06/12/2006
NEWS STORY
The A1 GP season continues this weekend with the fifth round of the Series taking place at Sentul Circuit, Indonesia. A1 Team Malaysia is riding high with strong race results so far, which has put the team in joint third place in the overall championship standings.
At the team's home race in Sepang less than two weeks ago, Alex Yoong, recorded fourth and seventh place finishes in the two races at the Kuala Lumpur venue and with the team having scored a number of top ten finishes this season – including two race wins – A1 Team Malaysia is proving to be one of the top contenders for the championship title.
Last season's Indonesian round of A1GP was the location for the Malaysian team's first podium finish in this Series, with second place in the Feature race, which followed a fourth place finish in the earlier Sprint race. The team is hoping that this level of performance can be repeated this weekend. With Fairuz Fauzy taking part in the opening practice session, the team will be able to capitalise on his racing skills and experience to prepare for the weekend ahead.
He says, "Alex and I are working well together as a team and I think we showed the benefits of this in Sepang last time out. We'll be looking to continue with the close teamwork and sharing of information to bring us more strong results, and I'll be aiming to gain as much track knowledge as I can in the practice session, to give the team as good a start as possible for the weekend."
Yoong adds, "We've already had two wins this season, and we've been close to at least two more podium. We should run well this weekend. The one dominant factor at this venue is the weather and we know from last year that it is very changeable, with the afternoons often featuring tropical rainstorms that really change the track conditions and test our ability to adapt our teamwork and strategy to these different situations.
We have the right team, the experienced engineering staff and the determination to win, so there's every reason why we can do this. We'll be going for second in the championship this weekend."
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, is fast and wide with very high speeds. The circuit has been used predominantly for bike racing and the Asian F3 series, with A1GP the largest international motor racing series to visit the circuit. Extreme heat, humidity and the unpredictable wet weather of the rainy season are added challenges for the international field of drivers in the Series.