Formula Asia 2.0 Series - Superb ARTtrick

At Bira International Circuit, Ryan Booth, Rio Haryanto and Yoshitaka Kuroda wrote a piece of Asia Racing Team (ART) Motorsports’ history after scoring a remarkable 1-2-3 in Race 2 of Formula Asia 2.0 – the best result ever for the team in a championship race.

The successful weekend started on Qualifying. For the first time in the season 2008 ART Motorsports conquered the Pole-Position. In Saturday’s qualifying, Kuroda set a blistering pace and beat last month’s pole time by almost half second. The team’s good performance was followed by Booth’s 3rd position. Recently crowned Indonesian Junior Class Karting Champion Haryanto had a less fortunate morning, and started from 6th.

The Race 1 was held under wet conditions following a heavy shower right before the start of the race. Kuroda did a good start and managed to keep the 1st position when he was hit from the back twice at lap 4. An inexcusable behaviour by a professional driver led to his DNF. The Stewards of the Meeting would punish the driver with 30 seconds penalty but it won’t avoid the Japanese ace loss. After a non-profitable move on lap 1 Booth made good progress from his initial lap 6th to end up in 2nd. One by one the American driver managed to overtake the four opponents in front of him. The 15-years old had his personal revenge from the past meeting when he also showed his form when he claimed second but was given a 30-second penalty at the end of the race for a false start. Haryanto hadn’t a bright start and spun on lap 3. Fortunately the youngest driver in the series did a very good second half of the race and managed to cross the line in 4th.

In the Asia Drivers Cup, Haryanto managed to secure the 2nd position.

The race director decided to have the Race 2 started behind Safety Car as the heavy rainfall deteriorated the driving conditions but the ART Motorsports trio kept self-motivation high and started moving forward on the way to success. Booth couldn’t catch up the Championship points leader Felix Rosenqvist in the first couple of laps but he would wait for his opponent mistake to take the lead. As soon as he got the 1st position, with no imminent threat from second-placed, the talented driver from Florida was untouchable until the end of the race. The first victory of Booth was the first victory of the year for ART Motorsports. Haryanto used the Race 1 wet experience to have a trouble-free Race 2. The young Indonesian returned to the Bira circuit’s podium and now moves ahead into 5th place in the standings. Kuroda had to work his way past crossed the line 3rd in the closing stages from coming back from 6th in the grid. The Japanese has bravely resisted enormous pressure from an opponent until the final corner.

The Asia Drivers Cup was an uncomplicated 1-2 for ART with Haryanto at the top.

The championship battles will resume in two month time when Formula Asia 2.0 heads to China on November 1/2 at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Drivers Comments:

#18 Ryan Booth : “It means much to finally get this win. In Race 1 Felix and Yoshi squeezed me in so I had nowhere to go in the third corner of the first lap. I went last and just drove as hard as I could to try and get up to 1st but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way. Anyway the 2nd position was very good too. In Race 2 I couldn’t catch up Felix at the rolling start but he did a mistake and I end up in the front. Rio was not in my mirrors and I decided to not take any avoidable risk in the tricky wet-dry conditions. I’d like to congratulate the whole team, the mechanics and my engineer, thanks to whom today’s result was possible.”

#20 Yoshitaka Kuroda : “It was pity what happened in Race 1 but I never give up and this just shows what determination does for you. I started Race 2 very fired up and I did my best. The team always gives me a great car for the races and we’ve shown in the past that we can fight back from positions such as this.”


#22 Rio Haryanto : “The Race 1 was quite difficult for me because I have never raced in this wet conditions before. I spun twice but I managed to get back twice. So I came out today and tried to correct those mistakes. Race 2 result was much better. I saw Yuki and Felix doing mistakes and I just had to get my head down. It’s good to be going to the two final rounds on a positive note.”

ART Motorsports

ATCS - Kano Takes Morning Win While Kajohnsak Takes Season Ender Win

Masaki Kano takes his second win of the season during the penultimate race of the Asian Touring Car Series 2008 season. The Japanese driver climbed up the ranks from the reverse grid order to finish the race in 23:21.057, ahead of Eric Yeo and Man Ting Yu.

The stage was set for a dramatic race with the reverse grid order leaving Adrian Henry D’Silva taking pole next to Man Ting Yu at the start of the race. D’Silva got off the line well to lead the race for the first lap before being overtaken by Yeo and Man and was chased by the fast climbing Kano. Lap by lap Kano began to make his way past Man and then Yeo to take the lead by lap 3. From there the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver did not look back and kept up a blistering pace all the way to the chequered flag.

“I started in sixth and tried to take one driver by one driver. I took my time because it is a 20-lap race so I had plenty of time to make my move. I did slow my pace a little towards the middle of the race just to maintain my pace and the race lead”.

Behind him the drama unfolded when fifth placed starter, Kajohnsak Na Songkla overtook Danny Stacy Chau and Man Ting Yu before he began to put pressure on D’Silva and Yeo at the start. But Kajohnsak made a mistake and spun off the track only to rejoin the race at the end of the pack. This left Yeo up in second while Man managing to maintain his third place from lap 5 onwards.

“I had a good start in front of Man Ting Yu. Then when I looked back I saw Kajohnsak who was on my back for most of the way. After that I managed to open up a gap to Man and maintained that gap all the way to the chequered flag”.

Towards the end of the race, Man was pressured by his Team IMSP teammate, Danny Chau, who managed to climb back up to fourth after a tense battle with Akekaluk Ditjareoan.

It was a good clean start to the second and final race of the season where local up and coming touring car driver, Kajohnsak Na Songkla took the win in front of his home supporters, ahead of Adrian Henry D’Silva and Danny Stacy Chau.

Kajohnsak had a brilliant start climbing up to second from third early on in the race. Then he managed to avoid the incident between Eric Yeo and Danny Chau to claim the lead. He then managed to stay clean all the way, keeping up a good strong pace all the way to the chequered flag.

“I started in third and got up to second fairly easily, then I just drover around taking care of my car for the first few laps before I was passed again dropping me down to third. After that, I thought I’d take it easy, it was a long race. Then there was the accident, and after that it was a smooth and easy race.

Behind him, there was a battle for second with D’Silva, Man Ting Yu and Danny Chau. The trio changed positions throughout much of the race where in the end, D’Silva took second ahead of Danny Chau while Man finished third ahead of Frank Yee, Ao Chi Hong, Eric Yeo, Lai Kit Man and Lei Chong Seng.

“At the start, I just followed the crowd. Then the two cars in front of me spun. Then Eric had a drive through penalty, leaving it just between me and Man Ting Yu fighting. After that I just took Man and of course I also had pressure from Danny as well.

“The three of us changed positions several times and in the end I managed to hold through right to the end to finish second” said D’Silva during the post race press conference.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Limited

ATCS - Kano Win from Pole

It was a good clean race right from the start on the drying Bira Circuit where returning Asian Touring Car Series 2007 Champion (Division 2) Masaki Kano, took his first pole to flag win this year. The Japanese driver took a year-long break from racing to concentrate on work and was immediately on form to claim the win for Liqui Moly Team Engstler in the absence of Jack Lemvard.

