INTERVIEW WITH DRIVERS AND TEAM DIRECTOR AFTER THE RACE

Tengku Ezan Ley, driver of Car 26

It was a challenging race as it was really hot during the day and we had some issues with the brakes that slowed us down a bit. All in all, we did make a slight mistake towards the end which costed us a bit of time, had some body damage (to the rear end of the car) and we dropped from fourth (place) to finish at fifth place. However, we managed to maintain the pace throughout the race. We are quite happy with the results, especially as it was our first race.

We came in as a new team, with no previous data - everything is new, from the car to the chassis, and it is a good result to come in at fifth place. We are definitely happy with the results, it was above our expectations. A lot of development went into this car and it has improved so much. We look forward to next year to make the car even faster.

In a race, the first thing is to start the race and then to win the race. Unfortunately we did not get a podium (finish). Fifth place is very close to podium status and we look forward to next year.

Aaron Lim, driver of Car 17

After the testing and qualifying, we knew the car had potential to win the race. We proved that with the pace the car had over a long run. It's a bit disappointing when the car had a second "stint" (return to pit) but I guess that is racing, so we just have to look forward to the next race.

We have one of the fastest lap time, if not the fastest. If the problem had not happened, I think we have a good chance to win the race for sure. Our strategy was good, but then again, until we do it, it is difficult to say. The most important thing is that we understand the car a lot better now (seeing that this is our first year). We look forward to next year with even more confidence. 

Akkbar Danial, Team Director of Honda Malaysia Racing Team

It's a debut for us for S1K. I am very happy with the results. We managed to finished the race with both cars, and the second car (Car 26) managed to go up until fifth placing. It was well above our expectations. Both the cars did absolutely great although one car had problem in between. We managed to solve it by getting some parts from other cars. This problem solving skills and thinking on their feet was evident even though we didn't have a lot training on this and the preparation was very short. They have managed to overcome the challenges faced during this race.

We saw that the team and challenging spirit is well and alive in each member today. We hope this challenging spirit will keep burning after this. We are coming back for the next race and the podium is our target!