The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began its Australian round of the Series today, with the first practice sessions held in mixed weather conditions. Alex Yoong is representing A1 Team Malaysia ‘down under’, while team mate Fairuz Fauzy is absent due to commitments in Europe.
A1 Team Malaysia, without the services of Fauzy to run in the early morning Friday practice session, started their race weekend one hours practice time behind the majority of the teams. The morning session was run on a wet track with drizzling rain, but the afternoon brightened and with warm sunshine it had dried before the afternoon got underway.
Yoong’s lap times, just outside of the top ten, were satisfactory for the team, as they were concentrating on many of the routine tasks usually undertaken by Fauzy in the morning. The focus was on preparing the car and starting to develop a setup for the races. Finishing 14th quickest at the end of the hour, Yoong was content with his performance and confident of improving over the course of the weekend.
He said of the Australian track, “With Fairuz not being here, I had to use some of our session with work associated with the installation of a new engine and so we didn’t have the chance to make the best of the new tyres. So we’re not worried about our overall lap times, and it was a satisfactory time. However, we still need to find some time in the car, as on old tyres we need to be a bit quicker. We will be reviewing of data and making some car changes but I’m sure we’ll be okay for tomorrow. â€
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, was positive for the weekend, saying, “We know how valuable it is to have a driver for the Friday morning session, and particularly for weekends like this, when we have an engine change. But the team have coped well and although they’re not as far forwards with preparations as others, we’re not too far off and it is ground we are certain we can make up before qualifying. â€
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Sydney, Australia continues tomorrow with final practice and qualifying. The two A1GP races, a 20 minutes Sprint and 70 minutes Feature race, will take place on Sunday, 4 February. A full day of racing action for the fans will include Formula 3, GT and Historic races as well as the headlining A1GP events. In addition, a package of entertainment featuring stunt riders.
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