Indon champ wraps up AF3 crown

Rosario, Batangas — Ananda Mikola of Indonesia settled for a safe third place finish in the 11th lap yesterday to crown himself this year’s Asian Formula 3 champion with a round to go at the Batangas Racing Circuit here.

Racing before some 2,000 fans including 200 of his countrymen, Mikola, 25, of Fastron Racing with Threebond, timed in 37 minutes and 7.45 seconds to finish at the podium behind lap winner John O’Hara of Ireland and surprise second placer Rodolfo Avila of Portugal with times of 36.49.124 and 37:05.019, respectively.

The Indonesian thus earned 12 points for finishing third to hike his total to 139 points, enough to seal him overall championship with a lap remaining and the bragging rights as Asia’s top of Formula 3 racer.

"I’m thinking of just finishing the race and staying out of danger," said Mikola, who topped four laps including two here last April.

Britons James Winslow of Shell Helix Kinetic PCSO actually finished third in 37:05.628 but was disqualified for faulty start. Winslow’s camp appealed but race officials stuck to their decision.

Winslow’s disqualification benefited no less than RP’s best bet Tyson Sy of Speedtech Asia.

Registering a time of 37:09.420, Sy remained second to Mikola in the overall standing with 109 points, nine ahead of Winslow and just 10 over resurgent O’Hara, who catapulted from 79 to 99.

Sy, who topped the two laps in rounds 9 and 10 in Sentul, Indonesia last month had his chances for a podium finish when he overtook Mikola for a while at No. 3 at the start of the fifth lap.

But his car twitched at the lap’s first bend, allowing Mikola to regain his third place position and two others — Avila and another Filipino teenage phenom Dado Peña — to overtake him. That was enough to stall his bid.

"I was going in too fast when I got Ananda but my car wiggled because I was too fast," recalled Sy, who turned 18 years old last month. "After that, I tried to catch up with them as fast as I could but I could not get through their momentum, I just lost mine."

Peña, the 17-year-old son of AF3 chairman Ed Peña, ended up fourth with a 37:08.016 clocking after encountering car problems weeks before the RP leg.

"The rest of the week we had problems, the car didn’t feel too good," recounted Peña, whose best finish was at second behind Mikola in the third round in Zuhai, China. "This was the only time I actually did 10 straight laps and I feel really good."

Meanwhile, Moreno Soeprapto, Mikola’s younger brother, of Denso Hanjin JF3 finished second behind circuit first timer and Irishman Emmet Queenan to also clinch the overall title in the promotions class with still a round remaining.

Lee Farrell of Shell Kinetic PCSO finished at No. 3.