17/02/2009
NEWS STORY
A1 Team Malaysia is heading off to South Africa this week, preparing to take part in the fifth round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. Fairuz Fauzy and Aaron Lim (right) are both keen to have their first taste of this historic track which is new to the series calendar this season.
Fauzy says of the weekend ahead, "I am really looking forward to racing at altitude at the famous Kyalami Circuit in Gauteng. It is going to be an exciting weekend for all the teams. I love the configuration of the track and we understand that from all the research that we have done it has great flow and gradient changes, so I'm sure it'll be great to drive.
"We need strong results in South Africa. Although we left Taupo, New Zealand, with hard fought points, we didn't run as competitively as we needed to, particularly at the start of the weekend. We will have a new engine for Kyalami so we hope to be able to run reliably here and return to our early season form."
Lim has been training hard in Malaysia since the last round of the series and will be continuing his learning experiences with the team. The new engine will give him an additional workload with the necessary installation procedures taking precedent in the early part of the rookie session.
Lim says of Kyalami, "I'm learning all the time with A1 Team Malaysia, whether I'm in the car or on the pit wall with the engineers, so I'm always pleased to be jumping on a plane and visiting another country, especially when it is a circuit that I haven't driven before. This track has plenty of motor racing history attached to it, as the original circuit was built in 1961 and first hosted a Formula One Grand Prix in 1967 - before I was born!
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, is hoping for more points this weekend, He explains, "We need to be finishing higher up the order and in the points consistently to improve on our overall points standings. We're halfway through the season and lying seventh, so there's time yet to move forward. If we can achieve a strong pace right from the start and keep developing the car in each session, we'll be on the right track for more success."