Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
11/23/2008
Sepang, Malaysia
Carroll leads en route to his Feature race victory for Team Ireland. (LAT photo)
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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, Carroll got a clean start from pole position to lead the pack into the first corner. Daniel Morad got a brilliant start from third, capitalizing 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 1, 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’s car 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 great stop which got it out ahead of both USA and Lebanon. Portugal pittted on the next lap as Ireland remained out in front, still putting in consistently quick lap times.
Andretti in the USA car was now piling the pressure on China’s Ho Pin Tung, eventually making his move stick around the outside of the hairpin at Turn 9.
With a 15-second lead, Team Ireland pitted and got another fantastic stop from the Irish crew, getting Carroll back out comfortably at the front.
Netherland’s Jeroen Bleekemolen, was in fourth when he received a drive-through penalty for the first-lap collision with Karthikeyan, which was deemed avoidable, dropping him down the field to a disappointing 14th. Australia’s John Martin passed Tung down the main straight and then started attacking Adrian Zaugg, whose South African team had got him out quickly in the pit stops.
After the first round of pit stops Ireland had a five-second lead over Portugal, Malaysia, USA, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, China, Lebanon and New Zealand.
Lebanon’s Morad made a mistake through Turns 7 and 8 and ran wide, losing a further two places to drop him down to 11th.
On lap17, from third position, home favorite Fairuz Fauzy confused his team and the watching crowds by diving into the pit lane unexpectedly. A communications glitch meant he received a radio call, that only he heard, to pit that was from another team. His bemused team sent him straight off, but the time lost cost him a potential podium and dropped the Malaysian to 14th.
The USA’s Andretti was now promoted to third. After being involved in a huge startline crash earlier in the day; the 21-year-old was back on track with the help of Korea’s rear wing as the Korean team didn’t make either race due to technical problems that couldn’t be resolved after qualifying.
