but "lightning" struck again in Feature
A1 Team Malaysia had its best race weekend build-up of the A1 Grand Prix series so far in Portugal rewarded with a top-ten finish in the Sprint race in eighth place with Fairuz Fauzy at the wheel for the entire weekend.
However, fortunes were reversed in the main Feature race when a crash on lap 17 of the 36 lap race resulted in "severe body damage" to the Malaysian car and forced Fairuz out of the race. The crash was apparently due to a slow puncture according to the Malaysian team's official release.
At that moment of the crash Malaysia was lying in 21st position after another bungle during the pitstop sent the team to the rear end of the field from the eighth position before the stop. This second consecutive foul up by the team crew in a Feature race pitstop - after a similar wheel nut incident in the last race in Germany - should perhaps be investigated thoroughly and remedial actions be implemented to prevent another repeat in Australia.
Surely the pressure of having to claw up the ranks again after being in eighth position at the start have a lot of bearing to possible over-driving resulting in the crash by Fairuz? Experienced race drivers can usually feel the loss of tyre pressure as it would result in erratic handling of the car and one simply doesn't drive all out when the car's behaviour changes suddenly.
A1 Team Malaysia is run by a crew comprising approximately 75% Europeans and 25% Malaysians as anybody up and down the pitlane can see. Is it the fault of the European crew who are supposed to be the guiding lights for the Malaysians or is it the Malaysian crew themselves who have screwed up? Surely having the same problem in consecutive races should not be acceptable to the team management. Was it human error or a technical problem? Why wasn't the problem rectified after Germany? All these questions should be addressed and hopefully we will not encounter the same problem again in Australia. Lightning has struck twice but three times will be unbearable for the Malaysian fans.
Meanwhile Fairuz had this to say, “We had a good first race, managing to stay out of trouble and bring the car home in the points. Unfortunately the second race was a different story. Our strategy was to pit early, but when we changed the tyres there was a problem, so our stop was over a minute long. The car was very good in the race and I thought I would be able to finish in the top ten, but after the second safety car I had a slow puncture, which put me off in the last corner when I tried to push. It’s racing, it happens, we’ll be trying our best again in Australia – we’ll never give up.”
Team-mate Alex Yoong, who sat out round 3 and will drive round 4 in Australia, supported Fairuz by saying, "It was an unlucky day for us but it wasn't Fairuz's fault. He did great in the Sprint race earlier."
Jack Cunningham, Team Principal adds, “It is a slightly disappointing end to an otherwise good weekend. We’d been running so well and Fairuz had got to grips with the track both in the wet and the dry. The competition is so fierce in this series and we’re fighting hard too which is great for those watching the race. Sometimes results aren’t always the ones you want but we are proud of our 8th position in Race 1. We’ll be back out in Australia in two weeks time to try and get back in the points. The Australian race is broadcast live on TV in Malaysia so we hope to deliver a good result to our many fans” Malaysia gained 3 points from the Sprint race but dropped from 9th overall to 11th overall in the championship standing.
