2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Malaysia
The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Malaysia was an A1 Grand Prix race held at Sepang International Circuit, Sepang, Malaysia. Pre-race Because Great Britain, India and Mexico had only joined the season at the Chinese round, they were permitted to take part in a special practice session on November 20. In the wet conditions, Narain Karthikeyan was the fastest driver just in front of Danny Watts. Davíd Garza Pérez was the slowest with 3 seconds. Drivers Qualifying The qualifying sessions were the first to utilise the new "joker" Qualifying lap rule – where the driver has PowerBoost available for use over an entire qualifying lap, to be used in any session at the team's discretion. (1) : Australia received a two-place grid penalty for the Sprint race for using a non-approved part in practice. Sprint Race Following a major crash at the first start, involving USA, Brazil and India, and the pack slowed down after it seemed to have accelerated off, the race was delayed 30 minutes for track cleanup, and reduced to 11 laps. This Sprint Race was the first this season to utilise the new Sprint Race pit-stop rule, the windows always set for Laps 4–8. Race