Thursday March 14th, 2002

Minardi driver Alex Yoong is looking forward to this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix, where he will race in front of his home crowd for the first time.

26-year old Yoong made his Formula One debut at last year's Italian Grand Prix after replacing Brazilian Tarso Marques at Minardi, and he became the first Malaysian to drive a Grand Prix car.

Now Yoong says Sunday's race will be very special for him, but he is trying to be focused and get his job done.

"It's going to be very special this weekend," said Yoong in a press conference ahead of the Grand Prix. "There's a lot of expectation here in Malaysia, but I am just going to treat it like any other Grand Prix.

"At every race, the team's going to give 100 per cent and I'm going to give 100 per cent. Just take it one step at a time really and try not to get too distracted."

Yoong finished in a promising seventh place at the season opening Australian Grand Prix, two places behind teammate Mark Webber, who gave Minardi their first points since 1999. The Malaysian driver says the new Asiatech-powered PS02 is capable of doing even better.

"I think the car has got a lot of potential," Yoong added. "We haven't had a chance to do any set up work on it yet and it's quite a big step forward from last year's car. It's reached the stage now that it's producing so much more downforce than last year's car, that we're actually struggling to use it because we don't have a power steering system.

"That's on-line, hopefully for Imola, maybe even in Brazil, and as far as I'm concerned, it can't come soon enough."

Published at 12:49:20 GMT