Brands Hatch, England – May 4 2008. In the final
round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, Fairuz Fauzy
was forced to retire from a points-scoring position due
to engine problems with his Team Malaysia machine.
Racing at the historic former grand prix circuit at Brands
Hatch, Fairuz suffered a malfunction with his wiring loom
that caused a misfire and there was no option but to pull
into the pits and retire - just nine laps from the chequered
flag. Up until that point the 25-year-old was set to record
the team’s final points tally of the year in ninth
place. It was a strong run for the team having climbed
up through the field in the Feature Race from twelfth place
on the starting grid.
“Suddenly the engine cut out on the straight and
I was forced to take to the grass,” explained Fairuz. “I
was then able to bump start the car and continue, but two
laps later the engine cut-out again. It was impossible
to race so sadly we had no alternative but to stop. It’s
a shame because after we made some set-up changes the car
was a lot stronger than it had been for qualifying yesterday.”
Fairuz had taken his bright yellow machine into the points
after a storming start, but within a couple of laps the
Feature Race at Brands Hatch was soon under caution following
an accident between the Australian and Pakistan teams on
the Hawthorn Straight.
At the restart, Fairuz dived into the pits for the first
mandatory tyre stop, but failed to make any places in the
race after his crew were slowed with a sticking left rear
tyre which cost them a few seconds. However as the race
continued Fairuz took advantage of others’ misfortune
and he inherited a number of positions as both Team Ireland
and Team Germany retired.
“The car was a lot better in the race today as we
managed to dial the front end grip and subsequent oversteer
we were getting,” added Fairuz. “We were consistently
quick in the race, pulling away from the New Zealand car,
but it was just a shame that we weren’t able to get
any points as our reward.”
In the earlier, opening Sprint Race on Sunday morning
Fairuz had qualified 14th on Saturday but made a brilliant
start, racing wheel-to-wheel with the Team Australia driver
John Martin. He finally muscled his way past the Team Australia
car at Surtees to take 13th place. In a processional race
devoid of much overtaking Fairuz trailed the Czech Republic
machine driven by Filip Salaquarda.
Malaysia have ended the season in 15th place on 25 points,
but Fairuz only drove in three races in A1GP this year.
His best position for the team was fifth place on the streets
of Durban in South Africa.
Results
A1GP, Brands Hatch, Sprint Race:
1 Robbie Kerr, Great Britain, 15 laps in 19m 19.143s
2 Jonathan Summerton, USA, +1.126s
3 Adam Carroll, Ireland, +2.186s
13 Fairuz Fauzy, Malaysia, +14.354s
A1GP, Brands Hatch, Feature Race:
1 Narain Karthikeyan, India, 48 laps in 1h 07m 24.691s
2 Robbie Kerr, Great Britain, +1.078s
3 Neel Jani, Switzerland, +8.725s
DNF Fairuz Fauzy, Malaysia, +9 laps
Points
1 Switzerland 168
2 New Zealand 127
3 Great Britain 126
15 Malaysia 25
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