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2008 Asian Formula 3  

Matt Howson wins Round 14 at Batangas

Matt Howson took a fine win after soaking up the pressure from Frederic Vervisch with Rafael Suzuki in third place in the Asian F3 race at Battangas in the Phillipines. It was an exciting race as both Suzuki and Vervisch stalled at the start resulting in both drivers having to chase after the leaders.

Both Suzuki and Vervisch stalled as the lights went out allowing Howson to take an early lead. Vervisch was able to restart almost immediately and finished the first lap in third place whilst Suzuki’s car took several attempts to start before the engine fired and he lost a lot of time. This left Howson leading from Ed Pead, Vervisch and Valois. The latter spun out at turn six on lap three and was unable to take further part in the race. Hermoso retired with a misfire at the same time whilst Kalpakiotis also ended his race with a fuel pump failure.

Up front Howson was pulling away from Pead who had Vervisch all over him. They were very close at the first two turns before Vervisch was able to out brake Pead at tunr three on the third lap and was then free to close the four second gap to Howson. Vervisch was circulating between half and three quarters of a second lap quicker and was on the tail of Howson by lap seven. Several times the Belgian tried to pass at turn one, but Howson had it covered and despite Vervisch’s best efforts he was able to hold on to take his second win in the series.

Suzuki had slowly reeled in Pead and was past with a lap to go to take the final podium place. Round 15 will be held on Saturday morning and an exciting race is expected as Howson will start from pole from Suzuki and Vervisch.

Rafael Suzuki victorious in opening Batangas race

Rafael Suzuki took an accomplished win in the first race of the Castrol Asian F3 Super Racing Festival weekend. Matt Howson was second with Frederic Vervisch third.

Poleman, Frederic Vervisch of Team Goddard, stalled at the start handing the lead to team mate and fellow front row man, Rafael Suzuki. Matt Howson of PTRS slotted into second from series newcomers Ed Pead and Leonardo Valois, both of Aran Racing. Vervisch was able to restart before the last car had passed and was soon past Roland Hermoso and Peter Kalpakiotis before the end of the first lap. Meanwhile up front Matt Howson was close to Suzuki who was pushing very hard and had a couple of moments in both turn two and the bus stop chicane on the first lap. However Howson then understeered wide at Brians Turn giving Suzuki some breathing space and the Brazilian got his head down and opened up a two second gap which he controlled to the end to take his first win in the series. Howson drove well to keep the pressure on, particularly as he had a flying Vervisch closing in over the last few laps. The latter was within a second of Howson by the chequered flag, taking the fastest race lap in the process.

Ed Pead had a lonely race in fourth place but he is getting faster each time he sits in the car and has impressed on his F3 debut. Valois lost a lot of time on the third lap when he spun at turn one as Vervisch went past, both cars getting out of shape as the Belgian forced his way past. Peter Kalpakiotis was the Promotions Class victor.

Matt Howson takes first Asian F3 win while Vervisch contiunes to dominate

Frederic Vervisch took a controlled first place in round nine of the 2007-8 Asian F3 Series held at the Batangas Race Circuit in the Philippines. .His team mate Rafael Suzuki was second with Matt Howson third. 

Vervisch made a good start from pole position giving no chance to his Team Goddard team mate, Rafael Suzuki, at turn one to find a way past. Matt Howson of PTRS slotted into third with Aran Racing’s John O’Hara in fourth. Suzuki was pushing hard and giving Vervisch a hard time at the front until a mistake at the Bus Stop Chicane resulted in a trip across the grass and allowing Vervisch to pull away. Suzuki finally finished three seconds in front of Howson.

Vervisch then went on make it two race wins in a row by winning round ten with Matt Howson was second and Rafael Suzuki third. Vervisch and Suzuki both made good starts with the former  taking a tight line into turn one to ensure Suzuki was unable to find a way past.

This allowed Matt Howson to take a run around the outside and emerge in second place. A fired up Suzuki was pushing hard to find a way past Howson but tried just a little too hard at turn two on the second lap and spun. A closely following John O’Hara also spun and cars became interlocked. Suzuki was able to continue but O’Hara had a punctured tyre and was forced to retire.

