Alex Yoong 2nd In Practice 1, Looks Forward To Strong Qualifying In China

A1 Team Malaysia which lies 10th in the A1 Grand Prix championship with one round to go in Shanghai, China got off to a good start with second in the first official free practice at the Shanghai International Circuit an hour ago.

The team's pre-event release quoted Yoong as saying, “Shanghai is a fairly new circuit and shares the same designer as for Sepang, Hermann Tilke so there are a number of characteristics which are similar, not least the high-tech, modern architecture of the facility. It’s another of the many new experiences for both me and the team, and an exciting challenge. I think very few of the drivers will have been here, so if we can be on the pace quickly there’s a good chance of a strong qualifying result.”

“As the first season of A1 Grand Prix draws to a close we are tenth in the championship standings, but, only sixteen points separate the fourth placed team and ourselves in tenth. The competition is so close we could improve on this if we can have two good race finishes. This will be our goal for the weekend.”

Jack Cunningham, Team Principal, A1 Team Malaysia, announced new sponsors in the same release, “We’re aiming to finish on a high note at Shanghai. We had a second place podium in Indonesia and 12 top ten finishes, so we’ve had some good results and are capable of more. It’s only when you reach the final race weekend and look back at what has been achieved that you realise how far you’ve come. Putting together a new team, with a new car and racing competitively at eleven venues all around the world is a huge undertaking. A1 Team Malaysia has really proved to be an excellent team that have worked tirelessly to be part of the spectacle of A1 Grand Prix, and really deserve everything achieved so far. We’ll keep pushing this weekend and hope to be celebrating a successful end to the season on Sunday evening.”

“In addition to the prominent Proton branding on the A1 Team Malaysia car, we will feature 4 additional Malaysian brands on the car in China. We are in discussion for long-term commercial participation with a number of brands for the much-anticipated second season of A1 Grand Prix. The brands featured for this event include “Visit Malaysia 2007”, FTEC, MBF Cards and Royal Selangor. Their possible future long term inclusion in our programme highlights our strategy to promote Malaysia and Malaysian brands internationally and our focus on the development of national pride, both domestically at a grass roots level and within the corporate sectors.”

Max Revson

A1GP: SHANGHAI - Official Practice 1
Pos/Team/Driver/On Lap/Time/Total Laps
1 MEX Salvador DURAN 19 1'52.513 20
2 MAL Alex YOONG 14 1'52.721 17
3 FRA Nicolas LAPIERRE 16 1'52.733 17
4 IRL Michael DEVANEY 8 1'52.919 9
5 CAN Patrick CARPENTIER 17 1'52.989 18
6 AUS Ryan BRISCOE 16 1'53.229 21
7 GBR Darren MANNING 18 1'53.314 20
8 RSA Stephen SIMPSON 12 1'53.452 13
9 NZL Matt HALLIDAY 20 1'53.508 21
10 USA Philip GIEBLER 16 1'53.546 18
11 NED Jos VERSTAPPEN 9 1'53.560 16
12 INA Ananda MIKOLA 16 1'53.626 17
13 PAK Adam KHAN 11 1'53.662 19
14 SUI Giorgio MONDINI 18 1'53.966 21
15 LIB Graham RAHAL 22 1'54.001 22
16 CZE Tomas ENGE 18 1'54.125 19
17 POR Cesar CAMPANICO 15 1'54.264
18 18 BRA Christian FITTIPALDI 19 1'54.841 20
19 ITA Enrico TOCCACELO 18 1'54.868 20
20 CHN Qinghua MA 3 1'55.087 12
21 AUT Mathias LAUDA 7 1'55.095 10
22 GER Sebastian STAHL 19 1'56.833 21