Kano crossed the line in 23:26.581 to claim first 25.879 seconds ahead of Thai’s touring car driver Kajohnsak Na Songkla and Hong Kong driver Danny Stacy Chau. “Just before the race there was rain which caused a little bit of a headache as we had to decide whether to run on wet or dry tyres. In the end, we decided to go ahead on slicks. In the first four laps, it was still quite wet but after that the circuit dried out a little more which allowed me to make full use of the slicks. After that it was quite easy to drive” said Kano during the post race press conference.

“I’m happy to be back in the Asian Touring Car Series. Last year when we did the series, we did not visit Bira so it was a new experience for me. Being able to claim the win made me really happy. I have to thank my team, the engineers and the mechanics for a great job” he added. It was a good clean start as all drivers were weary of the still wet track from a heavy shower an hour before the race started. Kano, with the more powerful BMW immediately pulled away from the pack leaving Danny Chau to fend off the charges of Malaysian Eric Yeo and Kajohnsak.

Danny Chau then pulled a little bit of a gap when Yeo and Kajohnsak battled for third for seven laps changing positions twice before the Thai driver managed to get pass Yeo again at the last turn of lap 8. From there Yeo started to suffer from a slipping clutch and maintained his pace until the end of the race to gain the best result possible to collect vital Championship points.

Kajohnsak then quickly picked up his pace to chase Danny Chau and was beginning to put pressure on the Team IMSP driver. On lap 18, Kajohnsak who was then right on Danny Chau’s tail, saw an opportunity at the first chicane and carried enough speed to take the inside lines to overtake Danny Chau. He held on to second place all the way to the chequered flag.


Kajohnsak says “I had a good start. I managed to get past Eric Yeo and was behind Danny for half of the race. Danny was driving really well and I only managed to get a chance at the second last lap at the first chicane. I carried a little bit more speed on the exit than Danny and I was lucky that he opened up a little gap where I could get through. I would like to thank Danny for a great race today and I had a really nice battle with him”. “It was a bit of a gentlemen driving.

Kajohnsak is faster and has better knowledge of the circuit and he is much younger, so I had to give a gap for him to get past me” said Danny Chau with a laugh. “It was slightly slippery on the first three laps so everyone was cautious, but by the fourth lap, everyone was driving full force, as can be seen on the lap times”. Yeo finished the race in fourth, ahead of Danny Chau’s teammate, Man Ting Yu and fellow Malaysian Adrian Henry D’Silva.


Thai driver Akekaluk Ditjareoan finished seventh ahead of Frank Yee, Lai Kit Meng and Lei Chong Seng. Malaysian driver Harry Chai, who had troubles from the start with his gearbox, was not classified while Ao Chi Hong only completed 11 laps before retiring in his pit. The Asian Touring Car Series continues on Sunday, 7th September with Rounds 11 & 12 at Bira Circuit.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd

Lemvard Stuns Germans with ADAC Procar Series Win

First time ADAC Procar Series participant, Jack Lemvard, stunned his German counterparts when he took the winning trophy at last weekend’s ADAC Procar Series at Oschersleben, Germany. The Asian Touring Car Series driver took to the wheel of Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s team owner, Franz Engstler’s BMW 320i E46 and placed it third on the starting grid for race 1.

“I got Franz Engstler`s car from last year, the champion car from ATCS in 2006, and ADAC Procar 2006 so the car was really good. We had 2 practice sessions, I’ve never been to this track before, I only played it on Playstation so everything was new to me. I didn’t have much time to learn the new track so, I walked it a couple of times to try learn it and looked at past race data. At the first practice session I was the fastest out of 35 cars and everyone was like who is this guy?” said Lemvard with a laugh.

“During the second practice my tires finished so we didn't get a good time and qualifying was not so good either because there were 35 cars out at the same time. I only managed to get 1 clear lap giving me 3^rd”.

The Thai driver got off to a brilliant race 1 start and took the lead into the first turn before getting a slight nudge by the Honda Accord of Peter Rikli behind him leaving Lemvard to go a little wide allowing Rikli to pass. Lemvard then chased him for five laps before out-braking him to reclaim the lead. From there, Lemvard had to defend his position from his fast charging teammate, Stefan Neuberger, and he held on for the remaining laps to claim the chequered flag.

“I got a perfect start. As we went into the first corner I was first, but then the Honda behind hit me in the back, and I went wide so he passed me back. After that I followed him, and on lap 5 I out braked him coming into the first corner and from then on I just stayed in first place all the way till the chequered flag. But it was tough because I had to fend off my teammate, who was faster than I was in this race so, I defended my lines for 8 laps”.

But things were not over as the first race only determines the starting grid of the second race and as Lemvard crossed the line in the first race, his engine ceased. The crew worked tirelessly and quickly for the next 10 minutes to put the car back on the grid.

“On the last lap after the chequered flag the BMW broke down! So it took a really long time for me to get it to the pits. They have different rules here, you are not allowed to touch the car until told so, and repair time is only 15 minutes. When our car got back we had 10 minutes left to change something that normally would take 1 hour, but we managed to do it in 8 minutes. Even our WTCC drivers, Franz Engstler and Andrei Romanov helped out, changing tires. It was amazing to have 20 people working on 1 car at the same time”.

The team’s efforts were rewarded when Lemvard made a brilliant start at the second race and held onto the lead to claim a pole to flag win, his first in the ADAC Procar Series.

“I really have to thank the team for preparing such a fast car! We have everything on video and it looks amazing. I started first, got a perfect start, and held my position into the first corner, then I pulled around 2 tenths of a second per lap on the 2nd placed driver, and after 10 laps I had a 5 second lead. Then I decided I didn’t need to push anymore and just cruised to victory. This is the first time a Thai driver has won in Germany and everyone was so surprised that an Asian driver did so well. On the podium, when the Thai National Anthem was playing, it was beautiful. It was the end of a perfect weekend”.

Prepared by Jack Lemvard

Avila lifts ASCC 2008 crown

Macanese driver Rodolfo Avila has secured the ASCC’s title following a double 3rd place finish in the latest event of the season at Sepang. Avila did what he needed to do in Malaysia to become the first Macau driver to claim a GT championship title.
The challenge the 21 years old driver faced before the start was not as simple as all that. Qualifying session saw Avila’s times being excluded due to underweight of the car. Nevertheless Avila motivation was always up to the challenge.

Mastercar Italy driver started from the back of the grid to conquer an amazing 3rd position after 10 outstanding laps around Sepang. Needing only to finish in the points to be crowned champion, Race 2 saw Avila produced an assured drive in tricky conditions to end the season with a comfortable margin over the second despite a tremendous scare when he has been touched by another car on the first start and considerably damaged the rear of his Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge.

With the ASCC drivers' title now secured, Macau SAR official driver was understandably pleased with the result.

"It's just fantastic!" he said. "Finishing third twice after such a tough weekend means a lot to me. We always believed we would succeed, even if during these two days I felt someone was trying to take my title in the secretary. I am pleased and very happy to earn ASCC title. It is very special to me. This was my first year to race in GT cars, and so many people helped me with my learning curve. The team has always been there for me, and I would to thank them very much. I want to say a special thanks to my family, to Macau, Macau Government, Macau-slot.com, BNU, TsingTao Beer, Fat Siu Lau Restaurant, RP Macau and Sujika Crafts. They knew from the beginning that we could claim this title today”.

The new ASCC Champion is now looking forward Macau GP in the end of the year. Avila expects to announce his program for the most important race of the year in the next few weeks.

