Chengdu, China, 07 November 2008. The second round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began today at the Chengdu circuit in China with A1 Team Malaysia being given its first taste of the track which is new to the series this season. In the morning Aaron Lim was given his first drive of the A1GP Powered by Ferrari car and in the afternoon Fairuz Fauzy posted 10th fastest lap in the opening practice session.
Lim drove the car this morning and enjoyed the power under the throttle as well as the sharp braking capabilities of the carbon brakes. Fairuz Fauzy took over the driving duties this afternoon to continue working with the engineering team to set up the new car for the two races this weekend. The team also welcomed young Malaysian driver, Jazeman Jaafar.
“It was incredible”, said Lim after his session. “The car lived up to its expectations, with the G forces produced by the down force really amazing. I’m very happy to have driven the car. This morning, with a new engine, we had to do lots of checks to do with this, but after that I was able to put in some runs, although I’m not optimising the down force of the car yet.
“It’s the first car I’ve driven with such a high level of down force, it was interesting to start to understand what it is all about. The brakes were phenomenal. You can brake so, so late. I’ve never driven a car with this type of brakes, which create grip with the amount of down force which is produced.” And of Chengdu Lim says, “The Chengdu circuit layout is a real drivers circuit, very technical and I think it’ll produce some good racing.”
Fairuz Fauzy ran 19 laps this afternoon before a technical problem stranded the Malaysian car in the middle of the track and caused the session to be stopped while the car was restarted. Fauzy was towed back to the pits and the crew quickly set to work to identify the problem.
The A1GP winning driver said after his opening session of the weekend, “We had a few engine problems today. In the beginning I was getting used to the track so I took it steady. After four or five laps I started to pick up more speed, but I found that the set up was too stiff for the bumpy surface, so we made some changes and it felt more comfortable. However we didn’t have the speed of other cars and I was unsure as to why we were off the pace. It turned out that there were technical problems, so I think once we’ve sorted these we’ll be on the pace of the front runners.”
Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, summed up the day saying, “We’re pleased with Aaron’s strong start in the rookie session today. He quickly adapted to the enhanced power of the new A1GP car and started to understand the characteristics of the car and gave us some valuable feedback and data from the session. Fairuz had a small number of technical challenges which the team had to work through, so we weren’t able to make as much progress as we had hoped. We’ve got these out of the way now and will be able to focus on final preparations for qualifying and the races tomorrow.”
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Chengdu, China continues tomorrow with final practice and qualifying prior to the two races on Sunday.
