Asian Motor Sports

A1 Team Ireland star Ralph Firman took the podium in round four of the Japanese Super GT Championship for Team Honda Racing this weekend in Malaysia, taking the championship lead in the process.

Firman, the principal driver for A1 Team Ireland last season, claimed pole position and won the race despite gruelling conditions which saw his cool suit fail in the intense Sepang heat, at the same time as he was suffering from a chest infection and taking antibiotics.

But he delighted bosses and fans alike by putting in an exceptional performance in front of the 36,000-strong crowd.

“It’s fantastic to have won this race and taken the Championship lead. The Honda is good here and I was able to put it on pole by almost a second. The race was far from straightforward as both the cool-suit and radio system broke just before the start so we were reduced to pit board communication only, and on top of that I had been feeling very unwell as I had a bad chest infection all week and was on antibiotics.

“As things worked out I was able to build up a lead and Ito-san did a great job when he took over. The Nissan (Lyons/Krumm) put us under quite a bit of pressure but we held on. It’s terrific for Honda to be leading the Championship now as we’ve had a couple of races not go our way, and Bridgestone did a great job with the tyres. Now we want to get our heads down and make sure we build on this result as we want the title this year, no question.”

After four rounds of the Super GT series the Ralph Firman/Daisuke Ito Team Honda Racing ARTA Honda NSX is on 51 points, eight in front of the Team Honda Racing Takata Dome Honda NSX driven by Ryo Michigami and Takashi Kogure.