One of the stated aims of A1 Team Malaysia is to nurture and develop young racing talent for the nation, be it drivers, engineers or mechanics. Today's announcement is a demonstration of the progress that the team is making in this regard.

Aaron Lim, 22, has been selected to join the team as a driver, taking part in the dedicated Rookie sessions that form part of each A1GP World Cup of Motorsport racing weekend.

Lim has already sampled the power and thrills of driving an A1GP car, with an outing in the team's race car at Silverstone Circuit in the UK last summer. He drove the 550 bhp car during the official A1GP testing days and impressed the team with his driving skills, aptitude and technical feedback.

The next outing for the youngster will be at the 9th round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Series in Mexico City later this month. He will join regular driver, Alex Yoong, and will take part in two 25 minute Rookie sessions on Friday morning of the race weekend. He will also participate in these sessions at the remaining two events in Shanghai, China and Brands Hatch, UK.

Lim says of the news, "It's a dream come true for me. There are very few opportunities for young drivers such as myself to progress to a higher level of international motorsport and to be given a coveted place with the team gives my career a great boost.

It's a bit of a daunting task for me to be assisting the team with feedback on the car and track, and undertaking some of the routine preparatory tasks such as bedding brakes, but it's a welcome challenge and I just can't wait to get behind the wheel. I had a few laps in the car at Silverstone and that was fantastic, but to be part of A1 Team Malaysia is really something very special!

I would like to thank the team for signing me to drive for them. I'm very proud to be driving for my country and representing Malaysia in this top class international Series."

Alex Yoong adds, "I'm very pleased that Aaron is joining the team. I know he will be able to help us in our preparations for the A1GP races, while also gaining valuable experience of a powerful racing car with a highly professional racing team at top level international motorsport events. In my early career there wasn't a national racing team and I had to move to Europe to get this type of experience, so it is great that we're able to grow our own national racing talent within the Malaysian A1GP team."

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, echoes Yoong's sentiments, saying, "I'm sure Aaron will bring as much value to the team as we can deliver to him - and that's very important to us. We promised at the outset that we would be looking at a long-term strategy of helping to develop future generations of Malaysian race drivers to follow in Alex's footsteps and this is another step towards this. Fairuz Fauzy has given us valuable assistance this season, but his time is now committed to furthering his career with Spyker and the Renault World Series, so we took this opportunity to introduce Aaron to our driver line-up. Aaron has this responsibility. Nik Iruwan who is driving in Europe this summer, also features in our future plans. Other young Malaysian drivers are also making their way towards us and we look forward to following their progress towards A1 Team Malaysia."

Lim started his motor racing career in national karting championships and in 2004 represented his country at the Asian Karting Championship in Macau, dominating from the outset, claiming a new lap record, and taking victory by over 3 seconds. Moving to the scholarship class of the Formula BMW Asian series in 2005 Aaron Lim continued to impress and, despite a minimal budget and missing four rounds of racing, he notched up five top five finishes and two third place podiums.

Last season he continued with his motorsport education, competing in the Championship class of the Formula BMW Asian series finishing fifth overall. His success included a second place finish and five other top five finishes. In 2007 Lim aims to graduate to the Formula Renault V6 Asia Series, which kicks off in May at the conclusion of the 2006/07 A1GP season.