Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia has applauded the team’s excellent performance and is keen to put into context this achievement by saying, “The team is the highest placed of all the Asian A1 teams competing in the series and the only Asian team to have taken a pole position and a win this season, with all the other pole positions and wins scored by European teams. I think this is a triumph for Malaysia and Malaysian motorsport.”

A1 Team Malaysia recently completed the fourth season of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, finishing sixth in the overall points standings.

Fairuz Fauzy was the main driver, contesting 12 of the 14 races and collecting 43 points, including the pole position and win which set Malaysia apart from its Asian rivals. At the final event of the season the team’s rookie driver, Aaron Lim, stepped in to the race driver role and rose admirably to the occasion.

Looking back on the season Cunningham continues, “This fourth season of A1GP has been the most competitive yet. The circuits have been the most challenging ones we’ve raced on, particularly all three new venues this season: Kyalami, Portimao and Chengdu. But it wasn’t only the tracks that tested us it was the competition that we faced.

“Although Fairuz is fairly experienced, many of the drivers he was up against have been driving longer and with more races under their belts, so this raised the bar higher than in previous seasons. Drivers such as Narain Karthikeyan, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Robert Doornbos have all tasted Formula One, while around half of the drivers from this season have regularly competed in GP2, the series often seen as the final stepping stone to Formula One.

“The field produced some of the closest racing we’ve seen, but perhaps more importantly also gave us the tightest qualifying sessions, which on some of the tracks with less overtaking opportunities, played a key role in the final race results. In the technical department everyone raised their game too, including us. Some teams had the luxury of a significant enough budget to bring in engineers with Formula One experience, which in the case of Ireland with ex-Super Aguri man, Gerry Hughes, paid dividends, being part and parcel of a championship winning outfit.”

A1 Team Malaysia’s overall sixth place was a testament to the team’s consistency, with Fauzy taking points in every race that he competed in. It was only Kyalami that didn’t result in a points paying finish position, but on that occasion it was Fauzy putting in the fastest lap of the race which ensured that he upheld his unbroken season-long points streak.

Cunningham sums up the season saying, “This is very much a team sport and it has been the strength of the teamwork, balanced with some superb, mature driving from Fairuz and not forgetting the important role which Aaron has played, which has brought us the well deserved sixth place in the standings. I cannot emphasise enough just what an achievement this is for Malaysian motorsport.”