On the road to Sepang A1 Team France has landed in Malaysia where the third round of the A1GP championship, the World Cup of Motor Sport, is being held this weekend. After the first two events the team is currently lying in fifth place overall only eight points behind the leader, Team New Zealand. It is two in front of its closest rivals, Great Britain and Holland.
Loic Duval is back to defend the A1 Team France colours. He raced in the opening round on the Zandvoort circuit, and then handed over to Nicolas Lapierre for Brno. He will be out to repeat his podium finish in Holland and close the gap to the leaders. For the first time this season the A1GP teams find themselves at a circuit which hosts an F1 grand prix. Sepang has a wide variety of corners: hairpins, long curves under load and quick direction changes. It will provide many challenges for both drivers and engineers. For example, finding the right braking point for turn 9 could prove tricky. Turn 14 is also difficult to learn, and a driver can’t make a mistake there as it conditions the top speed on the following straight, which helps passing other cars.
The Sepang circuit is wide and flat, and can be the theatre of a lot of overtaking. Tyre performance fall-off has to be taken into account, as does the sometimes-suffocating heat, which can play havoc with the drivers’ physical condition. In Malaysia the weather can be capricious and sudden local tropical showers cannot be ruled out. The weekend weather forecast is for scattered storms and temperatures of around 30°C and 35°C in the daytime.
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