA - FEATURE RACE RESULTS

A1 Team/Driver/Time/Gap

1 Canada Sean McIntosh 55.55.779

2 Malaysia Alex Yoong 55.57.710 +1.931

3 Australia Marcus Marshall 56.08.396 +12.617

4 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 56.09.779 +14.000

5 Switzerland Neel Jani 56.12.288 +16.509

6 Netherlands Jos Verstappen 56.17.625 +21.846

7 New Zealand Matt Halliday 56.17.998 +22.319

8 France Nicolas Lapierre 56.18.477 +22.698

9 USA Philip Geibler 56.22.092 +26.313

10 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 56.38.748 +42.969

11 S.Africa Stephen Simpson 57.10.293 +1.14.514

12 Germany Timo Scheider 57.28.763 +1.32.984

13 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 35 laps 1 lap

14 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 35 laps 1 lap

15 India Armaan Ebrahim 35 laps 1 lap

DNF
Italy Max Busnelli 31 laps 5 laps

Portugal Alvaro Parente 31 laps 5 laps

Austria Mathias Lauda 24 laps 12 laps

Ireland Ralph Firman 21 laps 15 laps

Mexico Salvador Duran 18 laps 18 laps

China Tengyi Jiang 11 laps 29 laps

Lebanon Basil Shaaban 7 laps 29 laps

Japan Hayanari Shimoda 0 laps 36 laps

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER INDONESIA

1 France 132

2 Switzerland 104

3 Brazil 70

4 Great Britain 68

5 New Zealand 61

6 Netherlands 53

7 Ireland 50

8 Portugal 50

9 Malaysia 49

10 Canada 42

11 Australia 37

12 Czech Republic 31

13 Mexico 28

14 Italy 26

15 South Africa 20

16 Germany 15

17 USA 15

18 Indonesia 10

19 Austria 9

20 Japan 8

21 China 6

22 Pakistan 4

Indonesia Feature Race - Malaysia On The Podium in 2nd!

Lap by Lap Report hot from the press. Report will be uploaded as soon as available.

Indonesia Feature Race - 36 laps

lap1: great start for mal into 2nd...then jos who moved to 3rd behind alex took mal into 2nd and mal fought back to retake the 2nd spot as jos ran wide...indonesia made contact with another car and stalled...
lap2: safety car out...indonesia got an assist from marshalls and restarted...top 10 are gbr, mal, ned, fra, irl, aut, ger, ind, rsa and usa.
lap3: green flag...ned takes mal for 2nd...fra lost it's nose as they contacted mal...mal now 3rd...top 10 are gbr, ned, mal, irl, aut, rsa, por, lib, ind and ita...fra pits for a new nose cone...
lap 5: can takes a drive thru penalty...
lap7: gbr still leads with ned 2nd and mal 3rd...fra off!...safety car out...irl, ita, mal and ned pit...all front runners took the pitstop except for gbr...
lap9: mal drops to 15th after the pitstops...
lap11: green flag...
lap12: ina made contact with mal's rear and spun out...
lap13: ind off and irl also off at turn 3...
lap14: mal now 12th...top 10 are gbr (not pit yet), rsa (not pit yet), por (not pit yet), mex, ita, ger, cze, aus, can and ned...
lap16: mal takes sui...
lap17: mal takes aus for 9th spot...and now mal moving up to ned...
lap18: mex and por off...and mal moves up to 7th...mal takes bra for 6th spot...safety car out once again to clear the mexican car...
lap24: green flag...rsa takes gbr to lead...ned takes cze and so does mal...mal now lies 5th but 3rd amongst cars that have made pitstops...
lap26: top 10 with gbr and rsa yet to pit are: rsa, gbr, can, ned, mal, cze, aus, bra, sui, and ger...followed by por, fra, ita, nzl, and usa...
lap28: mal makes contact with ned in a overtaking move...ned spins and mal moves up to 4th...
lap29: br pits and mal now lies 3rd behind rsa and can with rsa yet to pit...in effect mal now is 2nd!
lap31: top 3 are rsa (not pit yet), can and mal...
lap33: rsa pits...can leads from mal...by only 0.9s with mal catching up fast...
lap35: last lap...can from mal...damage to mal's side pod from earlier contact with ina...mal now cruises to maintain 2nd...
finish: can wins, mal 2nd, and 3rd aus...followed by bra, sui, ned, nzl, fra, usa and gbr.

Malaysia 4th In The Sprint Race!

