A twenty car Formula JK Racing Asia Series field put on a great display at the Delhi F1 Grand Prix event. Eurasia’s Duvashen Padayachee finished 5th after a fraught race which saw his team mates, Aaron Chang, Pasin Lathouras and Natasha Seatter all involved in contact incidents.
Aaron Chang posted third fastest time in practice at the Buddh International Circuit in New Delhi. The new circuit, which is hosting the Indian F1 GP this weekend, is a great challenge and undoubtedly the best new permanent F1 circuit built in recent times.
Aaron was disappointed to qualify 7th for race one with team mate, Duvashen Padayachee in 8th. Both drivers rued mistakes on their fast laps which cost them a top six time. Pasin Lathouras was 14th with Natasha Seatter in 15th.
The first two laps of the race saw series leader, Lucas Auer, storm away into a huge lead helped by his team mate for the weekend, Camplese, who appeared to hold the rest of the field at bay until Auer’s main championship rival, Afiq Ikhwan, lost patience and tried to get by only to have his front wing removed by Camplese. Most observers felt it was a cynical use of team tactics.
All this left Afiq with a car that was very fast down the long straights, due to the loss of his front wing, but little grip in the corners. A huge traffic jam developed behind him causing chaos with Natasha Seatter coming off worse after being hit by errant cars from all sides. Lathouras was also in the wars and bundled down the field by over aggressive drivers. Padayachee had looked to have escaped the confusion until running wide at T11 and rejoining behind the Afiq traffic jam, just in front of Chang. They began to work their way up to the front of the queue and in a great piece if opportunistic driving Padayachee forced his way past Khushlani and Afiq at T15. Chang took a couple more laps to find a way past Afiq, eventually finishing 7th after an eventful race. Lathouras was 14th with Seatter in 15th, both suffering with bent suspension as a result of the early race contacts.
The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday before the F1GP.
