Malaysia rue 'inexplicable' radio glitch

Fairuz Fauzy had been running third in yesterday's event until making his second pit stop before the pit window opened. He consequently had to pit again and tumbled back into the midfield, only managing to salvage a point for 10th with a last lap pass.

The Malaysian driver was adamant that he had been called into the pit, but the team now believe that he had actually picked up another squad's radio transmission.

"The team called me in for the first pit stop, it was fine, and we went out in the same position again, with the same gap to second placed Portugal," Fauzy said.

"After ten laps I was struggling with over steer on the car, I'm not sure why - maybe the rear tyres pressures were too high, or the rears had just gone. I tried to radio the team, got nothing, and then 'box this lap, box this lap', and then 'copy that', then I boxed.

"When I came in I saw the team was not ready so I knew something was not right. I just had to carry on, but obviously I was very disappointed."

Team boss Jack Cunningham felt they had been extremely unlucky.

"The feature race radio problem is nearly inexplicable, and has to be put down as outright bad luck," he said.

Fauzy is certain that he would have taken a podium finish but for the phantom pit visit.

"Considering we had the extra pit stop it was a really good recovery, the car was very strong," he said.

"I think if we hadn't had the pit issue, we would have had a podium. After the last pit stop, I was running about a second quicker. It's tough for us all."