Asian Motor Sports

Karun Chandhok claimed his third Formula Renault V6 Asia victory of the season following a dominant lights-to-flag victory at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China, a result that puts him top of the championship standings.

The Indian driver held off the advances of Ananda Mikola, who’s second place means the two drivers go into the trophy event with just one points separating the duo, while Hanss Lin claimed his third podium of the year in third.

“My start went well. I made a mistake and hit the limiter a little bit in first gear,” Chandhok admitted. “I know Ananda is very fair and we gave each other space to make the first turn and it was no problem. I wasn’t as quick as in the Qualifying and Ananda was a little quicker but I was fast enough to hold him off, so there was no room to make mistakes” said Chandhok.

“I was worried about the first corner and I did not want to have a crash with any other drivers,” added Mikola. “I knew I was just a little bit quicker than Karun but this track is quite difficult to overtake on unless someone makes a mistake. Halfway through the race I thought I must use my head and get the points and by the last three laps I decided second is enough for me.”

Behind Chandhok and Mikola, Lin had to hold off the advances of Seth Ingham and the recovering Hamad Al Fardan and Matt Halliday

The fifteen lap race was filled with action, behind the top two with four drivers, Lin, Seth Ingham, Hamad Al Fardan and Matt Halliday driving nose-to-tail in the early laps.

“I shifted into the wrong gear in the middle of the race and Seth managed to get closer, but after that I kept on pushing and managed to build a slight gap” said Lin.

Al Fardan and teammate Halliday, were both demoted to the back of the grid for the start of the race after spinning out on the first lap of qualifying. As soon as the race started they both made a superb charge up the ranks, quickly overtaking drivers in the opening lap of the race.

By lap three, the Team Meritus drivers were hot on the tail of CT Motorsport’s Ingham. On lap four, Halliday made a move down the inside of turn 11 and spun right in front of Al Fardan.

Erstwhile championship leader Al Fardan tried to avoid a collision and drove into the gravel immediately ending his race. Halliday meanwhile managed to regain control of his car and began to play catch-up with Ingham and Lin.

By lap 10, Halliday had closed the gap to Ingham, overtaking him at turn 11. Ingham stayed close behind to regain his lost position and by turn 7 he tried taking the outside line to overtake Halliday but Halliday resisted his efforts. From then on Halliday was able to open a gap.

Ken Lee lost his fifth position early on in the race but had a solid drive to complete the race in sixth with Jeffrey Lee in seventh and Michael Ho in eighth.

(Image: Hamad Al Fardan with Miss Zhuhai courtesy of Meritus Racing)