Alex pleased with a solid drive to finish 4th in Indonesia...(click image to enlarge)

And Lines Up Second Row For Feature Race

Proton sponsored A1 Team Malaysia driven by Alex Yoong made yet another improvement to their previous best race finishing performance by finishing 4th in the Sprint race of the Indonesian A1 Grand Prix round a few minutes ago.

Yoong made his trademark good start as usual and improved to 5th from 6th on the grid and then had to survive a scare when Canada hit him from the back in the first lap.

He later made a classic overtaking move on Switzerland down the front straight into turn one in lap seven - which succeeded to improve Malaysia to fourth.

Malaysia will line up in the second row for the longer Feature race alongside Mexico which finished third. This will offer the best chance for Malaysia to make their first podium for the Feature race should everything goes according to plans.

With rain clouds looming and drizzles expected for the start of the Feature race anything is possible in the 36 lap one-hour long main drawcard.

France which started second on the flying start grid overtook Great Britain in the opening lap and held on to the chequered flag to record their eleventh win in the series.

End

INDONESIA SENTUL CIRCUIT Sprint Race Results

Pos/Team/Laps/Time/Gap. F./Gap. P./Pits

1 FRANCE 18 24:03.360 - - 1

2 GREAT BRITAIN 18 24:10.341 +6.981 +6.981 1

3 MEXICO 18 24:11.387 +8.027 +1.046 1

4 MALAYSIA 18 24:14.682 +11.322 +3.295 1

5 SWITZERLAND 18 24:16.220 +12.860 +1.538 1

6 IRELAND 18 24:17.094 +13.734 +0.874 1

7 NETHERLANDS 18 24:17.864 +14.504 +0.770 1

8 NEW ZEALAND 18 24:19.669 +16.309 +1.805 1

9 JAPAN 18 24:22.074 +18.714 +2.405 1

10 CZECH REPUBLIC 18 24:26.482 +23.122 +4.408 1

11 INDONESIA 18 24:26.666 +23.306 +0.184 1

12 GERMANY 18 24:27.761 +24.401 +1.095 1

13 AUSTRIA 18 24:32.882 +29.522 +5.121 1

14 ITALY 18 24:35.547 +32.187 +2.665 1

15 USA 18 24:39.755 +36.395 +4.208 1

16 AUSTRALIA 18 24:41.317 +37.957 +1.562 1

17 LEBANON 18 24:48.545 +45.185 +7.228 1

18 INDIA 18 25:03.649 +1'00.289 +15.104 1

19 PORTUGAL 18 27:23.194 +3'19.834 +2'19.545 1

20 BRAZIL 17 25:06.108 1 Lap 1 Lap 2

21 SOUTH AFRICA 15 25:12.355 3 Laps 2 Laps 3

22 CHINA 5 7:01.241 13 Laps 10 Laps

23 CANADA 1 1:54.533 17 Laps 4 Laps 1

Malaysia Qualifies Sixth In Indonesia

Alex in action on Friday in Sentul...(click image to enlarge)

And achieves best qualifying position in the inaugural A1GP championship

Proton sponsored A1 Team Malaysia steered by Alex Yoong qualified on the third row in 6th position from 23 teams at the Sentul circuit which host round 8 of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations in Indonesia.

This result improved on the team's previous best ever qualifying result of seventh achieved in round 5 run in the team's home race in Malaysia last November.

Sessions 1, 2 and 3 of qualifying was run on a drying but slightly damp track with rain threatening to break out. The rain finally fell in small drizzles during the fourth session after most teams have already put in their fastest attempts on new tyres.

A1 Team GB won their maiden pole with Robbie Kerr followed by France with Nicolas Lapiere who had an off in the first session. Mexico was a surprising third followed by Switzerland in fourth and Japan which also achieved their best qualifying position of fifth.

Live telecast by Star Sports and 8TV in Malaysia will commence tomorrow (Sunday) at 2.00pm Malaysian time with the Sprint race starting at 2.30pm and the Feature race at 4.00pm.

End

Qualifying Times - A1GP Indonesia, Sentul.

