Estoril: Fairuz Fauzy summary

CHAMPAGNE MOMENT FOR FAIRUZ IN PORTUGAL

Cram Competition's Fairuz Fauzy was delighted to spray the celebratory champagne after he took his third podium of the season with a terrific third place finish in the latest World Series Formula Renault 3.5 race at Estoril, in Portugal today.

The Malaysian racer heads to the final meeting of the year in Barcelona next weekend full of confidence following two strong results on the Iberian Peninsula with his podium, adding to his eighth place from Saturday.

"This is such a great result for myself and all the Cram team," said Fairuz. "I'm absolutely delighted, this is a fantastic culmination of a weekend of hard work. We've been on the pace at Estoril, particularly in the collective testing on Thursday and Friday and we had a car that was capable of a very strong result. We've done that, got more points on the board and everybody is looking forward to the season finale for another top result."

After a storming start, Fairuz spent the majority of the 27 laps at the former grand prix circuit in third place, following ultimate winner Milos Pavlovic and Clivio Piccione. In the early stages, Fairuz conserved his tyres while the top two scrapped for the lead. Then at mid-distance he started to put pressure on Piccione ahead of him. But the Monegasque started to block Fairuz and was shown a 'driving standards' warning flag by the stewards of the meeting.

"He blocked me on the straight so I backed off, then I had another chance to overtake him, but he squeezed me again. That's when the team told me he had been shown a warning flag," explained Fairuz. "I was about attack again when the car picked up a vibration. It wasn't because I had flat-spotted the tyre under braking, but it might have been a problem with the wheel balance. Anyway, after that I wasn't so confident attacking with the car, so decided it was better to ensure I finished -- because it was a podium position."

After 40 minutes of racing, Fairuz finished the 27 laps just six seconds behind the winner and just one second behind Piccione. It was a measured drive from the Cram ace who's got his sights aimed at another podium in a week's time in Barcelona, Spain. "It's been a very strong weekend and it's once again proved we have the speed to be competitive in the World Series by Renault. I can't wait to get racing again next weekend!"

-credit: fairuzfauzy.com