Stefan Johansson brings Craft Eurasia Ford GT3 home in 6th place
Former Ferrari and McLaren F1 star, Stefan Johansson, brought home the Craft Eurasia Ford GT3 car in 6th place at the MME 12 Hour race held at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia. After an eventful race with no less than four collisions resulting in pit stops to repair damage, Johansson, driving alongside Frank Yu and Alain Li, crossed the line in 6th place in a battered and bruised car.
Regarded as South East Asia's most prestigious endurance event, the MME 12 Hours featured a strong GT entry with works supported cars from several manufacturers. Stefan Johansson started the race in Frank Yu's GT Asia car and the team were hopeful of a good showing considering the Ford GT3's ability to look after its tyres and its extremely good fuel consumption. However in the second hour the leading works supported Audi tapped Frank Yu into a spin.
The Audi was given a drive through penalty and Yu continued until the end of the stint when a holed radiator had to be replaced due to stone damage. This dropped the car to 28th place but two fast stints from Alain Li and Johansson saw the car climb back into the top ten. However Frank Yu was again unlucky to be hit by an errant back marker resulting in other unscheduled stop to repair damage. Once again good stints from Yu and Johansson saw the team claw their way back into the top ten before another back marker side swiped Alain Li forcing yet another stop to make repairs.
Another climb back through the field, now in darkness, the race starting at midday and ending at midnight, saw the team back into the top ten before a back marker forced Frank Yu off the road in the fast turn six corner. The trip through the scenery ripped off the front splitter and all of the front under body. Grass and debris caused a brief fire in the pit stop but once under way Alain Li put in a great drive with no front aero grip back up to 6th place before handing over to Johansson to bring the crippled car home.
"It was an event to remember, drivers and team did a fantastic job to drag the car to the finish and in the circumstances a 6th place finish felt like a win" reported Craft Eurasia's Mark Goddard. "As expected Stefan was fast, very professional and did a fantastic job for us. Alain Li once again demonstrated he is one of the best 'gentleman' drivers in GT racing and Frank Yu also drove extremely well in every stint albeit very unlucky with the back markers."
Next GT event for the team will be at Macau in November.
Padayachee fourth, Aaron Chang survives huge accident
Duvashen Padayachee finished fourth in the first of two JK Racing Asia Series races supporting the Singapore F1 GP. Team mate, Aaron Chang, survived a huge accident when he was tipped into a roll and into the Turn 8 wall by an over optimistic lunge by Lucas Auer. Chang was running in a competitive third place when the accident happened and he was lucky to walk away from his completely destroyed car.
Padayachee started third with Natasha Seatter alongside in fourth and Chang from the fifth spot on the grid. Pasin Lathouras started from eighth on the competitive grid. Chang made a good start to finish the first lap in third glued to the gearbox of Jeffri in second. Chang seemed to have more pace than his rival but was unable to get past on the tight Singaporean track. This allowed Lucas Auer to close in and at the tight turn 8 right hander he dived up the inside of Chang and side swiped Aaron's right rear wheel with his left front. The car was launched into the air and hit the outside wall on the corner's exit at a ninety degrees, cockpit side to the wall. The car was totally destroyed but the driver was virtually uninjured once again demonstrating the strength of the Formula JK chassis.
The safety car was deployed whilst Aaron was extracted from the car and at the re-start another large accident saw the race end under the safety car. Padayachee took the flag in fourth whilst Natasha Seatter and Pasin Lathouras rued tardy starts which saw them drop to eighth and ninth.
"It was a disappointing race for us which promised so much but ended with a destroyed car. Lucas Auer apologised to the team after the race, which demonstrated great character, but we are appalled that the stewards considered it a racing incident and took no action. The accident was replayed to me in slow motion several times and I think I need my eyes tested as I am obviously not seeing the same incident they appeared to see" reported Eurasia's Mark Goddard. "We trust the officials to ensure driving standards are upheld and in this case I believe they have failed us. The message given is that even if your whole car is behind at the turn in point you can still fire up the inside and barge your competitor out of the way. What is worse they made their decision first prior to talking to any of the parties involved which is rather mystifying."
