Three-way Asian Winter Series championship shootout as Jack Doohan makes Asian debut 21.02.2019: •Rinus ‘Veekay’ van Kalmthout, Ye Yifei and Alessandro Ghiretti in championship contention at Malaysian season finale this weekend •Son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan set for Asian debut on four-car Hite

•Rinus ‘Veekay’ van Kalmthout, Ye Yifei and Alessandro Ghiretti in championship contention at Malaysian season finale this weekend


•Son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan set for Asian debut on four-car Hitech GP entry


•Host of newcomers includes Renault Sport Academy talents Christian Lundgaard and Victor Martins




Eighteen-year-old Dutch sensation Rinus ‘Veekay’ van Kalmthout will be on the hunt for the inaugural Asian Winter Series title this weekend as the new series concludes its debut season at Malaysia’s 5.542km FIA Grade 1 Sepang International Circuit.

With four wins in six races the Hitech GP driver heads into the triple-header with a 29-point advantage over fellow championship contender Ye Yifei of Absolute Racing. Also in mathematical contention to lift the title is Veekay’s team mate, 17-year-old Frenchman Alessandro Ghiretti, as the title battle goes down to the wire in the final round.

Making his Asian racing debut this weekend is 16-year-old Australian Red Bull Junior Team driver Jack Doohan. Son of five-time MotoGP World Champion Mick, after an accomplished career in karting, Jack made his car racing debut last season with considerable success, finishing as top rookie in the F4 British Championship. He added to his experience with outings in the ADAC and Italian F4 series.

Other new faces joining the series finale are 17-year-old Renault Sport Academy drivers Christian Lundgaard of Denmark and Frenchman Victor Martins, who join Malaysian driver Akash Nandy at Pinnacle Motorsport. Lundgaard won two F4 championships in 2017, was runner-up and top rookie in the 2018 Formula Renault Eurocup last season, and this year will contest the new FIA F3 Championship. Asian Winter Series team mate Martins was runner-up in the 2017 French F4 Championship and fifth in the last season’s Eurocup.



Also making his Asian Winter Series debut is Dutchman Joey Alders, who joins Vivien Keszthelyi at BlackArts Racing. Alders earned his seat having achieved impressive junior single seater results with the team in China. Like Doohan, Alders only embarked upon his car racing career last year. Rounding out the BlackArts Racing trio is Macau driver Charles Leong, fourth in last year’s F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA.



The series sees the addition of a second female driver, with three-time and reigning Kyojo Cup champion and new W Series candidate Miki Koyama joining the three-car B-Max Racing Team squad along with Masters class points-leader Tairoku Yamaguchi and Motoyoshi Yoshida. As well as winning the all-female Kyojo Cup championship last season, Koyama also contested the F4 Japanese Championship.



Quick Super License driver Tomoki Takahashi will be looking to make his mark in the final three races of the series. Completing the four-car Hitech GP line-up is Briton Pavan Ravishankar who, like Ye’s Absolute Racing team mate Eshan Pieris, has suffered more than his share of bad luck in the six races so far.



Qualifying for Races 7 and 9 begins at 18:10 local time (GMT+8) on Friday, February 22, with Race 7 getting underway at 9am on Saturday and Race 8 following at 13:05. The final round of the 2018/19 Asian Winter Series begins at 10:20 on Sunday, February 24. All races will be live streamed via www.f3asia.com and on the series Facebook page.






Nikki Kemp - photos AWS