Team Brasil aiming for further points at A1GP's golden event

After a five week break, the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will recommence this weekend for the third round of the 2007/08 championship at the Sepang circuit, sixty kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.

The feature race will mark a special celebration for the series as it celebrates its 50th race. A1 Team Brasil will once again be charging Sergio Jimenez with driving duties for the weekend after the 23-year-old opened the points account for the team last time out in Brno.

The 5.54km Sepang circuit is the widest circuit on the A1GP calendar, leaving plenty of room for overtaking. However, it is also a very challenging circuit in terms of set-up due the mix of fast corners at the back of the circuit combined with the tighter nature of the rest of the track.

 A1 Team Brasil had a fruitful weekend in season one, with the team finishing fourth in the sprint race, and is aiming for further success this time out.

The Malaysian round of the championship also poses another challenge for the drivers due to the extremely hot and humid weather. A1 Team Brasil's Sergio Jimenez has already headed east to acclimatise to the conditions and today visited the Malaysian holiday island of Borneo, where he joined his racing colleagues from Teams Malaysia, Lebanon and Indonesia to visit an Orang-utan sanctuary where they learnt about the plight of the endangered animal.

Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "We are very excited to be going racing again after the long break since the last round in Brno. The team saw great improvements from the first to the second race weekend, and we are aiming to improve once again for this third round in Sepang.

We scored some points in Brno, and we need to add to that in Sepang and improve our championship position. It is great to be going back to Malaysia for the third year running. The race has proved a traditional event in our calendar, and it is a magnificent track that all the drivers enjoy. A1GP has had a lot of good news recently, and it seems appropriate that we go to one of the first tracks we visited when A1GP began to celebrate our 50th race on Sunday afternoon. I am looking forward to it being a very enjoyable weekend."

Sergio Jimenez: "I am expecting a tough race because the weather is very hot, and if it rains it will be even trickier. I only know the circuit from video games so it will be great to race on such a good circuit. As a team we need to be on the pace straight away in practice which will make our job easier for the rest of the weekend. I am

feeling good about it though, especially as we improved a lot from the first to the second race weekend. We still have a lot of improvements to make; one particular thing is that we need to work hard in qualifying so that we can be nearer the front.

I am used to the car, the series and the tyres now and we have a good race car so I am very confident for this weekend."

Friday 23 November:

11.00-12.00: Practice Session 1 (Rookies and developing nations only)

14.00-15.00: Practice Session 2

Saturday 24 November:

11.00-12.00: Practice Session 3

14.15-15.30: Qualifying

11.00-11.20: Sprint Race

15.00-16.10: Feature Race

Television Broadcast: Viewers in Brasil can watch the A1GP Malaysia round as live at 11am local time on RedeTV! on Sunday 25 November.

-Rebecca Banks, A1 Team Brasil-  photo A1GP