Race two takes place on Sunday afternoon with Natasha Seatter and Pasin Lathouras starting 3rd and 4th with Padayachee 6th and Chang in 8th, although the latter is likely to be a non-starter, a decision will be made on Sunday morning.
Podium finish for Padayachee at Singapore F1 GP event
Duvashen Padayachee finished third in a hard fought round 12 of the JK Racing Asia Series held at the Singapore F1 GP event. Team mate, Natasha Seatter was fifth, a personal best finish, with Pasin Lathouras in eighth after pitting to change a punctured tyre.
Natasha Seatter, starting from third on the grid, ended the first lap in that position with Padayachee in fourth whilst an unlucky Lathouras limped back to the pits to change a punctured rear tyre after Lucas Auer had tagged him at the start.
Auer passed Seatter and Padayachee on lap two with the latter also overtaking his Eurasia team mate just before the safety car was deployed. Racing recommenced on lap four with the top four pulling away from the field before another safety car on lap 7 closed the field up again. Auer was called in to replace a damaged front wing which promoted Padayachee to third and Seatter to fifth. A single lap of racing was left once the safety car was in and Padayachee and Seatter came home with great personal best finishes for the season. Pasin Lathouras recorded the fourth fastest race lap on his charge back to 8th in the competitive field.
"This was a great result for Duvashen and I am confident we will now see him on the podium many more times this season. Natasha has improved beyond recognition in the past year and it can only be a matter of time before we see her on a JK Racing Series Asia podium" stated Mark Goddard of Eurasia Motorsport. "Pasin was really unlucky to suffer a puncture but once back on track he drove a great race and his fourth fastest race lap demonstrated his fourth place on the grid was well deserved. It was a shame Aaron Chang was unable to start due to his accident in Saturday's race but he is recovering well and will come back stronger at the next event which supports the Indian F1 GP."
Formula Pilota seat available at Shanghai and Sepang
Eurasia Motorsport has a seat available in our Formula Pilota China team for the November 6th Shanghai Circuit World Touring Car support race and the end of season November 27th race at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia plus the December 3 non-championship event, also at Sepang. It's a great way to race a Formula Abarth at F1 circuits in hot weather in a competitive series. Download our driver guide on our website or paste this link into your browser for details:
"We are entering two cars for the three events and we already have one driver for the Sepang races:" reports Eurasia Motorsport's Mark Goddard. " Known as Formula Abarth in Europe these are state of the art junior Formula cars and these three events are a great way to set yourself up for 2012. We are happy for a driver to sign up for a one off event or of course preferably all three events."
The team employs the Championship winning race engineer from the 2010 Formula Abarth Series and we are the 2010 Formula BMW Pacific Champions. A driver cannot get any better back up than this and if you are good enough you can follow in the footsteps of Daniel Ricciardo, the F1 driver happy to state that the grounding he received with Eurasia Motorsport was instrumental in his subsequent success.
Padayachee 5th in first Delhi F1 support race
A twenty car Formula JK Racing Asia Series field put on a great display at the Delhi F1 Grand Prix event. Eurasia's Duvashen Padayachee finished 5th after a fraught race which saw his team mates, Aaron Chang, Pasin Lathouras and Natasha Seatter all involved in contact incidents.
Aaron Chang posted third fastest time in practice at the Buddh International Circuit in New Delhi. The new circuit, which is hosting the Indian F1 GP this weekend, is a great challenge and undoubtedly the best new permanent F1 circuit built in recent times.
Aaron was disappointed to qualify 7th for race one with team mate, Duvashen Padayachee in 8th. Both drivers rued mistakes on their fast laps which cost them a top six time. Pasin Lathouras was 14th with Natasha Seatter in 15th.
The first two laps of the race saw series leader, Lucas Auer, storm away into a huge lead helped by his team mate for the weekend, Camplese, who appeared to hold the rest of the field at bay until Auer's main championship rival, Afiq Ikhwan, lost patience and tried to get by only to have his front wing removed by Camplese. Most observers felt it was a cynical use of team tactics.
