Trio of Teen Titans Battle for Formula V6 Asia Win

It will be a battle of the teenage titans this weekend at the Formula V6 Asia race as current Championship leader, Earl Bamber, locks into battle with his team mate, James Grunwell and India’s rising race superstar Armaan Ebrahim.

Bamber and Ebrahim have both already tasted victory coming into Rounds 3 & 4 when the duo shared a win apiece during the last outing here in Malaysia last month. Now, after a long break there will be a triple threat for any one of the top three drivers as they head into the heat at Sepang this weekend.

Coming in the form of changeable track conditions, the impending threat of rain and the fiercely competitive drivers in the field, it will not be an easy task to take the win in front of the Super GT crowd.

Although the current Formula V6 Asia Driver Championship leader is coming from a very mixed outing during the opening rounds, he is optimistic of his chances as the team has prepared a race winning car for him.

“We had a pretty mixed bag of luck at the first round. The team gave me a fantastic car to race. We finished second in the first race and won the second race and it became a very, very good weekend. It could quite easily have gone the other way. So, I think we are quite lucky to be where we are in the Championship at the moment. The car is strong and the team is strong so hopefully it can roll-on to this weekend” said Bamber after the Signing-On sessions yesterday.

“Its really close at the front and this is a different track (compared to the North Circuit that the drivers raced on during the previous outing), its twice as long and has completely different characteristics, so its going to make for an interesting weekend”.

All three agree that running during the Super GT will be a challenge with the changing track conditions stemming from the different races laying down different types of rubber. Bamber recollects on last year’s race during the Super GT, “Last year when I was here, the track gripped up differently. It’s just a matter of looking at what we have before our race and see what the track conditions will be like and you basically have to trust yourself”.

His “The Pizza Company Team Qi-Meritus” team mate, Grunwell, speaks on the different drivers that will be up there challenging for the win. “Its really close as you can see now between myself, Earl, Ro-Charlez and Armaan. And there is also another driver that could be up there who we have never seen before, Recardo Bruins. So we will see what happens. I made some mistakes the last time, exiting the pit-lane, so maybe I should have won a race or should have got a better result, so I’m slowly trying to improve. I think I was on the pace in that race so this weekend shouldn’t be any different”.

As for Black Tara’s driver, Armaan Ebrahim, coming into the weekend he has expressed his desire of repeating his performance here last year. “I am looking forward to this weekend and to repeat last year’s performance where I took a double. I need a perfect weekend to take the lead in the Championship. Unfortunately, in the second race last month, we would have had an easy win, but that’s racing. So hopefully the bad luck goes in the beginning. I just need to focus and put my head down and not think about anything else – just win and that’s what’s going to get me back on top.

Ebrahim, who loves racing on a wet track says of the changeable weather, “You never know if it’s going to be dry or wet, the clouds are really coming in and its been wet the last couple of days. You never know what you are going to have and I’m really up for the challenge. I enjoy driving in the wet so it wont be a problem”.

The two-day race meeting will begin with the qualifying session held on Saturday, 21st June, at 8am and the 12-laps Super Sprint Race being held at 2pm the same day. Meanwhile, the 20-laps Grand Race will be held on Sunday, 22nd June, at 2.15pm on the 5.54km Sepang International Circuit.

For further details, please visit www.afos.com

Photos credit to Motorsport Asia Ltd