» Fauzy hoping for more appearances, and a race seat?

Following his successful debut for Lotus in the opening practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix, the team’s test and reserve driver Fairuz Fauxy is hoping that this will act as the first of many more such appearances for the team.

Of course, the Kuala Lumpur-born driver is hoping he’ll have the chance to showcase his skills in a real race environment as well!

"It’s a bit difficult as we can’t test, but if there’s a chance to drive on Fridays, it’s better than nothing," Fauzy said to AUTOSPORT. "You’re driving in a real situation, in a real weekend, in a Formula 1 environment.

"I think that’s very important because at the end of the day you can measure where you are, and then you can improve. I hope I get the opportunity to do that at the coming races."

And should illness, injury or misadventure strike the team’s regular drivers – Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli – Fairuz knows that his opportunity to race will materialise, albeit in unfortunate circumstances.

"This is my first opening for my career in Formula 1," Fauzy added. "I’ll just keep myself prepared, and you never know if there will be a chance for me to drive in a race weekend."

"Tony [Fernandes] mentioned that I might be driving in one of the races this year so we’ll see how it goes – I think it would be great," 27-year-old Fairuz added.

The 27-year-old added that driving in an official F1 session on home soil was an amazing experience.

"To be [driving] at my home grand prix is a fantastic feeling for me," he said. "The last time I drove here was in A1GP, and also in GP2 Asia.”

[Original image via GP Update]