This weekend marks the return of the Formula V6 Asia 2008 Season to the Sepang International Circuit after a month long break. The drivers are eager to continue with the battle that began in May to become the next Formula V6 Asia Champion. This time they will compete in front of the Super GT crowd on the 21-22 June 2008.
It will be a hard fought battle for the Championship lead as seen during the season opener, when two drivers stood out, both sharing the experience of a very mixed weekend. For Armaan Ebrahim of Black Tara, turning 19 came with one of the best presents – the first win of the season. But his brilliant start to the season was marred with a connector problem that saw him lose his lead for Round 2 and the Championship lead to New Zealand driver, Earl Bamber.
Bamber currently lies at the top of the leaderboard going into Rounds 3 & 4 after claiming one win and one spectacular second place, where he climbed from the back of the grid. The Pizza Company Team Qi-Meritus and 2006 Formula BMW Asia Champion (now known as Formula BMW Pacific) is the youngest FV6A driver this year. He hopes to continue collecting wins to further increase his current total of 27 points from just two races.
But just six points behind is Bamber’s team mate and one of his fiercest on-track rival, James Grunwell, a Thailand based British driver who is as determined to make a few wins and stake his claim on the championship before the end of the year. The 19-year old is also a Formula BMW Asia graduate, who after collecting two third placed finish and one point for pole position, lies in second with 21 points.
Third placed man is the 19-year old Indian rising race star, Armaan Ebrahim, who is in his second year with the Formula V6 Asia Series. Ebrahim will be one of the drivers to look out for and after losing the coveted Championship win to British driver James Winslow last year by just nine points, he is fired up to make amends to finally claim the win that eluded him last year.
Newcomer, Isaiah-Ro Charlez may be a familiar name to race fans in Asia, after a two year study break, the 21-year old has made a fantastic comeback to the race scene to secure one podium finish in only his second race of the year. He currently lies in a shared fourth place on the leaderboard with American driver, Kevin Chen. Chen made his debut last year with American Team, CT Motorsport, during the Indonesian rounds and will be competing for a full year in 2008 under Champ Motorsport’s management.
Joining the lineup are two newcomers, Robin Tato of Indonesia, who will compete with the Korean based team E-Rain Racing and Australian driver Mark Williamson driving for Team TaraDTM.
Also making a return to the series is Singaporean Hafiz Koh of TaraDTM and Japanese driver Katsuhiro Konno of Mahara, while Chinese driver Michael Ho of Champ Motorsport, will compete as a guest driver in Sepang.
Koh returns to the series with a fierce determination of completing the year as one of the top three drivers after finishing 5th out of 17 drivers last year, while Konno will be competing for his first full season in the Series.
The Pizza Company Team Qi-Meritus currently lies in the lead for the Formula V6 Asia Team Championship standings with a total collection of 47 points, 12 points ahead of second placed Black Tara and a further 19 points from Champ Motorsport.
The two-day race meeting will begin with the qualifying session held on Saturday, 21st June, at 8am and the 12-laps Super Sprint Race being held at 2pm the same day. Meanwhile, the 20-laps Grand Race will be held on Sunday, 22nd June, at 2.15pm on the full 5.54km circuit.
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