Zoom A dominant run from Adam Carroll

A1 Team Ireland became the first nation to score two victories this season, as Adam Carroll dominated the Sepang Feature race in Malaysia. Filipe Albuquerque took an excellent second place for Portugal while Marco Andretti finished a great third for the USA from eighth on the grid. Ireland now leads the championship heading into the Christmas break.

As the lights went out, Adam Carroll got a clean start from pole position to lead the pack into the first corner. Daniel Morad got a brilliant start from third, capitalising on Lebanon’s best ever grid slot to move ahead of a slow starting Danny Watts for Great Britain in second.

In an eventful first lap, Netherlands and India collided with Narain Karthikeyan spinning into retirement. A good start from Portugal helped Albuquerque move from fifth to third into turn one, before Albuquerque moved ahead of Lebanon for second. Switzerland then spun, resulting in the safety car being deployed at the end of lap one to allow the marshals time to pick up both the Swiss and Indian cars from dangerous places.

A couple of laps later and the race was back on, with Ireland leading from Portugal, Lebanon, Malaysia, Great Britain, Netherlands, USA and France.

Monaco’s race ended early as Clivio Piccione pitted with technical problems. Boosted by his home crowds, Malaysia’s Fairuz Fauzy made a move around the outside of Morad to grab fourth. Great Britain’s Watts then began putting pressure on Lebanon as he tried to make up for his bad start. Watts made a move but the pair ran wide allowing Netherlands and the USA to get through. Brazil dived up the inside of a recovering Watts, but France, to the right of him, chopped across in front taking off the British car’s nose and leaving France with a puncture. The order at the front was now Ireland from Portugal, Malaysia, Netherlands, USA, Lebanon, China and Brazil.

On lap eight the first pit window opened and Malaysia was first in, followed by Netherlands, USA, China and Lebanon. China had a fantastic stop which got it out ahead of both USA and Lebanon. Portugal pitted on the next lap as Ireland remained out in front, still putting in consistently quick lap times. Marco Andretti in the USA car was now piling the pressure on China, eventually making his move stick around the outside of the hairpin at turn nine. With a 15-second lead, Ireland pitted with another fantastic stop from the Irish crew, getting Carroll back out comfortably at the front.