A1 Team Malaysia enjoyed a strong showing in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsportsixth round which took place in Portugal this weekend. Fairuz Fauzy representedhis nation and drove well to finish in fourth place in the Feature race havingtaken eighth in the Sprint race this morning.

The start of the sprint race produced early excitement with NewZealand and Lebanon tangling followed by Germany and Lebanon clashing. Malaysiacarefully avoided these two incidents and had made up ground to seventh place.The accidents brought out the safety car.

Fauzy stayed in seventh after the restart, but after pittingfor his mandatory tyres change, he emerged in ninth, with the team having lostpositions due to a wheel nut problem during the pitstop. As the race headedtowards the chequered flag Fauzy stayed in ninth, but with three laps remainingBrazil and South Africa clashed, causing the race to be red flagged. In thefinal order, with Switzerland having been given a penalty for a pitstopinfringement, Malaysia finished eighth, snatching one World Cup of Motorsportpoint.

Fauzy said after the Sprint race, “The car was good, we had tofight hard for our final position and we had a pitstop that was a little slow.There was drama on the first corner and I managed to avoid it, but later in therace I hit a bump which upset the balance of the car, so that will be looked atbefore the Feature race. However we added another point and that’simportant.”

The Feature race began with more drama after the pole sitter,Netherlands, had electrical problems on the warm up lap. The field was awaycleanly as the red lights went out, with Malaysia defending hard, but losingplaces on the opening lap. Lying ninth Fauzy settled in to the race, moving upto 8th before the first round of pitstops. Further wheel nut problems resultedin a slow stop which dropped the team two positions, however Fauzy recovered tolie ninth, at which point a clash between South Africa and New Zealand resultedin a safety car period. With these two nations out of the race Malaysia was inseventh place for the restart.

Returning to full speed racing produced a three car accidentwith Monaco, USA and Italy all out of the race, promoting Malaysia to fourthplace with 22 laps remaining. Losing out to a quicker India in the second roundof pitstops dropped the team back to fifth place with less than ten laps of therace remaining. However Fauzy fought back on the track, taking back fourth justthree laps before the finish and taking the chequered flag in this position.

“The start was quite difficult” says Fauzy. “Although Doornbos(Netherlands) wasn’t in his position at the front and there was an empty spacewhere the Brazil car should have been next to me, the cars from behind me shotforward and it was a very busy pack of cars rushing down through the first fewcorners. There were quite a few incidents and two safety car periods, so it wasquite a hectic time out on track, especially with two pitstops as well. The carwas very consistent and we were able to run at a good pace, particularly towardsthe end. I’m pleased we have scored more points for Malaysia”.

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia summed upthe Algarve weekend saying, “We’ve had a good weekend here, adding quite a fewpoints and moving up to sixth place in the overall standings. Fairuz and Aarondrove well. The teamwork has been good and we’re pleased with an eighth placeand a fourth, especially with the competition out here. The grid included threedrivers with F1 racing experience and you include F1 test drivers the total iseight, so the competition level is increasing each time we compete. We’ve racedwith these guys and kept up with them and this is very pleasing.”

The Series continues in three weeks time with A1GP making itsfourth visit to Brands Hatch circuit in the UK, the venue which hosted the firstever A1GP event. This takes place from 1-3 May.