All this left Afiq with a car that was very fast down the long straights, due to the loss of his front wing, but little grip in the corners. A huge traffic jam developed behind him causing chaos with Natasha Seatter coming off worse after being hit by errant cars from all sides. Lathouras was also in the wars and bundled down the field by over aggressive drivers. Padayachee had looked to have escaped the confusion until running wide at T11 and rejoining behind the Afiq traffic jam, just in front of Chang. They began to work their way up to the front of the queue and in a great piece if opportunistic driving Padayachee forced his way past Khushlani and Afiq at T15. Chang took a couple more laps to find a way past Afiq, eventually finishing 7th after an eventful race. Lathouras was 14th with Seatter in 15th, both suffering with bent suspension as a result of the early race contacts.
The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday before the F1GP.
Aaron Chang finishes 7th on Formula Pilota debut
Eurasia's Formula JK driver, Aaron Chang, sampled turbo power for the first time at the Shanghai Tianma Circuit World Touring Car Championship Formula Pilota China support event. He acquitted himself well with a seventh place finish in the strong 17 car field.
Chang steadily grew in confidence during practice and qualified within the top ten for the first of two 24 lap races on the twisty Tianma Circuit. In a tight first race he was embroiled in a four car battle for 5th place. Several place changes saw the Malaysian driver drop to 9th but then claw his way back to 7th at the flag.
The second race was wet and Aaron was pushed into the gravel and retirement by a rival. "Aaron adapted very quickly to the more powerful car demonstrating that Pilota is the next step in Asia after Formula JK." reported Eurasia's Mark Goddard. "Its a tough field with talented drivers from both Europe and Asia which gives young drivers a real test of their skill"
Next race is at the Sepang F1 Circuit on November 27th followed by a non-championship at the same track on December 3. Eurasia has one car available for both races. Interested drivers should contact Mark Goddard at mark@eurasiamotorsport.com
58th Macau GP launched with GT Cup Display
The 58th Macau Grand Prix was officially launched with a display of the Star River Windsor Arch Macau GT Cup cars in Macau. The Craft Eurasia Ford GT3 cars of regular drivers, Samson Chan and Frank Yu, were joined by the team's Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 which will be driven by NISMO driver, Tomonubu Fujii.
Samson Chan recorded a fourth place finish in last year's race, the first of the regular GT Asia drivers. This year the race will be the final round of the GT Asia Series and Chan hopes to again record maximum points to end the season on a high. Frank Yu has been very competitive in GT Asia with his Ford this season and he should also be competitive at a track which should suit the characteristics of the Ford. Fujii joins a list of competitive guest drivers who include two times Macau F3 Champion, Edoardo Mortara, Danny Watts, Rodolfo Avila and last year's race winner, Keita Sawa.
Each season the Macau GT grows in prestige and this year sees the race length increased to 12 laps for the 36 entries. This will be Tomonobu Fujii's first visit to the street circuit but the SGT300 star is confident of a good showing in the Aston Martin. Practice begins on Thursday November 17th with two qualifying sessions, one on Friday and the second on Saturday. The race will be held on Sunday before the World Touring Car race.
Tomonobu Fujii finishes 5th in Macau GT Cup
In the most dramatic Macau GT Cup race seen in recent history Japanese driver, Tomonobu Fujii, brought his Craft Eurasia Aston Martin DBRS9 home in 5th place, a good result for the Macau novice. Team mates, Frank Yu and Samson Chan, both suffered damaged Ford GT3 cars in an incident filled event which featured a race stopping multi-car accident at the infamous Mandarin Bend.
