JK Racing Asia Series Round 11 at Buddh International Circuit Has Ikhwan claiming third win in a row

It was a moving moment for Afiq Ikhwan when he heard the Malaysian national anthem playing in the background for him after claiming the win for JK Racing Asia Series Round 11 at Buddh International Circuit yesterday. Ikhwan is on a winning streak after claiming both races in Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit at the last outing, and after a tough battle at the end of this race, the win was worth it. The 21 year old crossed the line just ahead of compatriot Nabil Jeffri of Eurointernational after the duo and Indian Aditya Patel changed positions a few times in the closing stages of the race right through to the chequered flag. Patel finished the race in third and set the fastest time of the day with 1:50.803.
For Jeffri, the race win was not as important as the Championship points and although he was slightly disappointed he is looking forward to making amends tomorrow. Recounting the end of his race, Patel had a big smile at the clean battle where he got both Ikhwan and Jeffri at the hairpin on the last lap. Ikhwan then regained his lead at the next turn while Jeffri made a dive on the inside a few turns before the finish line. But being on the podium at his home race was wonderful for Patel “Obviously it’s a great feeling. I got into third place at the start and as the race went on, I gained a little and I lost a little. Then lap by lap I started chipping away at Nabil and Afiq. Nabil caught up to him with two laps to go and that’s when it got tight between the both of them.
There was great action all the way down the grid. Akhil Khushlani who started the race in eighth had a few great battles to finish fourth. “The race was brilliant. I just kept my pace, drove sensibly and didn’t want to take risks. Eighth to fourth, I am quite happy with that and I hope tomorrow I can go for the podium”.
Khushlani had to make some good manoeuvres and had good battles with Calvin Wong and Earl Bamber before making his moves on both Aston Hare and Rookie driver Aidan Wright on his way up. Hare was not too impressed with his own results saying “Again I didn’t get off the line properly but otherwise we were quick until we got hit. Then after that we started losing places and ended up in fifth. It was an okay race, nothing special” he ended with a sad smile.
Eurointernational’s Danial Hidzir finished the race in seventh after having a problem with a stuck throttle at the start of the race, relegating him down the order leaving him to catch up to finish the race in seventh. Calvin Wong driving for US Formula Project, Toby Earle for Meritus.GP and Raj Bharath of Meco Racing completed the top ten. Indian drivers Karminder Pal Singh of Mahara and Akhil Rabindra finished in eleventh and twelfth while Ashraff Dewal and Chetan Korada completed the list of finishers of the day. Earl Bamber and Visnu Prasad both did not finish the race due to technical problems.
The JK Racing Asia Series continues tomorrow with Round 12 scheduled to be held at 12pm on Sunday, 28 October 2012.