Christian Jones Wins First Race at Subic
A dramatic race saw O?Hara lead from pole and build a comfortable lead before his wooden splitter was ripped off on the Bus Stop kerbs and the consequent loss of down force allowed Jones to easily pass. The race then finished under the safety car following a heavy accident to Don Pastor, possibly caused by him hitting the remains of O?Hara?s splitter.
The drama started on the warm up when JoJo Silverio stripped first gear and was unable to take the start. O?Hara led from Jones into turn one whilst behind Richard Joson made best use of the gap left by the absent Silverio to barge pass Mark Goddard, in the process deranging the latter?s front suspension. Enzo Pastor also passes Goddard in the confusion.
O?Hara build up a useful lead over Jones over the first few laps whilst Joson kept Pastor and Goddard bottled up behind him. Pastor sneaked by Joson at turn one in a ballsy pass whilst it took Goddard another lap to out brake Joson into the chicane. Goddard then dispatched Pastor one lap later and pulled away to what looked like a safe third place. Goddard then spun out of the race on the entry to the bus stop on lap six, around the same time that O?Hara clipped the tyres in the final turn allowing Jones to close in. O?Hara then lost his splitter and the unfortunate Don Pastor hit the offending item and slammed into the wall hard on the exit of the bus stop.
Jones was able to out brake O?Hara into the hairpin before the safety car was brought out whilst the stricken Pastor was attended to. The mess was too great to clear and the race ended under the safety car, Jones leading O?Hara and Enzo Pastor.
The Promotion Class ended in controversy after Tyson Sy overtook [16 year old] Dado Pena for the lead of the class at the hairpin. Pena reckoned the ?full course yellow? for the safety car was already out whilst Sy swears there were no yellow flags. Pena then pitted for a reported engine problem and rejoined to finish 4th in class, behind Sy, Hermoso and Kenkou Miura.. Aaron Caratti split Sy and Hermoso on the road with a sick sounding engine, due to a cracked exhaust header.
Race two results are below the fold.
Source: AF3
Race 2 Results
Christian Jones took a lights to flag win in race two at the Subic International Raceway, the Australian leading home Irishman John O?Hara and Filipino Tyson Sy.
Jones built a sizable lead over the first few laps and the cruised to the finish with a 4.3 second margin over O?Hara. Tyson Sy finished the first lap in fifth place and then fought his way past Aaron Caratti and then Enzo Pastor to take a deserved third place, first in the Promotions Class.
Sy?s Team Mark Goddard had started at the back of the field, with just Silverio and Don Pastor behind him. Goddard battled his way to the back of a tight duel between Caratti and Pastor, only to find the chicane blocked when Pastor spun and Caratti did likewise in avoidance. Goddard?s electrics were already cutting and the engine died in the confusion. Pastor and Caratti rejoined well down the field. Richard Joson inherited fourth place with Dado Pena and Kenkou Miura next up, second and third in the Promotions Class.
Don Pastor finished an amazing seventh driving in great pain after his race one accident. His team had done a fantastic job to get the car back together for him. Roland Hermoso had a gear break and retired on the tenth lap whilst Mike Tuason also retired on the ninth lap. Poor JoJo Silverio once again did not move off the grid and was pushed to retirement.
Jones now has a 20 point lead over O?Hara whilst the rest are now left breathless in their wake. Sy also has a huge lead in the Promotions Class. Next race is Beijing on August 15th.
