Scheider facing flying nightmare

The extraordinary trip is needed after it transpired that regular A1 German driver Adrian Sutil broke his thumb in his sprint race accident at the last round of the championship at Eastern Creek.

Despite racing through the pain barrier and driving in the feature race in Australia, doctors have now told the F3 Euroseries runner-up that he must allow it to heal.

So Scheider, the team's other driver, will fly to Sepang having raced for Maserati in the FIA GT championship round in Dubai on Friday.

The 27 year-old will miss the first free practice sessions on Friday, but should land in time for the final free practice session on Friday morning. Franchise holder Willi Weber says it was better to fly Scheider, who has race experience of the A1 car, than employ a new German driver.

"It certainly wasn't an easy decision to make, but it was the best solution", explained Weber. "Timo will miss two practice sessions in Sepang, but accumulated plenty of valuable experience during the first two rounds of the A1 Grand Prix series, in which he has already scored eight points for the team.

"If we had nominated a third driver, he would have started from zero in the A1 Grand Prix car. Adrian should take his time to recuperate, so that he is fully fit for his next race."

Scheider says the toughest aspect of the trip will the time difference between the two countries and the jet lag he will suffer.

"My race marathon started on Tuesday in Dubai with the three hour time difference to Germany," said Scheider. "The FIA GT race finishes on Friday at 5.00 pm, and at 8.15pm I fly to Malaysia. The overnight flight takes about seven hours. Due to the different time zones I lose another four hours between Dubai and Malaysia.

"I've practised enough on my PlayStation for the track in Sepang, which is new to me. It is very modern, has bends with blind entries and good places to overtake. I'm looking forward to the cut-and-thrust of two exciting races in which I want to score more points for A1 Team Germany."