All this drama allowed Vervisch to take another accomplished victory whilst Howson drove a good race to take second spot on the podium. Suzuki got his head down and was able to finish in third place from Don Tacos and Roland Hermoso. 

Vervisch then made it three wins from three this morning, fending off an early challenge from Rafael Suzuki. Matt Howson was third.

Vervisch again made a good start to take the lead from Suzuki who has having to defend from a charging Howson. Suzuki was putting some pressure on Vervisch until a mistake at turn one handed a three second lead to his Team Goddard team mate and allowed Howson to close right in. The pair was battling for the second spot when Howson’s gearbox played up and he dropped back, finally finishing stuck in fourth gear.The top three were well ahead of the rest of the field.   

Matt Howson finally sttopped the Vervisch steamroller today, the PTRS driver took an accomplished race win in a wet round twelve of the Asian Formula Three Series held at the Batangas Race Circuit. 

Vervisch was only second! .Rafael Suzuki came third. The cars arrived at the grid on slick tyres only for the heavens to open resulting in a scramble to fit wet tyres. Both Vervisch and Suzuki had too much wheel spin at the start and this allowed Howson to take a brave run around the outside at turn one to take the lead. Howson then went on to take a dominant win drawing away to take a thirty-nine second lead by the flag. It was a great display of wet weather driving and it was also the first Asian F3 victory for the PTRS team.Meanwhile in his wake

Frederic Vervisch was pushing hard to try and keep Howson within reach but fell off at turn one on the third lap handing second place to Rafael Suzuki. The Brazilian looked like he was going to take the second spot but he also went grass cutting at turn six on the seventh lap handing the place back to Vervisch. Despite going off two more times Vervisch was able to retain second place until the chequered flag.

Vervisch now has a 51 point lead over Howson in the Championship but with 127 still left to be won the title is no by means won. 

Frédéric Vervisch - A tumultuous weekend in Batangas

In Batangas on the Philippines Frédéric Vervisch had a tumultuous weekend. On the bumpy and very dangerous Batangas Racing Circuit, Vervisch was again a class of his own, but again he got a hard time.

Four races were scheduled for this weekend, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. During qualifying for race 1, the battery of Frédérics Dallara F304-Tom’s Toyota broke down. “All of a sudden I came to a halt in the middle of the track and after a long stop, I finally reached the pits. After the intervention of my mechanics, I was able to drive one fast lap which was enough to qualify second on the grid”, the 21-year-old Belgian driver told after qualifying.

But in the first race, which was held in wet conditions, the driver of Team Goddard encountered Hamad Al Fardan, who pushed Frédéric off the track like in Sepang. Freds Dallara landed in the gravel and after some overtaking manoeuvres, he finished on the third podium spot. The second race was held in the same conditions. Frédéric put race leader Al Fardan under pressure all the time, but the driver from Bahrain closed the door every time. Finally, Frédéric forced his opponent into an error and overtook him, thus taking his third victory of the season.

The starting order of race 3 was based on the results from the first two races. As he finished 3rd and 1st, Fred was credited with three points and therefore started from second place on the grid, next to Al Fardan.

But at the end of the installation lap, an unexpected incident happened. While he was taking up his grid position, Fred was suprised by a broken cable of the powershift. “I slid a few inches past my grid slot. I reacted immediately and selected reverse gear before everyone came to a halt for the start”, Frédéric explained.

His rivals deemed this move to be against the rules and after the race, which was convincingly won by Frédéric, they took action. Ultimately the race direction disqualified Vervisch. “This is incomprehensible”, said the astounded Team Goddard driver. “For something like this, the race director can’t disqualify me. My rivals also claim that I made a jump start, which is of course absolute nonsense. Therefor I appealed against this decision from the stewards. If they reject my appeal, I go to the International Court of Appeal of the FIA. We will do everything to get our victory back, as we are confident we didn’t make a mistake.”

