SEPANG – Malaysia’s former Formula One (F1) driver Alex Yoong said that the qualifying position will not matter when Round 2 of the Malaysian Championship Series (MCS) flags off tomorrow.
Partnering with Daniel Rein Ooi in Axle Sports’ car number 21, Alex will be racing in the Stock Production 2 V (cars below 1,600cc) category in Race 1 at Sepang International Circuit.
Alex and Daniel qualified second for Race 1 tomorrow with a time of 2:45:383s, 0.011s behind pole sitters Tan Wooi Loon and Justin Toh Cheng Kiat.
“Yeah, qualifying was good... it went smoothly.
“I only planned to do one lap, because we wanted to give Daniel some more laps as this is his first time driving the car this weekend.
“We always try to win. I mean for me it does not matter too much if we qualify first, second, third, or fourth because we are in the old Suzuki Swift Z31, so we are going to get overtaken by everyone at the start,” said the former Minardi F1 driver.
Alex said the duo will try to get their positions back in the race by being faster through the corners and overtaking other drivers.
But after winning the first round in May, the Axle Sport car will be at a weight handicap.
The MCS uses a “championship success ballast” weight handicap system where the top three drivers from the previous round will have to carry extra weight in their car in the next round.
The first position will have 30kg added to their car, the second 20kg, and the third 10kg.
“We won Round 1. We are running with an extra 30kg now and that is costing us a bit of lap time.
“But the qualifying does not matter, it is all about the racing because a lot can happen in a one-hour race. But for sure the racing will be a lot of fun tomorrow. There will be cars everywhere,” he added.
Meanwhile, Daniel was happy with the set-up of the car in qualifying.
“Qualifying was good. Everyone is behaving themselves so there was good space, good traction, and good control of the car.
“Everything was set up very well, so yeah I’m quite happy with the set-up of the car,” he said.
There was a bit of rain in free practice before qualifying began, but Daniel said that it did not affect his performance.
“The rain came about during free practice, so it did not affect the qualifying. The track was quite dry already when qualifying started.
“Our strategy tomorrow is to be consistent and get the win for the class,” he said. – The Vibes, June 23, 2023
