Bangkok--20 Jul--Dacon Inspection Services
Thai racer extends his Asian Formula Renault Championship lead
Sandy takes double 2nd places in round 3&4 in Chengdu
The Asian Formula Renault Championship rounds 3 and 4 were held at Chengdu International Circuit in China on July 17th -18th, 2010.
The Chengdu Circuit is a 3.3 km long relatively new track in the heart of China, quite twisty and bumpy, it is considered a difficult and technical track to race on. Coming to the track for the first time, Sandy Stuvik had to learn quickly to be able to compete with the local track specialist Martin Cao (Hong Wei Cao) and Rainey He (Xiao Le He) who raced here during the China Touring Car Championship only 3 weeks ago.
The track was damp and rain was always close during early testing and the qualifying session Saturday noon, saw the track still half wet when the session started. All the Formula Renault cars were on slick tires. The Thai racer, Sandy Stuvik, pushed hard and was amongst the fastest throughout the session, but in the end had to settle for P2 on the grid behind Martin Cao, but in front of Rainey He on third.
Round 1 started Saturday afternoon after the track had dried up in most places. Both Martin Cao and Sandy Stuvik had good starts and the ten car field all got through the first turn without incident. The race soon settled down with all the front drivers running to their own plans and securing points rather than going for any risky fights in the first race. The race ended with all drivers in their original pole positions.
Round 2
Race 2 on Sunday evening again saw good starts from the front field, as a light rain came just as the race start went. Sandy mounted a charge on Martin Cao in the first lap, but defending well the Thai driver soon settled into second position, realizing that he would have a very good championship point lead by maintaining his position. Sandy Stuvik soon opened up a huge gap to third places Rainey He and could manage his race throughout to secure a safe second place, with a 12 second gap to third place.
Sandy now leads the 2010 Asian Formula Renault Championship with 96 points, in front of Venezuela’s Samin Gomes with 64 points and China’s Martin Cao on 60 points. The Thai driver takes his strong Championship lead on to the next race, Shanghai F1 Circuit in China on August 14th -15th, 2010.