Asia Supercar Challenge at MME

Twenty one of the most luxurious supercars ever seen will be lining up on the grid at the Sepang International Circuit on the 28^th and 29 August 2008. The Asia Supercar Challenge is returning to the circuit as part of the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race weekend, giving spectators a chance to witness one of the most expensive GT grids seen in Asia.

The return of the Series to Sepang will see more drivers competing in Rounds 6 and 7 as a support event. Team Porsche Club Singapore with two Porsche Carrera Cup Asia drivers, Mok Weng Sun and David Lai, will compete with Porsche 997 Cup S and 997 GT3 Cup. The 997 Cup S is one of the two units available in SE Asia, whilst the other car is owned by Tunku Hamman Sulong, who competed in Rounds 1-3 in ASCC earlier this year, wining two rounds that weekend.

Another driver signed on to drive during the event is Nick Thomas, an experienced race driver, with many years driving in Porsche race cars. Thomas knows the Sepang circuit well and will compete in a 996 GT3 3.9L in Class A, and will be a dark horse not to be ignored.

Joining the ranks of drivers to watch is Michael Lai, a long time member of the Supercar Club HK, who will be competing in a Porsche 996 GT3 Cup.

Rounds 6 & 7 of the Asia SuperCar Challenge are the final rounds of this year’s championship, and the top three drivers Rodolfo Avila (Team Mastercar), Sam Yau (Team Sarasin SPS) and Siu Yuk Lung (Team SPS) are all looking to claim the coveted Championship win.

The MME race is one of the premier motorsport events in Malaysia and SE Asia. Over 100 cars will enter the event with a maximum of 77 race cars allowed to start in four different categories. The endurance race will begin at 11:00 on Saturday, ending at 23:00 using the Rolling Start format.

This year, many Hong Kong drivers have signed on to compete in the 12-hour endurance event, including several ASCC drivers. The LKM Racing Team will be there with their Porsche 996 GT3 Cup, with the Siu brothers, Siu Tit Lung and Siu Yuk Lung, being joined by Japanese driving sensation and former Porsche Carrera Cup Asia driver Keita Sawa.

Hong Kong Racing Team will also be represented there with a pair of New Aston Martin N24’s being managed by veteran race engineer Barry Forth. The first car will be driven by Philip Ma, Samson Chan and Steven Chian while the second car will be helmed by Frank Yu, Michael Choi and Domenico Schiattarella.

Team Porsche Club Singapore with Mok Weng Sun in a brand new Porsche 997 RSR with Australian and Hong Kong Top drivers as his teammates, will also be a strong contender for the event.

Prepared by Asia Supercar Challenge

ATCS - Lucky Lemvard Seals Championship

It was another hot Pattaya afternoon as the cars lined up on the grid for Round 9 of the Asian Touring Car Series where Jack Lemvard sealed the win for the Asia Cup Championship today.

The Thai driver drove a perfect weekend race to clinch the title three races ahead of the season closer. Lemvard was ecstatic with the result and fought hard for the win after lining up in sixth on the grid from the reverse grid order. The Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver had to fight his way through a five way battle ahead of him before finally passing the car of Malaysian Eric Yeo on lap 3 and then the cars of Adrian Henry D’Silva and Harry Chai at the end of the lap.

Then for the next two laps Lemvard played catch up to Chen Jun San who had managed to find his way past the trio almost at the start of the race. By lap five Lemvard was poised to make his move and drove nose to tail with Chen at the end of the lap and by the start/finish straight Lemvard powered on to take the lead at the end of turn 1.

“Thank you to the team again for the great work on the car. It has been a perfect weekend for us. Now we don’t even have to race the last two races to win the Championship, but of course we wouldn’t do that to the sponsors” said Lemvard with a laugh.

“I started in sixth today and it was really crazy. The first four to five cars were fighting it out and I think Sun managed to get ahead of the pack. I tried to catch everyone but it was really difficult because they were fighting. I tried inside but they closed the door then I managed to pass Eric around the first corner then two more cars then at the next two laps I caught Sun and passed him as well. After that I continued to lead. It was really tough and it was really hot out there and with no power steering it was hard on the shoulders”.

Taiwanese driver Chen crossed the line in second to claim his second podium for Buddy Club AAI. “Compared to the last race, this was more fun for me. At the start of the race it was quite interesting, there were about five to six cars in front of me and they were fighting each other. I had to find ways to overtake them so it was quite fun and after that I just tried to push myself at every lap, it was a great race and I am very happy”.

After having a good start, Alvaro Mourato maintained a steady pace to claim third in Division 1. “I had a pretty good start and from there I just kept my pace and position to the end of the race”.

After their great battle at the start of the race, the Division 2 drivers, Yeo, D’Silva, Chai, Danny Stacy Chau and Man Ting Yu continued to entertain the crowd with their battle. On lap six, Chai, who was then pushing D’Silva made a mistake, spun and drove onto the grass. Danny Chau and Man managed to narrowly avoid running into Chai who then managed to catch his car to rejoin the race behind Man.

By lap seven, Chai was behind Danny Chau who was pursuing D’Silva when D’Silva suddenly lost power, began to coast to the side, ending his race.

In the end, Yeo took the win for Division 2 followed by Danny Chau and Chai.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd

ATCS - Brilliant Win for Lemvard on Home Soil

It was a good clean race for the Asian Touring Car Series in Bira with Jack Lemvard claiming another win at his home race and further extending his already big lead in the Championship challenge. “First I would like to thank my team for working all night to get the car ready because the containers arrived late. I would also like to thank my sponsors, Ocean 1, Liqui Moly and everyone that supports me. “The start for me today was not my best but I managed to hold it down the first corner and I knew if I come out of it I will be first. I’m one to two seconds ahead of the second placed driver so I just held my pace from there on” said Lemvard during the post race press conference. Should the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver win the next race, he would have collected enough points to claim the Championship win ahead of the season closer. “Now we are really far ahead in terms of points for anyone to catch up and I think if we win the next round we would officially be Champions. There will be a big party tomorrow to celebrate that” he concluded with a big smile. Taiwanese driver, Chen Jun San, driving for Buddy Club AAI, made a great return to the series with a second placed finish ahead of newcomer to the series Alvaro Murato of Macau for Division 1. “I think both Jack and I did not get the best of starts but it was an okay race and it was not too difficult for me. Bira Circuit is my favourite circuit so I really enjoy racing here. “Since the BMW is so much faster than my car, all I did was figure out what would be the best setting for a better race tomorrow. I was pretty much running on my own” said Chen. Murato started the race from ninth on the grid and managed to gain a few positions to claim his first podium in the Series. “The circuit is too short and it just takes a minute to complete a lap, so it takes more skill than speed to be able to do well here at Bira. I tried my best. It was not too hard of a race but it was just too hot in the car”. Most of the action of the day came from two Division 2 drivers, Hong Kong racing legend, Danny Stacy Chau and Malaysian first time ATCS competitor Harry Chai. The duo kept an ongoing battle from the start of the race to cross the line almost side by side in the 20 lap race. In the end, the Team IMSP driver’s track experience allowed him to maintain his position ahead of Chai, all the way to the chequered flag. “I’ve been racing here since 1986 so I know the circuit well. Harry has the faster car for sure but I have more experience on this track. Although he has the faster car, his time was not as fast as mine but after a few laps behind me, he learnt my lines which is why he managed to catch up to me. This will be a problem tomorrow” said Danny Chau with a laugh. For Chai, trying to outfox the race legend had its benefits “I had a really good start. I tried to catch Danny but he is really good with his lines and I couldn’t find a way past. He has great experience here so I actually learnt a lot from him. He is really a good driver. I also would like to thank my sponsors, S&D Motorsports for preparing such a great car for me”. Another Malaysian driver, Eric Yeo, driving for ThunderAsia Racing, finished the race in third. Yeo started the race behind Adrian Henry D’Silva and Man Ting Yu, but managed to make his way past after Man encountered engine trouble which ended his race and D’Silva made a mistake on lap 2. “I started in seventh and had a good start. Man and Adrian were in front of me and I think Adrian was holding Man off while I was looking for an opportunity but couldn’t find a way past. Then Man went wide so I overtook him and then on lap 2 Adrian made a mistake and I got him. After that I just kept my pace, the Championship points are the most important thing” said Yeo. Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd.

