Loic Duval made a successful return to the A1 Team France cockpit for the latest round of A1 GP in Malaysia as he romped to a third podium in four races.
After scoring a win and a third place at the Zandvoort season opener, prior racing commitments meant Duval handed the car over to Nicolas Prost last time out in China.
Nonetheless, while they lost ground at Chengdu, Formula Nippon racer Duval put the former champions back to the front around the Sepang circuit by qualifying and finishing in second place to strengthen France's title aspirations.
However, Duval's hopes of moving the nation to the top of the standings were dealt a blow when he was struck by the British car of Danny Watts in the feature race, leading to a puncture and an unscheduled pit stop.
Although Duval fought back to 14th, it wasn't enough for him to be classified inside the points. Nonetheless, Duval is pleased to have shown the pace he needs to win this year's championship.
The A1GP regulations are designed to provide on-track excitement, so sometimes it's rather frustrating for a driver to start from far back on the grid when your pace should enable you to go for pole. This being said, the situation is the same for everybody, and it's up to us to get round the problems this poses.
Once again this weekend we showed that our performance is good enough to make us title contenders. In four races I've had three rostrum finishes so I'm not far from the top of the championship!
![Loic Duval - A1 Team France [Pic credit: A1GP]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/511231.jpg)