1. Great Britain Robbie Kerr 2min 34.257secs

2. France Nicolas Lapierre 2min 34.477secs

3. Mexico Salvador Duran 2min 34.554secs

4. Switzerland Neel Jani 2min 35.065secs

5. Japan Hayanari Shimoda 2min 35.190secs

6. Malaysia Alex Yoong 2min 35.447secs

7. Ireland Ralph Firman 2min 35.670secs

8. Canada Sean McIntosh 2min 35.685secs

9. South Africa Stephen Simpson 2min 35.750secs

10. New Zealand Matt Halliday 2min 35.797secs

11. Portugal Alvaro Parente 2min 35.808secs

12. Czech Republic Tomas Enge 2min 35.950secs

13. Netherlands Jos Verstappen 2min 36.000secs

14. USA Phil Giebler 2min 36.113secs

15. Germany Timo Scheider 2min 36.319secs

16. Italy Max Busnelli 2min 36.631secs

17. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 2min 36.805secs

18. China Tengyi Jiang 2min 37.313secs

19. Australia Marcus Marshall 2min 37.950secs

20. Lebanon Basil Shaaban 2min 38.275secs

21. Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 2min 38.290secs

22. India Armaan Ebrahim 2min 38.603secs

23. Austria Mathias Lauda 2min 39.229secs

Alex Takes A1 Team Malaysia To The Top in Indonesian Friday Practices

Alex revels in the wet...(click image to enlarge)

A1 Team Malaysia tops Friday's free practices in Indonesia's A1 Grand Prix round with a time of 1m 27.557s today.

This is the first time A1 Team Malaysia has headed an A1GP official practice day in the current season.

Malaysia's driver Alex Yoong set the time in lap 10 of the 15 laps he put in during the free practice 2.

Both the day's practices were run in wet conditions with many teams falling by the wayside with spins and crashes bringing out the red flag on four occasions in practice one and once in practice two.

Australia was second fastest 0.263s behind Malaysia followed by Netherlands, Indonesia and Ireland in 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.

Qualifying will be run tomorrow (Saturday) at 2.15pm Indonesian time (3.15pm Malaysian time) where Star Sports and 8TV will be covering live.

Live timing service is available in the internet at: http://130.117.162.12/pagines/cursa.asp

End

A1GP A1 Grand Prix - Sentul circuit

Programme [GMT + 7 Hours]

Saturday 11 Feb

11:00 - 12:00 Practice 3

14:15 - 15:45 Qualifying

Sunday 12 Feb

13:30 - 14:00 Race 1

15:00 - 15:50 Race 2

Friday Practice 2 Results:

Weather: Wet

Pos/Team/Lap/Time/Gap F./Gap P./Laps

1 MALAYSIA (ALEX YOONG) 10 1'27.557 - - 17

2 AUSTRALIA 18 1'27.820 +0.263 +0.263 21

3 NETHERLANDS 14 1'28.279 +0.722 +0.459 20

4 FRANCE 23 1'28.680 +1.123 +0.401 23

5 INDONESIA 9 1'28.776 +1.219 +0.096 15

6 IRELAND 18 1'28.915 +1.358 +0.139 20

7 CANADA 10 1'29.203 +1.646 +0.288 18

8 GREAT BRITAIN 17 1'29.380 +1.823 +0.177 21

9 SOUTH AFRICA 12 1'29.437 +1.880 +0.057 17

10 MEXICO 15 1'29.666 +2.109 +0.229 19

11 AUSTRIA 28 1'29.786 +2.229 +0.120 28

12 CZECH REPUBLIC 6 1'29.839 +2.282 +0.053 23

13 INDIA 18 1'29.925 +2.368 +0.086 22

14 CHINA 25 1'30.019 +2.462 +0.094 30

15 JAPAN 21 1'30.100 +2.543 +0.081 22

16 PORTUGAL 26 1'30.172 +2.615 +0.072 26

17 GERMANY 19 1'30.349 +2.792 +0.177 23

18 BRAZIL 12 1'30.414 +2.857 +0.065 25

19 SWITZERLAND 24 1'30.489 +2.932 +0.075 24

20 USA 26 1'30.772 +3.215 +0.283 26

21 ITALY 8 1'30.822 +3.265 +0.050 23

22 NEW ZEALAND 14 1'31.464 +3.907 +0.642 23

23 LEBANON 24 1'32.958 +5.401 +1.494 24

A1 Team Malaysia faces Wet Weekend In Indonesia

Team Malaysia in Proton livery...(click image to enlarge)

Sentul, Indonesia 8 February 2006 - The eighth event in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix Series takes place this weekend in Sentul, Indonesia. With the rainy season coming to an end, A1 Team Malaysia is expecting to be racing in heavy rain mixed with bright sunshine.

