RP’s Pastor captures Formula Renault crown

Enzo Pastor did the Philippines proud last Sunday when he became the first Filipino to win in the 2002 Asian Formula Renault Championship during the fifth round of the series at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China’s Guangdong province.

The 20-year-old Pastor, driving for Team T.E.C., timed his start perfectly and surged ahead of the polesitter, China’s Franky Cheng of FRD Motorsports, at the first corner of the 4.32-kilometer circuit. Pastor, then drove with remarkable steadiness despite the pressure exerted by Cheng in the challenging portions of the track.

Cheng overshot Turn 14 in the second lap and ended up in the grass. He managed to rejoin the race but was swamped by the rest of the field and dropped down to seventh. That gave Pastor more leverage as he continued on his way to the checkered flag. Cheng climbed back up to second, while Hong Kong’s Jeffrey Lee took third.

"I kept a clear head on race start after the F3 cars of Jojo Silverio and Jonathan (Chan) stalled on the grid in front of me. I made a good start and ended up in front of Franky on Turn 1. From then on, I built up a healthy lead and relaxed so as not to make any mistakes. Approaching backmarkers in the latter part of the race, I started to push again just to make sure of the victory," said Pastor.

Cheng was relieved to have finished second on the podium after being passed on the race start and then further slipping down to seventh in the order.

"Both myself and Enzo had a good start and I felt good. On lap two, though, I ran wide on Turn 14 after hitting oil. I managed to rejoin on the straight narrowly missing four or five oncoming cars, I then had to claw myself back through the order into second. I knew I couldn’t catch Pastor, but I was determined to finish second."