A1 Team Malaysia inherited third place in today’s Feature race at the Vodafone A1GP, Algarve after a late evening stewards enquiry. The finishing order of the race was originally Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, Malaysia, however a penalty for Ireland dropped the team to fifth place, putting Malaysia in the podium position.

The Feature race had drama right from the green flag but it was a restart after a safety car period that created the controversy. During the race Ireland was dealt a drive-through penalty for overtaking behind the safety car. However the stewards then decided to investigate the incident after the race, allowing Ireland to remain in second position on the track.

After the race the enquiry over Ireland’s penalty was upheld, with the nation being handed a 25 seconds penalty for overtaking Australia under the safety car just before the restart. This dropped the Irish team to fifth place and moved Malaysia into its podium placing of third.

Malaysia’s driver this weekend, Fairuz Fauzy, commented: “Taking our third podium finish of the season today is a good result for us. It has moved us into sixth place of the overall standings and we’re only three points behind France, so we can fight for this as well. We had a good car and this, combined with our teamwork and a strong race strategy – and a little bit of good fortune – ensured we took a top three spot.”

The team’s Chief Executive, Jack Cunningham, added, “It’s not the way that we would have liked to have taken third place, but it will certainly help our championship battle. It’s a shame Fairuz wasn’t standing on the podium to celebrate, but more importantly, we have added to our points and crept even closer to fifth placed France in the standings.”

A1 Team Malaysia will be back to fight for more points at Brands Hatch, Kent, England, in three weeks time.