Alex Yoong

**Alex Yoong**
Nation:	Malaysia
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	2001 Italian Grand Prix
Last start:	2002 Japanese Grand Prix
Constructors
	2001-2002 Minardi
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-20. ( 2002 )
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Alexander Charles "Alex" Loong Yoong (born July 20, 1976 in Kuala Lumpur ) is a Malaysian racing driver . Yoong's first sporting success came when he became a three-time Malaysian champion in water skiing.

Career

Before his involvement in Formula 1 , Yoong was active in the British Formula 3 , Formula 3000 and Formula Nippon , among others . In these series he could not achieve great success.

Yoong replaced the Brazilian Tarso Marques at Minardi as a teammate of Fernando Alonso , the future world champion in Renault, for the last three races in the 2001 Formula 1 World Championship . Two technical defects forced him to give up, in the third race, the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka , he finished 16th. In all races he started from last position - 22nd.

Alex Yoong in Formula Asia 2000 in 1994

In 2002 , the Minardi team signed Yoong for one season; his teammate was Mark Webber . The season opener went well, not least due to a mass collision at the start. Yoong finished seventh, Webber even fifth, which earned the team two points. In the second race - in his home country Malaysia - Yoong had to make an additional pit stop due to a technical defect, which cost him a whole lap. In the further course of the season it went bad for him, he could not qualify for three races; at two events he was replaced by Anthony Davidson for performance reasons , until Yoong came back with more sponsorship money, but at the end of the 2002 season he left Formula 1 entirely.

In 2003, Yoong replaced Roberto González Jr. in the US ChampCar series . , who could not deliver his sponsorship money, with the Dale Coyle Racing team . At the first appearance in Laguna Seca, he was able to achieve ninth place, ahead of stars like Jimmy Vasser , Mario Domínguez or Ryan Hunter-Reay . In the two following races he qualified in 13th, but retired early. Due to the developments in Iraq , the Malaysian sponsors then dropped out, so that Yoong had to leave the team and the series.

The two teams have been known in their respective series for using drivers who have a lot of money but not necessarily the greatest talent. Dale Coyne Racing , for example, “wore out” three more drivers over the course of the season who never appeared again in the series.

Yoong at the A1GP race weekend in Sepang 2006

From the USA he went back to Europe for prototype racing, where he tried a few endurance races. From 2005 to 2008, Yoong drove three seasons for Team Malaysia in the A1GP series. In the first season he finally succeeded in winning the sprint race in Shanghai . The team finally finished fifth overall. He was later honored with the Bruce McLaren Trophy for his achievements that season . In the 2006/2007 season, Yoong was able to achieve victories in both races in Brno and in the sprint race in Mexico City . In the end, Malaysia finished sixth overall. In his third A1GP season, Yoong and the Malaysian team were not as successful as before and finally finished 15th in the overall standings.

In March 2008 , Yoong completed the two Speedcar Series races in Sepang, Germany, but remained without points. In October he took part in test drives for the 2008/2009 GP2 Asia Series season and then drove on two race weekends for the Malaysian team Qi-Meritus Mahara .

The Malaysian racing team Lotus F1 Racing , which has been involved in Formula 1 since 2010, has signed the 33-year-old to look after the youngsters. For example, he was assigned to Nabil Jeffri as a driver coach at Eurasia Motorsport in the Formula BMW Pacific .

statistics

Career stations

1994: Formula Asia (3rd place)
1995: Formula Asia (2nd place)
1996: British Formula Renault (12th place)
1997: British Formula 3
1998: British Formula 3
1999: British Formula 3, Formula 3000 ( 1999 season )
2000: Formula Nippon ( 2000 season )
2001: Formula 1 , Formula Nippon ( 2001 season )

2002: Formula 1
2003: Champ Car ( 2003 season ) (23rd place)
2004: Australian V8 Supercars (34th place)
2006: A1GP ( 2005/2006 season ), Le Mans Series ( 2006 season ) (19th place)
2007: A1GP ( 2006/2007 season ), Le Mans Series ( 2007 season ) (15th place)
2008: A1GP ( 2007/2008 season ), Speedcar Series ( 2008 season )
2009: GP2 Asia ( 2008/2009 season ) (25th place)

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
2001	European Minardi F1	Minardi PS01	European 3.0 V10	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	26th
2002	KL Minardi Asiatech	Minardi PS02	Asiatech 3.0 V10	14th	-	-	-	-	-	-	20th
total				17th	-	-	-	-	-	-

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	15th	16	17th
2001
2001													DNF	13	14th
2002
2002	7th	DNF	13	DNQ	DNS	DNF	DNF	14th	DNF	DNQ	10	DNQ	13	DNF	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
violet	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
red	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
White	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
Light Blue	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	^P / bold	Pole position
	_SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2006	Netherlands Racing for Holland	Dome S101Hb	Netherlands Jan Lammers	Sweden Stefan Johansson	failure	accident
2007	Czech Republic Charouz Racing System	Lola B07 / 17	Czech Republic Jan Charouz	Germany Stefan Mücke	Rank 8

Web links

Commons : Alex Yoong - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Official Website of Alex Yoong (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Bruce McLaren Trophy handed over to Alex Yoong at motorsport-total.com
↑ Official: Lotus signs Yoong. motorsport-total.com, December 6, 2009, accessed January 13, 2012 .
^ AirAsia Asean Driver Development Program Launched. (No longer available online.) Eurasiamotorsport.com, archived from the original on August 4, 2015 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 .

personal data
SURNAME	Yoong, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Yoong, Alexander Charles Loong
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Malaysian Formula 1 racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH	July 20, 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kuala Lumpur

[1] Bruce McLaren Trophy handed over to Alex Yoong at motorsport-total.com

[2] Official: Lotus signs Yoong. motorsport-total.com, December 6, 2009, accessed January 13, 2012 .

[3] AirAsia Asean Driver Development Program Launched. (No longer available online.) Eurasiamotorsport.com, archived from the original on August 4, 2015 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 .