Japanese F3 - DOUBLE VICTORY FOR IMPERATORI

As the title fight heats up between Imperatori and Yamauchi, the young swiss has scored valuable points thisweek-end at Motegi by taking a double victory.

The Japanese F3 championshipentered in the last third of theseason last week end at Motegi,and the title is far from decided inthe National class.Alexandre Imperatori: “We hadsome misfortune this year andthat means that despite ourstrong form we are chasing theleader in the standings but everythingis open and we have topush all-out till the end.”On friday, two practice sessionsof 45 minutes each gave time tothe drivers to adjust their setupand Alexandre worked with hisengineer through the program thatwas planned for the day.

In themorning, the PTRS driver lappedthe track second fastest but felthe could do better yet. In the afternoon,the team tried differentsolutions but Alexandre was notreally satisfied with the balance ofhis car. It was also decided not touse a new set of tyres to sparethese for the next round at Fuji:“In the second practice session,we tried a few new elements onthe car but the car did not reactas well as we hoped. Now we canstudy the data and prepare thecar for tomorrow's qualifying”.

On saturday morning, the drivershad 20 minutes to produce theirtwo best laps that would determinethe grid for race 1 and race2. On his first set of tyres, Alexandrematched Yamauchi’s pace lapfor lap: the fight for the title was adirect fight on the track and bothdrivers pitted together for a freshset of tyres at the halfway mark.

From this point onward, theytraded pole position for the remainderof the session as bothwent quicker each lap. On hislast lap Alex took the pole, justbefore the Toyota official driversnatched it on his last attempt for1 hundredth of a second.Therefore, Imperatori would startthe races on the outside of thefirst row. At the start of race 1,the swiss produced a stunningstart to lead into the first corner.

He then started to push andedged clear of Yamauchi in secondand halfway through the 14laps race, decided to control thepace: “I could see that when Ipushed, I could pull away butthese points are very importantand I preferred not to risk a mistakeand control the pace.”Even so, Alexandre also took thefastest lap of the race and tookthe win home.Everything would have to bedone again in sunday’s 20 lapsrace.

With another 2nd placestarting slot, Alexandre had tomake a perfect start. In fact, theyoung swiss made his best getawayof the season with only 2.6sec from 0 to 100 kph. Again,he took the lead into the first cornerand didn’t let it go during anyof the 20 laps. It was in fact verymuch a replay of the first race,where Alex could pull away whenneeded and controlled his pace atother times to crossed the line infirst place and take a welldeserveddouble win.

“It is a great result. Starting fromsecond is never optimal but todaywe made the most of it. I want togive a big thumbs up to my team,the mechanics, and my engineerwho are working very hard to giveme the chance to catch these victories.The result comes at a goodtime for us and we must carry thismomentum to the last twoevents.”

The next race will be in Fuji on 30-31st of august.

Formula Asia 2.0 Series - Back to business

Formula Asia 2.0 top team Asia Racing Team (ART) Motorsports is heading to the Bira circuit in Pattaya, Thailand, for rounds 6 & 7 of the championship. Yoshitaka Kuroda, Ryan Booth, Ryan Haryanto and the debutant Karl Martinez Vergara will get their first taste of the Thai circuit in this weekend’s AFOS event.

Yoshitaka Kuroda came home in a strong 3rd place in Race 2 at Sepang, and sits just five points behind the 4th. The Japanese ace demonstrated he is a podium contender and have another chance to show it again. Indonesian former go-karting star Rio Haryanto, , the youngest of the lot, enjoyed a strong outing in Malaysia, and after two test days at Zhuhai Circuit he feels more confident than ever.

Ryan Booth continues to impress in his rookie year in Asia but the brave American youngster is missing a bright final result. Booth is very hopeful he can break his duck this time. On other hand, Mexican Karl Martinez makes his first appearance on single seaters and promises to give his best shot to keep up with the front-runners.

Team Manager Philippe Descombes commented ahead of the weekend, “We head into this round with the motivation and determination that we have each weekend. We expect to fare equally well at the Bira as we did on the Sepang Race 2 despite our very inexperienced line up. Fortunately we have done some training sessions at home with Ryo and Karl, and it should pay off in Bira. This is going to be the first time for the championship there, and our first time too. I am sure this will be a great event”.The ART Motorsports drivers will be on track from Thursday morning for testing, before qualifying begins at 15.20 on Friday. Race 1 will commence at 13.40 on Saturday, followed by Race 2 at 13.40 on Sunday.

A1 Team Indonesia - New vision for the new season

A1 Team Indonesia driver Satrio Hermanto has gone to great lengths in his preparation for the new season of racing in A1GP. The young driver who has worn spectacles for his entire racing career has recently undergone LASIK eye surgery at the Jakarta Eye Center hospital to improve his vision. The procedure will now enable Hermanto to race without the need for his glasses and should be a great benefit to him when the new A1GP season gets underway in just under two months time.

With LASIK laser eye surgery, the protective surface layer of the cornea is lifted and the laser is used to reshape the layer underneath. The surface is then gently replaced, with the procedure taking less than 30 minutes. The treatment was led by Doctor Donny V. Istiantoro, SpM and his team. Doctor Istiantoro is a former kart racer himself and was in fact a close competitor to Hermanto during his early racing career. Doctor Donny himself underwent a LASIK procedure a couple of years ago and being a micro eye surgeon he understands that clear vision and precision is vital for professions such as a racing driver.

The biggest improvement Hermanto will notice will be during wet weather races. The young Indonesian driver had experienced a fog appearing on the lenses of his glasses within his helmet preventing him for being able to see fully. This happened during last year’s Eastern Creek race; when the rain poured down Hermanto suffered with the misting effect, resulting in him spinning out of the race.

Hermanto commented, “I’m really happy with how the procedure has gone, it’s a great feeling not having to wear glasses. I think this will really benefit me during the season this year especially during the wet races, because it is a tough job to keep the car on the road and avoiding standing water at the same time as your glasses being foggy. With all that is going on around you on the track in A1GP it will be a boost for me not to have to worry about my glasses steaming up.”

LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) eye surgery is a type of refractive laser eye surgery performed by ophthalmologists for correcting myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. The procedure is generally preferred to photorefractive keratectomy because it requires less time for the patient's recovery, and the patient feels less pain.