After race 3, there was a long discussion with the race director, which resulted in Frédéric almost being to late for the start of race 4. “I wasn’t able to prepare myself for that race, as I spent a lot of energy in that discussion”, said Vervisch.

Frédéric Vervisch hit back at his concurrents in race 4. Following the disqualification, he had to start the race from the back end of the grid. After a magnificent start, Fred had already climbed up to fourth position in the first turn. On the same lap, he overtook Howson and on the next lap it was Niall Quinn who had to let Frédéric pass him. In the end also Al Fardan had to back off.

Frédéric now has to wait until the race direction reaches its final verdict about the result of race 3. If the disqualification is upheld, Frédéric will take the matter to the International Court of Appeal of the FIA.

“In spite of the events off the track, I had a nice weekend. I had to fight very hard for these victories and that makes them even nicer. Of course I have to thank everyone at Team Goddard for their commitment, because it’s thanks to them that we were able to perform so well. The weekend could have seen a different ending without their intervention during qualifying”, Frédéric concluded.

The next races of the Asian Formula 3 Championship won’t take place in Chennai (India) on 9 and 10 February. The teams will visit Batangas again a week later.

Round 6

Frederic Vervisch won an exciting round six of the Asian F3 Series from Hamad Al Fardan and Matt Howson. Suzuki was fourth and Niall Quinn fifth. Hamad and Vervisch put on a great display of often side by side racing in the wet conditions. Hamad, of Team GFH Bahrain, led from the start whilst Team Goddard’s Vervisch slotted into second from Matt Howson of PTRS Racing. Aran Racing’s Niall Quinn was next up from Team Goddard’s Rafael Suzuki. The lead pair pulled out a small gap to Howson who was pulling away from the battling Quinn and Suzuki. The Brazilian found a way past Quinn on lap five and pulled away from the young Irishman who was coping well with the wet conditions and demonstrating a lot of potential. Like Suzuki this was their first experience of racing F3 in the wet.  Meanwhile up front the gap was never more than 1.2 seconds and often it was nothing at all as the leaders fought a hard but fair race for the lead. Several times Vervisch was alongside Hamad only to have to give way. The crowd were certainly being well entertained. Vervisch finally found a way past at turn 3 on lap nine and then drove away setting the race’s fastest lap in the process. Hamad was now under pressure from Howson but try and he may Howson could not find a way past. “That was my best race in F3” remarked Vervisch. “The racing was close but fair and I really enjoyed it”.  Rounds 7 and 8 of the series will take place tomorrow, Sunday 13th, and its hoped the weather will be kinder. Ironically this is the dry season in this part of the Philippines.      

Round 5

Al Fardan conquered the treacherous wet conditions to take an accomplished win in round 5 of the Asian F3 Series from Matt Howson and early leader Frederic Vervisch. Pole sitter, Team Goddard’s Rafael Suzuki, was quick off the line but a sideways moment on the run up to the first turn handed the lead to team mate Frederic Vervisch. Hamad Al Fardan, of Team GFH Bahrai, muscled his way past the Brazilian at turn one and Aran Racing’s Niall Quinn took the opportunity to drop the pole man to fourth place on the run up to turn two. The conditions were extremely difficult, the spray making visibility almost non-existent for the majority of the field. At the end of the first lap the order was Vervisch, Hamad, Quinn, PTRS Racing’s Matt Howson and Suzuki. The pattern of the race changed at the tight turn three hairpin when Hamad dived up the inside of Vervisch. Contact was made, spinning Vervisch whilst leaving Hamad in the lead. He then got his head down and was never headed in an accomplished display of wet weather driving. The incident promoted Niall Quinn to second place, the young Irishman impressing on his F3 debut especially taking into account the terrible conditions. However a lap later he was in the gravel at turn six and out of the race. Vervisch was soon chasing after Howson but a trip through the turn five gravel narrowly missing the stranded car of Quinn left him just ahead of Suzuki who impressing with his drive in his first taste of an F3 car in the wet.. That was how they finished with Howson setting the race’s fastest lap on the final tour.