Malaysia tops Donington test Day 2

Trouble free was the best way to describe the second day of testing at Donington Park with the new A1GP World Cup of Motorsport Powered by Ferrari cars. Heavy rain interrupted day one on Tuesday, but today was much drier with the cars covering a total of 466 laps of the 2.5-mile circuit between them and also beating the circuit’s 15-year-old track record.  

The honor of going faster than the lap record went to A1 Team Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy who continued where he left off on Tuesday on top of today’s timesheets. The 25-year-old, who has competed in ten races for his nation with fifth in South Africa this year being his best result, was the driver who was faster than the time set by Ayrton Senna in the 1993 Grand Prix of Europe.

“It was great today, the team did a good job to get the car together with no problems," Fauzy said. “Today we did a lot of laps and the more we do, the more data we are collecting. To finish fastest today and beat the lap record is a real achievement but we still need to work hard and I am looking forward to Zandvoort." A1 Team Netherlands was in action with Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Dutch car.

“The level of downforce and brakes are a lot better than before," said Bleekemolen. “The power doesn’t seem much greater but I think that is due to the fact we have a lot more downforce now. I don’t think the top speed will be a lot higher but lap times will be a lot faster because of both the downforce and brakes." John Martin also put in a good performance for A1 Team Australia, with the team announcing him as its main driver for the 2008/09 season.

Adrian Zaugg continued the testing programme for A1 Team South Africa while Edoardo Piscopo and Euro F3000 championship leader Fabio Onidi both had time in the A1 Team Italy car. Chris van der Drift, who competed in and was quickest in the rookie session at the Season Three finale at Brands Hatch, took to the track for A1 Team New Zealand.