With two rounds remaining in the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport A1 TeamMalaysia is riding high in the standings, not only lying sixth overall, but alsobeating all the other Asia Pacific nations.

Eight nations from the region compete in the A1GP Series andalthough New Zealand has traditionally taken top honours in the unofficial AsiaPacific points standings, this season it is Malaysia that has been the team tobeat. However with New Zealand only seven points adrift of Malaysia the fight isset to go to the wire.

Malaysia’s Asia Pacific region rival nations boasts some of themost sophisticated racing facilities such as the Shanghai circuit, fields someof the strongest driver line ups, for example, New Zealand’s Earl Bamber, whoscored podium finishes in his first outing with the team at Zandvoort last year.India’s Narain Karthikeyan, a former F1 driver, is also tough competition, whileAustralia has a long history of racing success, exemplified by seat holder andformer F1 World Champion, Alan Jones.

Current standings of the Asia Pacific nations:

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, says of theinter-nation rivalry, “We know that there is not an official Asia Pacific pointstable, but naturally we’re always keen to be top in our region. It’sparticularly satisfying to be above New Zealand in the standings as they’vebeaten us every season so far. With four races still to come it is not aforegone conclusion that we’ll stay above our close rivals, but we’ll give itour best shot.”

The overall points standings has three distinct groups at thetop. Three teams are in the running for the A1GP title, with Switzerland,Ireland and Portugal separated by only six points. Netherlands lying fourth hasan outside chance of title honours while France, Malaysia, New Zealand andAustralia are battling for fifth place in the 2008/09 Series.

Cunningham says of the title fight, “We’re in quite avulnerable position in the overall standings. Although with a clutch of pointsin the last two events we could overhaul France, who are ahead of us by threepoints, we also have New Zealand seven points behind and Australia 13 pointsadrift of us. I don’t think we’re able to predict the outcome of this battle,but one thing is certain – it will be very exciting.”

A1 Team Malaysia returns home from the Algarve, Portugal, eventthat was held at the weekend, where the team celebrated its third podium finishin the Feature race after finishing eighth in the morning Sprint race.