A1 Grand Prix in KL 2006

We knew that it would be a long day. We watched the 1st A1 Grand Prix when we were here in KL last year that's why we know. But this time, we couldn't get any transportation from friends, most of them were not really interested. So we had to leave the hotel at 8AM today and walked to KLCC's LRT station. We needed to catch the free shuttle ride from Bangsar's LRT station at 9AM. We reached Sepang at 10AM and we were already watching the A1 Sprint Race at the Grand Stand at 11AM. It was a hot day, but I loved it. I seldom could get sun these days, weather has been unpredictable. After the 1st race, we had lunch. There were a few food stalls but we chose Burger King. It was definitely a loooong wait in between the 2 races: Sprint & Feature. There were a few parades of some cars and the drivers right before the Feature Race which warmed things up a bit. Before the Feature Race, we saw some Shangri-La staff in the crowd and we joined them. It was definitely fun to be there and to feel the excitement. What made it more exciting and funny was this guy sitting on the last row (we were on the 4th row of the lower deck, right infront of the Malaysian Team's garage), who kept shouting funny comments which kept us entertained while waiting for the race to start. It started to rain so hard as well, making it a very exciting race. The race was delayed for 15 minutes. But sad for Alex Yoong, Malaysian Team driver, who did his very best, starting as a 4th place, but had problems during the first part of the race when it was still raining. Heard that he had problems with the tyre, like it had too much pressure on it or whatever. What do I know about it?!?

As what I said last year, the patriotism of the Malaysian people was so touching and something one can be proud of. It's like an hour when Malaysian gather together to have one goal - support their team. I'm a Filipino but for that special moment, I felt like a proud Malaysian, too. It was truly an overwhelming experience.

But because we were worried with the traffic jam once the race ends, we made sure that we were already on the bus before 5PM. The tread from the circuit to the parking lot was around 10-15 minutes. Which means we left the circuit a lap earlier. Anyway, we already knew that Alex Yoong wouldn't be able to make it on the podium. But he did really good. I wasn't interested who was going to win, I don't know anyone except for Alex Yoong.

Thanks to Big O and Jack of A1 Team Malaysia for another great opportunity!

NOTE: Photos already uploaded. Check them out at www.pbase.com/saritajc/kl06.

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