Alex Yoong - Early Career

Early Career

His early racing career started in saloon cars in 1992 when he was 16. Yoong became the youngest driver in Malaysian motorsport history and moved into a one-make Proton series. He secured his first pole and win in his fourth role and ended up winning two out of five races. In late 1992, Yoong took up saloon racing and took a Toyota Corolla to the Macau Grand Prix and finished third in the 160cc class in the Guia race. Eventually, Yoong moved up into a 400 horsepower DTM-spec BMW and was the most powerful saloon in the region. Moving up into Formula Asia International Championship in 1994, Yoong took several podium finishes before claiming his first win in the season-ending rount at Zhuhai in China. This result led to Yoong to go a title challenge in 1995. He had won the Malaysian national crown, but the contential championship campaign was far less successful; producing eight wins and finishing second in the championship missing out by two points. Within the same year, Yoong assisted in the filming of Jackie Chan's racing film Thunderbolt at Shah Alam which led to Chan describing him as a "very good racing driver". Yoong was contacted by Paul Stewart to test a Formula Vauxhall car before he gained the opportunity to test a Formula Renault Sport machine at Donington Park and Snetterton for the Startline Racing team.

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