The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport featuring the all-new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car enters a new era, with the fourth season of the Series lying ahead. A1GP will return to racing action at the end of September and A1 Team Indonesia, alongside over 20 other nations, will compete around the globe for the pride of its nation.

GP2 - Stunning Win for Chandhok at Hockenheim

India`s Karun Chandhok scored his first race win of the 2008 GP2 Series at Hockenheim in Germany; his second career victory in the Formula 1 feeder category.
The 24-year-old from Chennai, who is backed by Red Bull, Punj Lloyd, JK Tyre, Amaron, ICSA Logistics and Sidvin, started from pole position but lost his advantage at the start to Renault F1 test driver Lucas di Grassi, as Karun’s clutch didn’t disengage properly, and he spun his wheels too much as the lights went out.

Chandhok ran in a solid second in the early laps, but soon closed up onto di Grassi’s tail with some quick laptimes. He slipstreamed past him at the Parabolika sweeper, and then battled wheel-to-wheel at the Spitzkehre and the Mercedes Arena, where Chandhok took the lead.
After that, he came under intense pressure from Andi Zuber of Piquet Sports for the last 20 laps of the race, but Chandhok kept his cool for a fantastic victory for the iSport International team.

“We’ve had some really bad luck on Sundays this year, so it was nice to finally win one,” said Chandhok. “It was a good win, because I had to pass Lucas for the lead and was under pressure all the time, but I had good pace. I think the team did a great job for me. It’s a fantastic result.”

Of his race, Chandhok said: “We changed the clutch overnight, and I just couldn’t judge the bite of it at the start. Lucas had an amazing start, but he was pretty slow and it was no problem to pass him. I got a good exit from Turn 2, and he was sliding around a lot, and got a good run into the hairpin.

“I sold him a dummy, so although he was briefly back in front, I knew I’d get him on the way out. From then on, it was okay. I didn’t really feel under pressure too much from Zuber, although he was always there. The rear tyre degradation was much higher than we anticipated, so it was tricky to manage. I knew if I’d have run away from Zuber, I would have been in trouble with the tyres at the end, so it was a case of managing the gap to him.”

“The only problem I had in the whole race was lapping Diego Nunes, and I ran wide at Turn 1 when I lost the downforce. That allowed Zuber to get a bit of a run on me, so I had to defend at the hairpin. But, besides that brief moment, I was in total control of the situation. I am really delighted for the whole team, the sponsors and everyone. It was really fantastic to have the Indian National Anthem playing at a Formula 1 weekend for only the second time.”


Chandhok’s next race is at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, in a fortnight’s time. “I had fastest lap in Hungary last year, with a smaller team, so I’m hoping for a result like this one in a few weeks time,” said Chandhok.

Prepared by www.karunchandhok.com

ATCS - Lemvard Ends a Perfect Weekend in Sentul

It was an action packed Round 7 of the Asian Touring Car Series where current Championship leader, Jack Lemvard ended a perfect weekend for Liqui Moly Team Engstler claiming the win and further extending his championship lead.

At the start, the six leading drivers went into the turn at almost the same time, with Man Ting Yu who started in pole, maintained his lead out of the turn followed closely by Adrian Henry D’Silva, Eric Yeo, Danny Stacy Chau, Harry Chai and Lemvard.

D’Silva and Yeo went into the left hander of turn 2, they were side by side and touched. D’Silva lost out as he spun and stopped lengthwise across the track, leaving Danny Chau to dive into the gravel to avoid him leaving Chai and George Ong narrowly escaping the melee and overtaking him.
For the next four laps, Danny Chau played catch up to Ong, and finally took the Singaporean on lap seven. But luck was not on Ong’s side as he suffered from transmission problems and had to park the car at the pit exit by the start of lap 11.

Up ahead, Lemvard had already opened up a gap to Chai in second and Yeo in third followed by Man and Danny Chau. The positions remained until the end of the race.

During the Post Race Press Conference, Lemvard recollected the race “I started the race sixth and went up to first by the end of the first lap. The first turn was really hectic, everyone cut across for the inside and then at the second corner, Adrian spun and Danny had to avoid and went off into the gravel. I had to brake really hard, I almost hit Adrian. After that I managed to pass everyone to gain the lead.

“Towards the end, I was just saving my tyres. I did not want to make any mistake when I am leading, it would have looked really bad” he ended with a laugh.

For Chai, the first turn was the most interesting for him in his clean race “I started in fifth and followed behind Eric, then it became messy in front of me. I managed to avoid Adrian’s car and then I had to catch up to Eric in the next few laps. I carried more speed than him so eventually I managed to overtake him” said the elated Malaysian.

A delighted Yeo said “First I’d like to thank my team for getting my bumper fixed after yesterday’s race.

“I started in third on the grid and has a good start. As we went to turn 1, I was alongside Adrian. He stayed on the inside while I was outside into turn 2 and that’s when we touched, that was when Adrian spun off. After that I just concentrated on the front with Man Ting Yu. Then on about lap 6, Harry managed to overtake me and I then managed to make a move on Man to take third”.
For Man, finishing fourth was a great belated Birthday gift and jokingly said “I’m really lucky to have started in pole position, otherwise I would not have been able to lead the race”.

A troubled Frank Yee finally completed his first race. The Hong Kong driver was troubled from the start of the season but managed to finish his first race today. “For us, we are in the developmental program in the team. Usually, we will need about one to two years to slowly improve the car. So for us, we develop the car and although we may face more problems we target to improve. We get a satisfaction out of a good race weekend”.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd

FV6A - Bamber Completed a Perfect Weekend

Under the blistering hot sun, Earl Bamber, the youngster from New Zealand finished off a perfect weekend after winning yet another race from pole to flag during the Formula V6 Asia Grand Race at the Sentul International Circuit. Bamber took off at the start and immediately started to pull out a gap from the remaining drivers in, he led unchallenged all the way to the chequered flag.

The Pizza Company Team Qi-Meritus driver won in front of hundreds of their local supporters and headed a second one-two finish for the team. Bamber completed the race 15.6 seconds ahead of teammate James Grunwell.

“Its absolutely amazing. We did not have such a good weekend in Sepang, so it really shows that we’ve got a good pace. James is doing a good job and it was just a little bit unfortunate that he did not get the best of starts, because if he had stayed right behind me, it would have probably been a different race. He probably would have pressured me.

“We will see what happens when we go to China. I’m sure he is going to get a lot closer during the next outing because I know he doesn’t like me winning these races, so he is going to be out there to beat me” Bamber said jokingly.

The race was an eventful one filled with trouble for the midfield runners. It all began when Ro Charlez stalled his engine at the start of the warm-up lap. The Australian should have started the race from the back of the grid, but instead retook his grid position for the start. This resulted in a drive through penalty, which he took on lap four.

Charlez did not recover and towards the end suffered from a coil problem on the engine, leaving him to complete the race in seventh.

Up ahead, Recardo Bruins made a great start from fourth to second at the start, followed by James Grunwell, Charlez and Armaan Ebrahim. Grunwell then pushed through to take second from Bruins, also known as Myung Gil Choi in Korea, and tried to play catch up with Bamber.
“I had a really good start for once and I managed to pull a bit alongside Earl on the inside but there wasn’t any room there so I had to back off the throttle. That’s when Recardo came around the outside of me, so he got me going into the first lap.

