Indonesian brothers make it a clean sweep at BRC

Ananda Mikola won both rounds at the opening event of the Asian Formula Three Series held today at the Batangas Race Circuit in the Philippines. His brother, Moreno Soeprapto, took the top step on the podium for the Promotion Class in both races.

The first race saw Mikola lead from lights to flag, however Christian Jones made him really work for the win, hounding the Indonesian for the most of the race. What looked was going to be grandstand finish was spoilt by back markers with a lap and a half to go. John O’Hara completed the podium with Dado Pena just holding off James Winslow for fourth place. Rodolfo Avila completed the top six with Pepon Marave in seventh. In the Promotions Class Moreno drove away from the field leaving Enzo Pastor and Greg Murphy in his wake. JP Carino and JP Tuason clashed on the first lap, both drivers were out on the spot, whilst John Marcelo missed the start with a gearbox problem. Tyson Sy finished 9th after stalling at the start.

Race two was a repeat of the first, with back markers again blunting Jone’s challenge with a few laps to go. Winslow completed the podium after Dado Pena crashed heavily on the first lap and O’hara and Tyson Sy clashed, putting Sy out on the spot and dropping 0’Hara into fourth spot. Moreno again dominated the Promotion Class, taking fifth place overall. Pastor and JP Tuason completed the Promotion Class podium. John Marcelo crashed heavily in the kink on lap one, completely destroying the left side of the car and junking the chassis, fortunately without injury. Rodolfo Avila spun out on lap 8 whilst JP Carino retired on the first lap.

A large crowd made for a great atmosphere at the Addict Mobile Batangas Asian Formula Three Superprix. Greg Murhpy reported “I have never taken part in such a great before” which pretty much summed up the feeling of all the new competitors.