Marco Andretti joins Adam Carroll Filipe Albuquerque on the Feature race podium. (LAT photo) » More Photos

New Zealand’s Earl Bamber, who started down in 15th, was making good progress, passing China’s Ho-Pin Tung around the outside of the final hairpin for eighth.

On lap 18 Mexico’s David Garza threw away 10th place by spinning while challenging Morad's Lebanon car.

Out at the front Portugal was keeping Ireland honest, with the pair putting in consistently close lap times in the blistering heat.

On lap 22, the second pit window was open and the cars began coming in. Australia’s mechanics did another superb job getting John Martin out ahead of South Africa, in what would eventually be fourth position after all the pit stops.

A1 Team Ireland kept up its reputation of being one of the best crews in the pit lane, helping their man retain a healthy lead from Portugal.

Great Britain was back in the pits again on lap 25 to fix a brake problem, getting Watts back out although six laps down, to end a disappointing day for the team with no points scored.

In the closing stages of the race Malaysia was fighting hard as Fauzy passed Lebanon to move up into 12th. Italy's Edoardo Piscopo gave away ninth place by running wide at the final hairpin and promoting Netherlands' Bleekemolen. Malaysia and Italy then had a great battle for the final point.

In a great wheel-to-wheel battle, Fauzy’s superb driving got him ahead of Piscopo to take tenth, much to the delight of the cheering crowds.

As the checkered flag came out, Ireland claimed its second victory of the season ahead of Portugal. Andretti and Australia’s Martin both put in great drives to come through the field to finish a commendable third and fourth respectively.

Carroll completed the perfect race taking the win, pole position and fastest lap to give the team an eight-point lead at the top of the championship as A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads into the Christmas break.

He said: “We were starting from pole position and I just concentrated on getting a good start, which allowed me to control the race from there. It’s a long race, the car’s heavy at the start so you just run as fast as you can and be smooth and it allowed us to open up quite a good gap.

“It’s all team work though, it doesn’t just come down to one person as everybody works extremely hard. It’s been hard for the guys to be out here since Tuesday at the circuit in this heat and humidity, but they practiced pit stops every night to make sure they did a good job.

“We planned to come here and try and come away leading the championship and we have. Winning the race is just a good bonus and I’m going to fight hard to keep it.”

Portugal’s Albuquerque said: “I achieved our goals. Actually, I went better than what we were expecting. We wanted to go to the first pit stop in third, but it was even better as we were in second. I was doing whatever I could to keep the pace, but it all needs to be perfect, and Ireland did a good pit stop and we didn’t. We are also missing one guy from our crew who’s in hospital, so I wish him the best. In the end it was good to just take the points. You cannot win every time and they were just perfect and I’m really happy with the second place. “

Andretti said: “The start was a bit of survival and I used the PowerBoost when everybody was close together and we needed the track position. The boys did a good job in the pits and then we weren’t threatened from behind, but I had nothing on these guys in front so I was just enjoying the car and Sepang. It’s a lovely circuit.”

Fauzy expressed his disappointment, saying: “Throughout the race my car was very strong, but I just suffered a few handling problems, nothing major though. The team called me in for the first pit stop, it was fine, and we went out in the same position again, with the same gap to second placed Portugal. After ten laps I was struggling with oversteer on the car. I’m not sure why – maybe the rear tire pressures were too high, or the rears had just gone. I tried to radio the team, got nothing, and then I heard, ‘Box this lap’ twice, and then, ‘Copy that’, then I pitted. When I came in I saw the team was not ready so I knew something was not right. I just had to carry on, but obviously I was very disappointed.

“Considering we had the extra pit stop it was a really good recovery, the car was very strong. If we hadn't had the pit issue, we would have had a podium easily. After the last pit stop, I was running about a second quicker. It’s tough for us all.

“At the end of the day, we win, we lose, we are one team and the most important thing is the support. The crowd showed me such support, so I was able to use this and to catch up and finish in the top 10. The most important thing is we scored one point; every point is like gold and will make a lot of difference towards the end of the season.”

With Portugal, France, and next event’s home team New Zealand close behind in the points standings, Ireland will be looking to continue its dominance when battle resumes in New Zealand on January 23-25.