“Armaan tried the same move on me around the outside, but because there have been more races today, so there was more rubber on the inside, I was able to hold my line. From there I just pushed Recardo and passed him through turn 1” said Grunwell after the race.

Behind him, trouble brewed for Bruins and Ebrahim, who were fighting for fourth place, both drivers suffered from the same fate, having a hydraulic problem that caused them to be stuck in one gear probably caused as a result of a the cars sitting on the grid in the searing heat for an extended opening ceremony. Bruins got caught in sixth gear for the final two laps, whilst Ebrahim was stuck with only fourth gear, ending the race in eighth.

This left a great opportunity for Champ Motorsport driver, Kevin Chen who finished on the podium in third. “I’ve been having a run of bad luck this weekend but at least today was lucky for me. The past two days I have been ill. Today, I started to feel better on the track, I’m still off pace, but I had some pretty good luck”.

Local race hero, Robin Tato ended his race early after spinning on lap 19, coming out of turn 1 following a great battle with the recovering Ro Charlez.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd

PCCA - Sugden Wins Qualifying Battle

GruppeM Racing's Tim Sugden emerged victorious from a close-fought battle to take pole position for Round 7 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia today. The Briton clocked a fastest time of 1:30.639 which, despite coming within 0.024 of a second, championship leader Darryl O'Young of Team Jebsen could not better. Third quickest at the end of the 30-minute session on Indonesia's 3.960km Sentul International Circuit was German Christian Menzel of Team StarChase.

In Class B, it was Hong Kong's Philip Ma who took pole with a "lucky" lap of 1:33.888, the number eight being considered auspicious in China. Tunku Hammam was second fastest in the category, ahead of Paul Tressider of Australia.

Indonesian racer Danny Chu put in his best qualifying performance so far in this his debut season with the 9th fastest time. As the only local driver in the field, and with plenty of family and friends out to watch his performance, it is obvious the youngster is responding well to the additional pressure.Sugden laid down the gauntlet early on in the session with a 1:31.058 lap to take provisional pole, but O'Young responded by lapping in less than 1 minute 31 seconds.

Sugden reclaimed the top spot mid-way through the session by bettering the Hong Kong racer's time. Despite an almighty effort in the dying moments of qualifying, when O'Young came within a whisker of taking pole, Sugden had done his job.Said Sugden: "It's close around this circuit. It was shaping up to be a big fight, which it was, and the race will be the same. The surface is actually better than lastyear, but it's still not good offline and has got worse as the week has gone on. This place is all about tyres."

O'Young, racing again this weekend without his engineer, was full of praise for his team with whom he had worked hard to find a good setup: "I'm really glad to be on the front row.

We've struggled with the car this weekend, but we've been able to work on it. It's more satisfying to achieve a result that way. We've put a lot of effort into the set up and we had it ready just before qualifying."Menzel was frustrated by the yellow flags which featured in the session: "The second lap out, the tyres are in the best condition, and on my second laps, it was always the yellow flag. I couldn't make the best use of my car, so I'm disappointed. But looking ahead to the race tomorrow, it can be very hard over this distance.

We had a good long (practice) session this morning, which gives me confidence. It's hard to find the set up on this track though with the changing conditions of the track and the temperature. It's a gamble to try and get the good mix."Rounds 7 and 8 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia will be held tomorrow (Sunday) over 15 laps each of Sentul International Circuit.

Prepared by Porsche Carrera Cup Asia

FV6A - Bamber Leads TPC Team Qi-Meritus One Two Finish

Earl Bamber claimed his second victory of the season from pole to climb on the top step of the podium for Round 5 of the Formula V6 Asia Series. Bamber completed the 15-lap race in 21:09.226, ahead of teammate James Grunwell and fierce rival Armaan Ebrahim who could only mange third at the Sentul International Circuit.

The youngster and his teammate completed the first one-two finish for their team, The Pizza Company Team Qi-Meritus. “The start was quite difficult today, they changed the starting line which gave us more of a run into turn one. I actually did not get the best of starts, I had the limiter and James got right behind me, it was pretty tight into turn one but I managed to get through there cleanly. I was lucky I had no one around me so I could just set a good pace.

“The team has done a fantastic job today with the car and hopefully it can be the same tomorrow for the feature race and I hope to get a good start again like today. I just have to thank everyone that got the car running the way it did today” said Bamber at the Post Race Press Conference.

He continued, “The circuit was rubbering up, so we got some really good grip towards the end of yesterday, but unfortunately with the rain last night it kind of washed all the grip away so it was slippery this morning in qualifying, but this afternoon for the race there was a lot more rubber down again. Hopefully tomorrow we can see some even quicker times”.

At the start, Bamber executed the rolling start cleanly but all eyes were on Ebrahim who started in fourth. The 19-year old Indian driver, known for his brilliant rolling starts, overtook the cars of Grunwell and Recardo Bruins on the opening lap. Ebrahim then maintained second until Grunwell caught up to him. The young British-Thai driver kept on closing the gap until lap 12 when he made a move on Ebrahim to claim second.

“I dropped down to fourth at the start because going around I got tucked up behind Earl and Armaan got in my tow so I had to go to the inside to block him down in turn three and there was just no grip down there. I was kicking up a plume of dust behind me when I looked in my mirror and when I tried to hit the brakes there was nothing there.

“Armaan managed to get around the outside of me and the same thing really into the next corner, Recardo passed me around the outside and there was no rubber down where I was trying to block. So maybe next time I wont block and just stick on the rubber. In the end, it was a good race, we showed our pace. Although I got down to fourth, Recardo went off and I managed to catch back up with Armaan and pass him into turn one.

“I would just like to thank my sponsors and everyone, we have got a lot of people here cheering us on so it is quite motivating and I look forward to tomorrow’s race and hopefully go one better” concluded Grunwell.

Ebrahim looked a little disappointed during the Press Conference on his lost third but praised his team for a job well done. “It was unfortunate but we had a great pace. I couldn’t catch Earl but I thought I could just keep some consistent laps to finish second to get some points but James had much more pace than me. I was also struggling a little bit with the car, I had too much oversteer but I had a good start and got as many points as I could and I improved one place from where I started.

“Tomorrow we have a really long race, 28 laps, so we will need consistency and I am confident of a good start, the team and I know what to do. The team has always given me a good car for the races and I am really looking forward for tomorrow” ended Ebrahim. After having had two race start incidents, Australian driver Ro Charlez looked nervous for the rolling start and seemed to lift off for a moment but as the race progressed, so did his confidence and he began to pick up the pace slightly to finish fifth.

Hafiz Koh got boxed in at the start leaving him to lose two spots but slowly the Singaporean climbed back up the pack to finish the race in a commendable sixth. Champ Motorsport’s Kevin Chen came in seventh ahead of TaraDTM’s Mark Williamson and E-Rain Racing’s Robin Tato in eighth and ninth respectively.

The Formula V6 Asia Round 6 continues Sunday, 20 July 2008 at 3.10pm at Sentul International Circuit in Indonesia.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd

ATCS - Lemvard Extends Championship Lead with Pole to Flag Win

Jack Lemvard claimed his second pole to flag win today during Round 6 of the Asian Touring Car Series held at Sentul International Circuit. The Thai driver set a blistering pace with a fastest lap of 1:37.966 and he maintained a constant pace throughout the race to win ahead of Harry Chai and Danny Stacy Chau.