A1 Team Malaysia arrives in Indonesia after the first race weekend of 2006 held on a street track in Durban, South Africa two weeks ago. The team endured a difficult weekend at this tricky circuit and are now looking forward to returning to a purpose-built racing circuit.

Driver for A1 Team Malaysia, Alex Yoong, says of the forthcoming weekend, “I enjoyed my taste of street racing in Durban where the concrete walls dominate the landscape, but I’ll also enjoy the wide track in Sentul. The street track didn’t bring much good fortune to the Malaysian team, so we’re hoping that we’ll fare better at this track. We’ve had some strong results in the Series so far, but really need to get back to the form that we know we’re capable of achieving, and putting in the levels of performance that will bring us World Cup of Motorsport points.”

Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia, adds, “We’ve put the Durban race weekend behind us and our focus is on the weekend ahead. We have the crew, the driver and the engineers that are all capable of putting a top-five car on the track and racing hard for a strong finish in each race. Motor racing is a fickle sport and there are so many factors that come into play at each event, and particularly this weekend in Sentul, where the weather is so unpredictable. We’ll be putting all our efforts into performing well and getting the results that we know are possible.”

The Sentul circuit is located 45 minutes from Jakarta and 8 km from Bogor in West Java. It is 3.9 km long, has 11 turns and runs in a clockwise direction. The circuit has been used predominantly for bike racing and the Asian F3 series, with A1 Grand Prix the largest international motor racing series to visit the circuit. It is fast and wide with very high speeds. Extreme heat, humidity and the unpredictable wet weather at the end of the rainy season are added challenges for the international field of drivers in the Series.

A1 Grand Prix was introduced into the international motor racing calendar in 2005, with nations competing against nations in races around the globe in the winter months, complimenting the traditional summer season of motorsport. The Series has visited Europe, Australasia, the Middle East, and South Africa, and will move on to Central and North America before the season finale in Shanghai, China.

From A1 Team Malaysia

Sentul, Indonesia - Programme [GMT + 7 Hours]

Friday

10 Feb13:00 - 14:00 Practice 1

16:00 - 17:00 Practice 2

Saturday

11 Feb11:00 - 12:00 Practice 3

14:15 - 15:45 Qualifying

Sunday

12 Feb13:30 - 14:00 Race 1

15:00 - 15:50 Race 2

Live timing go HERE

A Testing Weekend In Durban For Malaysia

A1 Team Malaysia endured a tough day’s racing in Durban and were unable to capitalise on the competitive running that the team had enjoyed in practice and qualifying, with retirements from both races for driver Alex Yoong at the A1 Grand Prix of Nations in South Africa today.

The first street race of the A1 Grand Prix calendar certainly proved a crowd-pleaser with an estimated 50,000 spectators experiencing the action-packed racing of this new motor racing Series which pits nation against nation in 11 countries around the globe.

A1 Team Malaysia lined up tenth for the Sprint race after yesterday’s ‘four flying laps’ style of qualifying session. The start was delayed for race officials to improve the catch fencing safety, but when it finally got underway, Team Malaysia’s race was short-lived.

On the opening lap Yoong was forced to brake hard behind Team Brasil, making contact with the rear of his car. The accident resulted in the Malaysian car losing its front wing and damaging the nose cone, which left Yoong with no option but to retire immediately from the race.

In the feature race Yoong was at the back of the grid for the start due to his earlier race retirement. After an early pit stop for the mandatory tyre change, Yoong rejoined the race and quickly made his way towards the front of the field, running comfortably within the top ten and at half distance lying seventh. On lap 26 of the 40 lap race, with Yoong racing hard and under pressure from the New Zealand car behind, he braked late at the end of the back straight, sending him into a spin and out of the race.

Yoong said after the two races, “A disappointing weekend for us, particularly with our retirements today. In the Sprint race it was just one of those racing incidents. In the Feature race I reckon I could have finished in fourth place. The guys in my crew have worked so hard this weekend I would have liked to have rewarded them with a good finish, but it just wasn’t my day.”

Jack Cunningham, A1 Team Malaysia Team Principal added, “This wasn’t an easy weekend for us, but that’s the nature of motor racing and we just have to put this behind us now. This street race has certainly captured the attention of South Africa and I think A1 Grand Prix put on a great show for the fans. It was exciting racing with plenty of action, but it was a shame we weren’t able to go the distance in either race. We have lost a lot of ground in championship points and we will be mindful of that as we arrive in Indonesia in just over a weeks time.”

From A1 Team Malaysia

Race Results Click HERE