30/01/2008
NEWS STORY
A1 Team Malaysia heads to Eastern Creek race circuit in Sydney, Australia for the sixth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport which takes place this weekend hot on the heels of the New Zealand round, where Malaysia had two races which failed to add to their season points tally.
The Eastern Creek event will be the third running of the Australian round of the A1GP Series at this circuit. At the first event in 2005/06 season A1 Team Malaysia scored fifth and eighth place finishes, and in 2007 the team finished sixth and seventh adding valuable points.
Eastern Creek Raceway, situated 40 kilometres from central Sydney, is a circuit popular for Australian V8 races and other Australian race series. At just under four kilometres in length, running anticlockwise with 12 turns to challenge the field of drivers, the track is another exciting challenge for the A1GP field. The last two events produced some spectacular racing and the strong crowd, with one of the most diverse range of nationalities seen in A1GP, were enthusiastic supporters of the Series.
Fairuz Fauzy (right) will represent Malaysia this weekend. Fauzy says of his return to racing with A1 Team Malaysia, "I have always been a big supporter of the team and was available at the start of the A1GP series in 2005. Recently I have concentrated on my other racing programmes and obligations and not been able to be available. I am delighted to be back with the team and, for this particular event, to be able to take advantage of the remaining rookie session I am allowed to run in, followed by the remaining sessions this weekend."
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive adds, "New Zealand was a weekend that we would prefer to forget – we are having a really awful time of it at the moment with bad luck playing such a part in New Zealand together with the hand injury that affected Alex in the main race.
"Anyway, we have a strong, capable and resilient team, and a team of some depth. We are pleased to have Fairuz driving again, as he wasn't able to be with us at all throughout last year. Although Alex has driven in the majority of races, celebrating his 50th drive in A1GP in New Zealand, we are pleased to give Fairuz this opportunity to drive the Malaysian car again. We will all be working, together with Fairuz, to focus on our goals for Malaysia this weekend. We have shown our capabilities in the first two seasons and despite the setbacks of the past events this season our determination has never once wavered.
"We are hoping that, with Fairuz being able to do the rookie session as well, we can boost our results, results that haven't been anywhere near our expectations. Whilst Aaron is sidelined for this rookie session, he will be back for the remainder of the season as from Durban in a few weeks time."