Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 13 November 2008. A1 Team Malaysia has selected Fairuz Fauzy to race for his country in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event at Sepang, Malaysia next weekend with teammate Aaron Lim taking the driving seat for the rookie session on Friday.
Fauzy has represented Malaysia in the first two rounds of the Series and quickly established his superiority by taking the championship lead in the first round with a win and a second place finish. He put in two strong performances in the second round at Chengdu, China, including a fifth place finish, to retain the series lead as the nations head for A1 Team Malaysia’s home soil, Sepang International Circuit.
This is the first time in the history of the series that a team will compete on home soil leading the championship
The Malaysian A1GP driver is riding high with his early season success and is keen to build on the solid start, as well as stay at the top of the leader board. The confirmation that he will be racing at Sepang is the news that he had hoped to receive. Fauzy says, “After such a brilliant start to the season at Zandvoort the pressure was on to stay at the front and leaving China with the lead has given me a big confidence boost. I’m delighted that A1 Team Malaysia has put its faith in me and given me the chance to race for my country in my home race. “
Lim was given his first outing in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car at Chengdu and was blown away by the performance of the racer and was thrilled by its power, acceleration, braking and cornering speeds. With only an hour behind the wheel Lim is eager to return to the cockpit, and particularly as it will be in front of his home crowd. The 21-year-old says of driving at Sepang, “I can’t wait to drive at Sepang and I’m very pleased that the team has asked me to drive the rookie session. I don’t take anything for granted, so although I hoped to be given the job for this round I kept my fingers crossed until I had the call from the team.”
The Malaysian pair is already in Kuala Lumpur preparing for the event as well as taking on a hectic schedule of promotional commitments. In addition the drivers will be joining their team and a band of enthusiastic fans for the A1 Team Malaysia Outreach Shelter initiative this weekend. The volunteers will be painting and redecorating one of the charity’s buildings, a very worthwhile diversion from the training and racing that will be the work for the drivers and the team next week.
