In a stunning race with battles up and down the grid, Afiq Ikhwan, once again claimed a perfect pole to flag win in Round 16 of the JK Racing Asia Series. The 20 year old Malaysian crossed the line, a stunning 10.103 seconds ahead of current Championship leader Lucas Auer of Eurointernational. Nabil Jeffri’s Petronas Mofaz Racing team managed to sort out his gearbox problem allowing the Malaysian a chance to climb on the podium in third.
Auer was quick to thank his team for another job well done and another podium finish. “I want to thank my team, we had a better car. I had a good start again, I could overtake Irfan on the outside of the first corner. Then I was behind Nabil and we had a little fight, in the end I won. I think I had a little bit of a better pace than him. After that I just drove to the finish. I tried to push again at the end but Afiq was just too far away”. Guest driver, Tan Wei Ron of Eurointernational had a fantastic battle with fellow Malaysian, Petronas Mofaz Racing’s Irfan Ilyas and British guest driver Daniel Cammish of Eurasia Motorsport. Ilyas who lined on the grid in third did not have the best of starts and was taken by Auer off the line. He fought hard to retain fourth but Cammish found a way past at turn four to take him leaving Ilyas to battle with Tan.
The trio changed positions a few times before Tan overpowered both drivers taking fourth towards the end of the race with Ilyas in fourth and Cammish in fifth. Behind them was another extremely exciting battle between eventual seventh to tenth finishers, Akash Nandy, Freddie Ang, Calvin Seibl and Natasha Seatter. The foursome impressed everyone with their racecraft and close battle, keeping it clean, bar some slight brushes with one another. The top three drivers were divided as to whether a change in the weather would help or hinder their approach to the final two races with the possibility of heavy rain predicted for later in the day. The chance of rain for the final round may add one final exciting twist to the inaugural JK series.
The JK Racing Asia Series will continue with Round 17 at 2.30pm local time before the final race of the season at 5.30pm today. The JK Racing Asia Series is currently the only Junior Formula that provides a unique opportunity where the drivers are given a platform to compete in front of the Formula One fraternity. On three occasions the JK Racing Asia Series will support Formula One Grand Prix, in Malaysia, Singapore and the newly built circuit in India. The JK Racing Asia Series is organised by Motorsport Asia Ltd.