It was a good clean 15-lap race held at 2pm today, where Lemvard’s lead was in no way threatened especially after his close rival, Melvin Choo could not start the race due to engine troubles. Choo was disappointed but was unable to find a replacement engine or car to start the race in time leaving Lemvard to win an uninterrupted race.

“I knew I just had to get a good start today because I knew my car was faster than the rest in the field so I just maintained my pace throughout the race and made sure that they are all behind me, and just keep on going. I also did not want to use the tyres too much because this track eats tyres a lot but I wanted to push just to see what my best lap was and it was a good clean race” said Lemvard during the Post Race Press Conference.

Meanwhile, Harry Chai of S&D Motorsport pulled off a stunning performance and managed to maintain a pace close to the championship leader but was unable to pursue the Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver. In the end, Chai kept his race clean to finish the race in second, 29.757 seconds behind Lemvard.

“For me, I had a good start and pulled away from the rest of the guys behind me. I had a good car and a great team that had set up my car. I am happy to be here and the guys worked hard on my car these past few days and they did a fantastic job” said Chai.

Behind them a battle ensued between five drivers, Danny Stacy Chau, Eric Yeo, Man Ting Yu and Adrian Henry D’Silva. The four changed positions numerous times and had two small incidences which they came out of unharmed. The only damage was to Yeo’s car which happened on lap 4 coming into turn 1, as he tried an overtaking manoeuvre on Danny Chau. Yeo sustained some damage on his bumper but continued to finish fourth overall.

At the start all five drivers got off the lines clean and Yeo was side by side with Danny Chau into turn one but as Danny Chau got the better line and Yeo backed off.

“It was a good race, we had a few unavoidable incidents but we still managed to finish third overall. All of us had a good start but Eric did a better one and as a gentleman he did not want two cars to be out by the first lap so he gave way a little bit and we carried on” said Danny Chau at the Press Conference.

“But then maybe Eric got a little angry at me and hit my back a little bit and damaged his front bumper” said Danny Chau jokingly in closing.

Yeo kept in the mirrors of Danny Chau to lap seven, with George Ong, Man and D’Silva close behind them. Then Danny Chau made a small mistake leaving a gap for Yeo and Man to pass, but only for a while before retaking third place. In the end Danny Chau claimed third overall for Team IMSP with Yeo in fourth, D’Silva, Man and Ong completing the finishers.
Round 7 of the Asian Touring Car Series continues on Sunday, 20 July at 12.05pm at the Sentul International Circuit during the Asian Festival Of Speed.

Prepared by Motorsport Asia Ltd

FBMW Pacific - Convincing win for McDonagh

Bogor, Indonesia - Sean McDonagh (18/USA/Team E-Rain) recorded his second Formula BMW Pacific win today, taking victory in the 15-lap Round 8 at Indonesia's Sentul International Circuit. In a perfect lights-to-flag run, McDonagh converted his pole position into an emphatic win to put him within six points of championship leader Ross Jamison (18/HKG/Meritus).
Jamison, who started alongside McDonagh on the grid, finished 2nd, ahead of Formula BMW Junior Chris Wootton (19/AUS/Meritus), who took his maiden Rookie Cup victory.
McDonagh has vowed to be top of the leaderboard by the time he leaves Indonesia on Monday, but Jamison so far holds his position as championship leader.

Meanwhile, the heroic efforts of Rookie Cup points leader and Formula BMW Junior Simon Moss (16/RSA/Mahara) means he stays at the top of that points table. Moss charged through the field to finish 7th, having started from the back of the grid after failing to qualify due to car damage. Fellow scholarship driver Marlon Stockinger trails Moss by 14 points after a disappointing outing, with Wootton, who missed the opening two rounds of the season, 3rd.
Said McDonagh: "After Turn 4, I felt really comfortable and just tried not to make any mistakes. It was a good race!"

Jamison was far from relaxed, however: "Melvin (Moh) got by me, and I knew I had to get straight back otherwise I could have had a problem later on. Melvin went wide at the last corner, and I went on the inside at turn one."

"The track was very slippery compared to this morning's qualifying session. The tow was different, so I'm very happy with the result," said Wootton after recording his first Rookie Cup win.

Off the start, McDonagh got away well set about creating a gap to the rest of the field, eventually opening up an impressive margin of more than three seconds by the flag. Behind him, Team Holzer PFX racer Melvin Moh (19/MAS) made a good move to get past Jamison on lap 3. However, Moh's gain was short-lived with Jamison grabbing back second just one lap later.
Behind them, Wootton, Colombian youngster Gabby Chaves (Atlantic Racing Team) and McDonagh's team mate Ryuichi Nara (19/JPN) were battling it out.

Moh was not giving up on his fight with Jamison, keeping him well within his sights until the closing laps of the race when he made a mistake which allowed Wotton grab the final podium place.

Round 8 Results. Pos. No. Driver/Nat. Entrant Time 1 22 Sean MCDONAGH (KOR) Team E-Rain 23:33.535 2 88 Ross JAMISON (HKG) Meritus +3.101 3 68 Chris WOOTTON*- (AUS) Meritus +5.593 4 8 Melvin MOH (MAS) Team Holzer PFX +5.983 5 53 Gabriel CHAVES (COL) Atlantic Racing Team +7.414 6 34 Ryuichi NARA (JPN) Team E-Rain +8.699 7 38 Simon MOSS*- (RSA) Mahara +13.455 8 3 Aditya PATEL- (IND) Eurasia Motorsport +15.395 9 7 Imran SHAHAROM (MAS) Team Holzer PFX +21.752 10 78 Arvin ROSLAN- (MAS) Meritus +25.670 11 2 Marlon SToCKINGER*- (PHI) Eurasia Motorsport +26.285 12 9 Dominic ANG- (MAS) Team Holzer PFX +29.935 13 58 Huzair HARUN RASIP (MAL) Mahara +1:07.05

*Scholarship driver-Rookie Cup#Non-Series Registered

Championship Points Tables after Round 8

Drivers

Ross Jamison (HKG/Meritus) 107 points; 2. Sean McDonagh (KOR/Team E-Rain) 101 points; 3. Ryuichi Nara (JPN/Team E-Rain) 71 points; 4. Simon Moss (RSA/Mahara) 65 points; 5. Marlon Stockinger (PHI/Eurasia Motorsport) 51 points; 6. Gabriel Chaves (COL/Atlantic Racing Team) 47 points; 7. Melvin Moh (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 38 points; 8. Chris Wootton (AUS/Meritus) 38 points; 9. Dominic Ang (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 32 points; 10. Arvin Roslan (MAS/Meritus) 30 points; 11. Aditya Patel (IND/Eurasia Motorsport) 26 points; 12. Imran Shaharom (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 25 points; 13. Tasmin Pepper (RSA/Meritus) 22 points; 14. Huzair Harun Rasip (MAS/Mahara) 2 points; 15. Omer Younas (PAK/Team E-Rain) 1 point.

Rookie Cup

1.Moss; 2. Stockinger; 3. Wootton; 4. Ang; 5. Roslan; 6. Patel; 7. Younas.

