Duvashen Padayachee finished 5th and 4th in Rounds 3 and 4 of the JK Racing Asia Series held at the Sepang F1 Circuit on May 28-29th. However a spectacular accident in round 5 saw him roll out of the race.
Qualifying was wet and all four Eurasia Drivers struggled to put in a consistent lap in the changing conditions and found themselves in 9-12th positions for round one. Padayachee made a storming start and was in the thick of the race for third place before fending off the attentions of Jimmy Antunes to the flag. Round four was a similar story with Duvashen up to third place before dropping to fourth in a group of three cars covered by only 1.5 seconds at the flag, Duvashen only one second behind the third placed driver. Former team mate in 2010, Nabil Jeffri, was fifth.
Round five saw Padayachee confident of a podium finish as he was the only car in the top group starting on new tyres, his competitors electing to use the allocated two new sets the day before. However in a classic Turn 2 accident he was forced wide in the corner entry and Hiqmar Danial’s front tyre hit Duvashen’s rear tyre resulting in his car rolling. On landing upside down on the grass the roll hoop dug in and launched the car into a spectacular vertical take off, the car performing a back flip before landing upright.
One again proving the safety of the cars, Duvashen walked away shaken but not stirred. The team was able to rebuild the car before the final race of the day but an electrical problem, due to accident damage, saw him retire from the race.
Natasha Seatter continued her improvement, her lap times creeping ever closer to the pace. In round three she was given a drive through penalty for a false start whilst in round six she was knocked off the road and into retirement by an errant competitor who will receive a ten grid place penalty for round seven of the series. Her best result was 8th in round five.
Pasin Lathouras finished all four races, his best result also 8th in round four whilst Aaron Chang also finished every race, his best result 6th in round five.
“It was not the best weekend the team has had” reported Team Manager Mark Goddard. “We are sure Duvashen would have finished on the podium had he not had his accident which is very positive. Aaron and Pasin seemed to have lost pace from the first event which we are investigating. The data shows they should be much further up the grid and I am confident we will see this in the next event. Natasha continues to improve with each race which is very encouraging.”
The next event will be held at the Sentul Circuit in Indonesia on July 23-24.
