Afiq Ikhwan claimed yet another race win today during the JK Racing Asia Series and broke the race record of fastest time set in 2009 by Rio Haryanto. The JK Tyre shod JK Racing Asia Series cars were 0.35 seconds faster during the race at the Sentul International Circuit. It was a good clean race where Ikhwan led from pole to flag, thwarting the early attempt of Lucas Auer at the start of the race. Although Ikhwan claimed his car was not as fast as the first race, he managed to maintain his pace enough to open a gap to Auer to claim the chequered flag.
Despite coming in second once again, Auer was nothing but positive of the weekend so far. He took the opportunity to learn more about the driving styles of his main competitor so far this weekend. He vows to come back stronger for the next two races tomorrow. It was a strong showing by the youngest driver in the Series when Akash Nandy claimed the third spot on the podium. The Malaysian driver was happy to be on the podium and was quick to thank his team for the great race. When asked how he felt after making a good climb up from fourth to finish third, Nandy replied “I am really happy about that. Making good positions, its good for the Championship points.
Behind them, Hiqmar Danial, who started the race in fifth, made a mistake and dropped down to eighth before making his climb back up to fourth at the end of the race. Danial had a strong drive today to take in valuable points for Petronas Mofaz Racing. Meanwhile, his teammate Nabil Jeffri was running in third throughout the race when on lap 10, just 5 laps to go, he was feeling the pressure from Nandy which caused him to make a mistake, leaving a gap at turn one for Nandy to pass. Then Jeffri tried to retake the position but instead pushed too hard into a spin, rejoining behind Danial where he finished the race. Raj Bharath was found to have made a false start off the grid and had to serve a drive through penalty on Lap 9. Although not hurt during the big shunt he had in the Round 7 race earlier today, Irfan Ilyas was unable to join the race as his team had not finished repairs to his car. He should be back racing in Round 9 tomorrow. Round 9 will be held at 9.55am while Round 10 will be held at 2.40pm on Sunday, 24th July 2011. Rounds 7-10 of the JK Racing Asia Series is held as part of the Asian Festival Of Speed event on 22-24 July 2011 at Sentul International Circuit, Indonesia. This will be the third outing before the Series travels to China, Singapore and India.
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