Bangkok--16 Aug--
The Asian Formula Renault Championship rounds 5 and 6 were held at Shanghai F1 International Circuit in China on Aug 14th, 2010.
One of the most advanced and challenging race track in the world, Shanghai International Circuit was completed in May 2004. Located in Shanghai, it is 4.60 km long with the capacity of hosting some 200,000 people. Since its completion, Shanghai International Circuit has successfully hosted F1 Chinese Grand Prix, MotoGP, V8 Super Cars Series and China Circuit Championship (CCC) and Asian Formula Renault races.
Qualifying for this event started at exactly 1.25pm in the afternoon. On lap one, Sandy Stuvik immediately set a very fast time of 1.50.17. Hong Wei Cao followed with 1.50.23. Kato Jim, made 1.50.767. Hong Wei Cao couldn't improve his time further, but Sandy made another fast time on lap 4 with 1:49:525 and became the only driver to break the 1.50 mark in the 40C hot afternoon. The qualifying session finished with Sandy taking Pole position, Hong Wei Cao second, Kato Jim third.
Race 1 started at 3.55 in the afternoon, the 15 year old Thai racing driver, Sandy Stuvik sponsored by The Pizza Company and Dacon Inspection Services started from pole position. Martin had a good start and overtook Sandy into turn one. During the 10 lap race, Sandy was clearly the fastest car and challenged Cao for the lead throughout the race, but Cao used his years of experience to effectively block the fast charging Thai. Sandy set the best time of the race 1.50.086 on lap three, a full 0.7 seconds faster then the race winner.
Sandy eventually took the 2nd position while Hong Wei Cao from China got the 1st and Kevin O’Hara from Ireland took the 3rd.
Sandy with car no. 15 tried to overtake Cao no. 88
Race 2 Sandy had a good start and tried to overtake Cao in turn 1, but ended up falling down to third place instead. By the end of lap 1 he had again got back up to 2nd and tried again to overtake Cao for the lead. Three times Sandy was forced onto the grass trying to overtake and clearly was much faster then the leader, but Cao's defense was leaving no room for Sandy to move up. The young Thai driver kept fighting all the way until the end and took second place a mere 0.3 seconds behind race winner Cao. Sandy again set the fastest race lap time of 1.50.889.
Sandy secured the 2nd position while Hong Wei Cao from China still got the 1st and Kato Jim also from China took the 3rd position.
Pictures (from left): Sandy Stuvik 2nd, Hong Wei Cao 1st and Kato Jim 3rd
Sandy now leads the 2010 Asian Formula Renault Championship with 132 points, in front of China’s Hong wei Cao with 105 points and Venezuela’s Samin Gomes on 75 points. The Thai driver takes his strong Championship lead on to the next race, Zhuhai International Circuit in China on September 17th -19th, 2010.