Team Ireland lead the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport after Adam Carroll took a win in the feature race and a 5th in the sprint race today in Malaysia, the third round of the World Cup of Motorsport, writes RTÉ Sport's John Kenny.
Having finished a solid 5th in the opening sprint race, Carroll dominated the feature, bringing Team Ireland's car home ahead of Portugal and the USA and now lead the championship with seven rounds and 14 races remaining
Ireland have an eight point lead with Portugal in second and are 12 points clear of France who are tied for third along with New Zealand.
Carroll started 7th on the grid for the opening sprint which featured a mandatory pit stop for the first time.
Carroll initially passed Great Britain whose car was stuck in first gear to move up to 6th and then passed Netherlands in the pits to take a solid 5th place in a race won by Neel Jani of Switzerland with France's Loc Duval finishing second ahead of Earl Bamber for New Zealand and Filipe Albuquerque of Portugal in 4th.
The Swiss however were penalised for a technical infringement and started the feature at the back of the grid, and in the end failed to finish.
Up ahead, Carroll put in a storming start to lead the early part of the race and his team elected to stay out when the first of the pit stop windows opened, pitting eventually on lap 12 and a clean stop by the crew kept Carroll ahead.
Carroll pitted again on lap 24 for new tyres and another excellent stop meant he retained the lead which he carried through to the end of the 34th lap to pass under the chequered flag well ahead of Portugal and the USA who filled the remaining places on the podium.
Ireland also took an extra point in the feature race as Carroll posted the fastest lap and now after three rounds lead Portugal in the championship by 8 points with Ireland on 43, Portugal on 35 followed by France and New Zealand in joint third place on 31 points apiece.
The fourth round of the championship takes the teams to Taupo in New Zealand on Sunday the 26 January
