Pu Jun Jin now heads the China Driver Class Championship after rounds 4-6 of the Formula Masters China Series held at the Shanghai F1 circuit on May 25-26th. Rookie team mate, Matthew Solomon, continues to impress and led the first laps of round six despite this being only his second car event. Both drivers now look forward to the next round at Ordos in China with great confidence.
Solomon qualified third for race one, a fine effort although he was a little disappointed after heading the time sheets in practice the day before. “Kevin” Pu Jun Jin was in eleventh place which was also disappointing as he had been much higher up the time sheets in practice.
Solomon made a good start and was pushing the two leaders for the first few laps until an overtaking attempt at turn 11 saw him run wide and he dropped to fifth place which be held to the finish. Kevin meanwhile had a great race finishing in 7th place less than a second off sixth.
Race two saw Solomon start third again (starting positions dictated by the driver’s best lap from race one) and Kevin in 8th place. Solomon was embroiled in a frantic scrap for second for the first few laps of the race whilst Kevin was up to sixth, taking the place from China Driver Class rival Yuan Bo on lap 5. Solomon ended the race in fourth whilst Kevin was sixth.
Race three started with drama on the grid when it started to rain. Half the field opted to stay on slicks whilst others, including the Eurasia duo, gambled on wets. Solomon was quickly into the lead and held it until lap five when eventual race winner, Barath who was also wet shod, found a way past. Solomon dropped to sixth at the flag with overheating tyres. Kevin came by well down the field at the end of the first lap but he was soon on a charge and was up as high as seventh before a couple of mistakes in an epic battle with China Driver Class Championship rival dropped him to ninth at the flag.
“Matt is easily the best rookie in the series and it’s only his lack of experience that is keeping him off the podium right now” reports Eurasia’s Mark Goddard. “He is still improving every time he gets in the car and the whole team is confident he will be winning races this year. Kevin is also a Formula car rookie and he is improving with every lap and truly deserves to be leading the China Driver Class Championship”.
Next round is at Ordos in China on July 7th.