Teams

1.Meritus, 197 points; 2. Team E-Rain, 168 points; 3. Team Holzer PFX, 94 points; 4. Eurasia Motorsport, 77 points; 5. Mahara, 65 points; 6. Atlantic

Racing Team, 47 points

Statistics:Winners 2008: Jamison (2); Moss (2); Nara (2); McDonagh (2)Pole Positions: Moss (2); McDonagh (5); Nara (1); Moh (1)

Podiums: Jamison (6); Moss (3); Patel (1); McDonagh (5); Moh (1); Chaves (1); Nara (3); Manzur (1); Stockinger (1); Wootton (2)

Rookie Cup Winners: Moss (3); Stockinger (3); Roslan (1); Wootton (1)

Prepared by Formula BMW Pacific

Formula Nippon - An Appearance of Super Rookie. Hirate Earns His First Victory after Surpassing the Veterans - Rd.5 2nd Race Report

After an hour and a half interval from the first race, the second race began its progress. At 3:40 p.m., each machine after the 9th place formatted the grid. Five minutes later, reverse grid qualifier, from the 8th place to the first place, Motoyama, started to formulate. The formation lap began at 4 p.m., and the race began at 4:05 p.m. after all machines reached the grid under a similar condition with the first race, the mid summer weather that never lessened with the temperature of 32 degree Celsius and the truck temperature of 47 degree Celsius.

The drivers desperately drove for their lines to gain any positions since the second race was a 20 laps sprint race. In such, the driver who made the hole shot was a pole starter, Motoyama. On the other hand, Yokomizo from the second grid failed vastly at the start, and as a consequence, Hirate from the 4th grid gained to second, followed by third place starter, Duval, who kept his position, followed by Lotterer from 7th grid, and jumped up to 4th. The standings were followed by Oliveira, Yokomizo, Kogure, and Matsuda.

But suddenly, a major accident occurred in the groups behind. The right front tire of Kosuke Matsuura (DoCoMo DANDELION) collided with the left sidepontoon of Takuya Izawa (ARTA), forcing Izawa to spin counterclockwise at the main straight, and slide across the track from inside to outside. Making things worse, the left front tire of Yuji Ide (ARTA) ran into the right rear tire of Hiroaki Ishiura (Team LeMans) who tried to avoid collision with Izawa’s machine and decelerated, making Ide’s machine blow up into the sky. As it was, his machine rolled into the outside grass and stopped there.

But fortunately, none of the drivers were injured. Meanwhile, an impulse of Ide’s machine forced Ishiura’s to face to the left direction, and re-collided with Takeshi Tsuchiya (DoCoMo DANDELION) who was driving behind. Tsuchiya’s machine was damaged and he stopped at the track side. Matsuura also damaged the suspension, and stopped his machine after proceeding to Degner Curve. All of a sudden, five machines retired and due to this accident, the safety car was put in.After all the damaged machines were collected, the race restarted after lap 3.

First of all, it was Motoyama who tried to drive away. He developed a 1.7 second margin with second place Hirate after 2 laps from the restart. But because Motoyama’s machine was a five gear spec, compared to six with Hirate, he had a large disadvantage speeding up at the back straight. Therefore, the lead was suddenly turned into a tale-to-nose battle, but Motoyama never showed an opening until lap 13.

Finally on lap 14, Hirate decreased the gap with Motoyama in the first part of the track, and suddenly approached in the second part of the track. Hirate put his machine right behind Motoyama at the exit of Spoon Curve, got the slipstream at the Back Stretch, utilizing his straight speed, and successfully surpassed at 130R. In order to avoid collision, Motoyama slightly took off the accelerator, resulting him to slow down and even letting Duval to surpass.

After all, top three drivers drove independently by increasing their lead with each other.In the mean time, the battle for 6th place began to heat up, making Kogure and Matsuda to approach Yokomizo, who started to pace down in the mid stage. But the possibility of the down force decreasing when approached closer prevented the standings from being changed.

As a consequence, the second race was won by the rookie Hirate for his first time in his career, followed by Duval and Motoyama. Motoyama made his first way to the podium this year. The standings were followed by Lotterer and Oliveria, who was the final point earner.

The next round will be held on August 9-10 at Twin Ring Motegi, and the two races system and the reverse grid system at this round will continue to be used. Will four time winner Matsuda show his strength? Or is there going to be another winner as Hirate did this time? It will be a race that couldn’t be forgotten including the battle for the series championship title.

Formula Nippon - Matsuda Dominates The Race, Earns His Fourth Win of This Season - Rd.5 1st Race Report

Formula Nippon Round 5 Suzuka was an inaugural event of the two-race system. Each race was considered separately, given points, and reverse grid system, which the standings of the first race from first to 8th place was reversed and used as the starting grid for the second race, was utilized.The first race was held under a mid summer condition that had continued from the day before, and it was a sprint race that severely influenced the drivers as well as the tires. In the second race, the major accident occurred, but fortunately, none of the drivers were injured. In this Round 5, first race, Tsugio Matsuda (LAWSON IMPUL), and second race, Kohei Hirate (TP Checker IMPUL) won the races respectively, showing the strength of TEAM IMPUL.

On Sunday, July 13th, continued from the day before, the races at Suzuka was held under a mid summer condition. Free run started at 8 a.m, and after each team finalized the set-up for the final round, they prepared for the first race that begun in the afternoon. At 1 p.m, the formation lap started under the temperature of 33 degree Celsius, and the track temperature of 48 degree Celsius.

After all 20 machines lined up at the starting grid, the race started at 1:04 p.m.The driver who made the hole-shot was second place starter, Benoit Treluyer (LAWSON IMPUL). Matsuda from the pole position fell behind because of the engine stall, but still kept second place. Takashi Kogure (PIAA NAKAJIMA) from the third grid also fell behind due to the same problem as Matsuda, and in exchange, Toshihiro Kaneishi (SG 5ZIGEN) from 4th and Andre Lotterer (PETRONAS TOM’S) from 5th grid gained their positions.

The opening lap was led by Treluyer, but his machine faced a trouble on lap 2. The wheel-nut of the left rear tire began to loose up, preventing him from speeding up the pace. He protected his position, but finally, surrendered to Matsuda at the first corner on lap 5. In the same lap, his machine faced a dangerous condition at the exit of Hairpin Curve, to let the other machines pass by, and forcing him to return to the pit.As a consequence, Matsuda led the race and increased his lead with behind.

He started to dominate the race by increasing nearly a second each lap. In the mean time, the battle for second began to heat up, closely competed by Kaneishi, Lotterer, Kogure, J.P. de Oliveira (KONDO RACING), Hirate, and Loic Duval (PIAA NAKAJIMA). But after few laps with this battle, all machines started to grip down at the rear tire, forcing them to battle on their own rather than the other competitors.In such, another machine retired from this group.

On lap 14, Kaneishi began to decelerate at the Degner Curve and slowly headed back to the pit. It was caused by the loose wheel-nut at the right front wheel. The result was so regrettable since he was running in the top group in a while.

After all, Matsuda dominantly finished first place, and without any standings change, the runner-up was Lotterer, third place, Kogure, followed by Oliveira, Hirate, Duval. 7th place was Naoki Yokomizo (KONDO RACING), and 8th Satoshi Motoyama (Team LeMans), and as a consequence, they will be the front row starter in the second race.

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