Asian Touring Car 1500Max Challenge champions Team Proton Axle Racing got straight into work for the 2009 season on day one of the pre-season test at the Sepang International Circuit yesterday.

Despite it being a mixed day for the team, Team Principal and former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong was happy with the team and the car's condition after the winter season break.

"It was good to be back on the track as this is our first test for the season," said Alex. "We did face some basic teething problems such as the car's electronics but the team as always worked diligently to get the car in running condition," he added.

The team's driver Syafiq Ali who is also the defending ATC Max champion, was unable to make the test sessions as he was down with the flu.

This gave the team an opportunity to further test Asian Touring Car Series champion Jack Lemvard of Thailand. "Jack did a great job getting to know the car and early signs were positives to work with him again," said Alex.

"I would like to thank Alex and the Team for the opportunity to get into the car. It was a pleasure working with them and hopefully we can do some further testing." said Lemvard. "It was an easy car to handle as I clocked the same time in my first and third lap showing the cars consistency. It was a shame however we couldn't do all the things we set out to achieve today as I believe I could have gone faster," he added.

The 24-year-old Pattaya born driver is now looking forward to test again with the team and to hopefully be apart of the PAR's driver line-up this season.