Hi guys, here is a summary of my weekend in the Asia Cup. Again, the Asia Cup Series is a junior single seater series, using the Formula BMW single-seater race car. The race is held at Sepang, and consists of 4 races (2 Saturday, 2 Sunday). From Wednesday to Thursday, there were a few test sessions, of which I was consistently among the top 2 in terms of speed and lap times.
The race is held at Sepang, and consists of 4 races (2 Saturday, 2 Sunday).
From Wednesday to Thursday, there were a few test sessions, of which I was consistently among the top 2 in terms of speed and lap times.
On Friday, there was qualifying. The position gained during qualifying dictates the starting position in Race 1.
In qualifying, I managed to get 3rd place, only 2 tenths of a second behind the pole position time.
Starting Race 1 on Saturday in 3rd, it was raining very heavily. As the track was very slippery, I had lots of wheelspin at the start, which caused me to lose a few positions before the first corner. Having to constantly defend against other competitors, I soon fell down the order to 10th place where I remained.
The starting position of Race 2 is determined by the fastest lap in Race 1. Because I spent the entire race battling with other drivers, I didn’t have a clear lap to set a decent lap time, resulting in my starting in P10. The track was dry, so we used slick tires. I fought my way to 5th.
On Sunday morning, I started Race 3 in P3 (dictated by the 2nd fastest lap in qualifying). It was raining very heavily again, and I once again had trouble getting sufficient traction off the starting line – this caused me to lose places yet again. However, I managed to fight back to 4th place, within half a second of 3rd. It was good to see that my pace in the weather conditions was back.
In Race 4, the track had dried from the heavy rain, but it was still very slippery. On slick tires, I started in P6. The opening few laps were very intense, with the top 6 fighting in one single pack, sometimes going 3 wide into some corners! After a few collisions and risky manoeuvres, I fought my way to third place, setting fastest sector times even on the last lap, as well as placing the 2nd fastest lap time.
I wasn’t wholly satisfied with my results this weekend, but it was good to finally finish on the podium.
I hope to do Malaysia proud when I fly to Zhuhai in China on Monday morning to represent our nation in the Formula Masters China Series.
Regards,
Daniel Woodroof