Two short twenty minute qualifying sessions resulted in finding a clear lap almost impossible. Those drivers lucky enough to be allocated positions at the end of the pit lane were able to join the circuit at the front of the queue after the inevitable session stopping red flags. Unsurprisingly seven of the top ten came from that end of the pit lane. Craft Eurasia was at the wrong end and suffered accordingly. In Qualifying One Fujii spun his Aston at Fishermans bend on his first flying lap, removing the rear wing and damaging the exhaust. His one timed lap, which included his spin, was still good enough for 14th in the 33 car field. Frank Yu was 8th overall, 2nd in the GT Asia Class with Samson Chan 11th overall. Both Ford GT drivers complained of a lack of a clear lap.
Frank Yu recorded a time good for 5th overall, first in GT Asia, in qualifying two but it was removed due to crossing the line just a second after the red light came on to stop the session. Ironically the light was for team mate, Samson Chan, who had slammed into the barrier on the approach to Dona Maria corner. Samson's data logging showed he was also on a lap good for 5th place when he crashed due to running slightly offline in the kink before the turn. Once the mess was cleared up neither Frank Yu nor Tomonobu Fujii could find a clear lap and they ended the session in 9th and 7th places respectively. Samson would be unable to race due to severe damage to the car.
The race start was clean and Edoardo Mortara swept into a lead he would hold to the flag. He was followed by Pro Drivers Keita Sawa, Danny Watts and Rodolfo Avila. Mok Weng Sun was in 5th and leading the GT Asia Class from the Audi of Tsukuki and Fujii in the Aston Martin. Frank Yu was in hot pursuit doing a good job to keep up with the Japanese drivers. It all went wrong on lap three when an oil cooler pipe came adrift on Tsukuki's Audi just before the high speed Mandarin Bend and sprayed copious amounts of oil on the racing line. A closely following Fujii saw flames coming from the back of the Audi and jinked past the slowing car. Frank Yu attempted to slow as much as he could, aware braking on the oil would mean disaster, and it looked like he had made it before he lost the back end on the exit and gracefully spun across the track and slammed into the barrier. "I saw 268kph before Mandarin so it was high speed spin that seemed to go on forever" reported Yu.
Eddie Yau was next up and he slammed into the barrier ending up in the middle of the track. A Ferrari then slammed into the stricken Yau Porsche which destroyed both cars. A couple more cars were involved resulting in a blocked track and a red flag.
It took over an hour to clean up the mess and put down enough cement dust to soak up the oil. A seven lap re-start saw Fujii chase down a 5th placed Mok, taking the place on lap six.
"The Fords were handling really well and with luck Frank and Samson should have been racing for the GT Asia lead" reported Craft Eurasia's Mark Goddard. "Fujii had the speed we think to finish on the podium, it was his first visit to Macau and he was the first Macau rookie home. If he had not crashed in Qualifying One it may have been a different story. We are already looking forward to next year!"
Jordan Oon joins Aaron Chang for Formula Pilota championship final
Australian Jordan Oon will drive for Eurasia Motorsport in the final Formula Pilota Championship event at the Sepang F1 Circuit this weekend. Oon, who competed in last year's Formula BMW Pacific Series, joins current Eurasia Motorsport Formula JK Racing Asia Series driver, Aaron Chang.
"We are really happy to finally have Jordan race in one of our cars" remarked Eurasia's Mark Goddard. "Jordan tested for us in Formula BMW and demonstrated great promise so we are looking forward to see how he performs this weekend."
Aaron Chang returns to the Formula Pilota team after competing in the last round held at the Shanghai Tianma Circuit and he has been posting some good lap times in practice at Sepang.
Qualifying takes place on Friday November 26th and the two races will be run on Sunday 27th.
Daniel Cammish joins Eurasia for Championship final F.JK event
British racing star, Daniel Cammish, has joined Eurasia Motorsport for the Formula JK Racing Asia Series finale at the Sepang F1 Circuit. After minimal track time he qualified in fifth place for the first race to be held on Sunday December 4th at the Malaysian track.
The first time Cammish had sat in a F.JK car and seen the challenging F1 circuit was for a very wet official test on Saturday. He adapted quickly to the car and posted fifth fastest lap in very challenging conditions. Qualifying was dry and he was again fifth fastest just over a second off the pole time. Cammish is confident he will be on the pace for the four races which will be run on Sunday.
