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
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