Natasha Seatter did a good job to step out of her Formula Pilota Car after a 12 lap race and straight into the Formula JK for qualifying. Eighth fastest time was her reward. Aaron Chan was also car jumping, having finished second in the preceding F.Pilota event but problems consigned him to 13th place.
2011 JK Racing Asia Series ends with four races at Sepang
Eurasia guest driver, Dan Cammish, improved his pace with each of the four races held at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia, just missing out on three podium finishes in the incident packed races. Team mates Aaron Chang and Natasha Seatter were in the thick of the action and had their own private battle in all four races.
Race one saw Cammish slot into third place after a close battle with Irfan Ilyas. He had opened a good gap with a lap to go when Nabil Jeffri slowed with a mechanical problem and managed to block Cammish allowing his team mate, Ilyas, by into third robbing Cammish of a debut podium. Aaron Chang did well to finish 9th from last on the grid after qualifying problems whilst Natasha Seatter went one place better after a strong drive.
Race two ended in disaster for Aaron Chang on lap two when he ran into the back of team mate Natasha Seatter at turn nine. This put him out of the race whilst Natasha did well to finish 10th with a bent rear wing. Cammish was again in the battle for third place but was forced off the road during the battle with the Petronas duo, Jeffri and Ilyas. He eventually finished a disappointed 6th.
Aaron Chang finished race three a mere .625 of a second in front of Natasha Seatter after a race long battle whilst Cammish was fifth after another close battle with Jeffri and Ilyas. Cammish lost several places at the start of race four but was soon up to fourth place closing on the leaders, at one point almost within striking distance of newly crowned champion, Lucas Auer. However Ilyas lunged past and whilst they battled it allowed Auer to get away. Once clear of Ilyas, Cammish pulled away to finish fourth. Aaron Chang again finished in front of Natasha Seatter, this time by .694 of a second!
"Dan demonstrated the car is on the pace, he was improving every time out after only a wet test session, one dry practice and qualifying before the race. He did a good job having never driven the car or circuit before and he was racing against drivers who have had hundreds of laps around Sepang" remarked Eurasia's Mark Goddard. "Aaron did a great job, getting quicker with each race whilst Natasha again proved she is real racer".
Eurasia gear up for testing
2012 pre- season testing gets into gear at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia next month. Six days in January, 3-5 and 16-18, are followed by nine days in February, 6-8, 16-18 and 24-26. Places are still available in our Formula JK, Formula Pilota and Formula Three cars. Interested drivers should contact mark@eurasiamotorsport.com. Drivers receive a full driver coaching and data analysis service in our championship winning cars. It is a cost effective way of getting up to speed for next season in warm weather at a current Formula One Circuit, considered one of the best on the F1 calendar
Formula JK expands into Europe
Formula JK will support the Singapore and Indian F1 Grand Prix plus the Spa 24 Hours and Paul Ricard GT events. It will also headline two Asian Festival of Speed events at the Korean F1 Circuit and Sepang in Malaysia. Five current F1 circuits racing in front of F1 and leading GT Teams makes this a truly remarkable and cost effective career move for young drivers. Eurasia Motorsport is testing potential drivers at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia. Next dates are February 5-8 and 16-18. Email mark@eurasiamotorsport.com to book your seat.
The Series Schedule is:
May 6 Korea F1 Circuit, Asian Festival of Speed
July 1 Paul Ricard, France, GT
July 29 Spa, Belgium, 24 Hours GT
Sept 9 Sepang, Malaysia, AFOS
Sept 23 Singapore F1
Oct 28 Delhi, India F1
(All dates subject to confirmation)
Formula JK receives Worldwide TV coverage as befits a truly international race series. The cars have featured in the early careers of the majority of the leading young F1 and GT drivers, including World Champion Sebastian Vettel and new Toro Rosso F1 signing and Eurasia Motorsport graduate, Daniel Ricciardo.
Pre-season testing is essential for a successful campaign therefore drivers need to book their place as soon as possible.