Peña, Sy expect tough challenge from Irish ace

They’re not saying it out loud but everybody is casting a wary glance at Ali Jackson, the 17-year-old driver of Ireland’s Aran Racing who sped away to victory in the last round of the Asian Formula Three Series at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China last month and is looking formidable going into Rounds 6 to 9 this weekend.

Even Dado Peña and Tyson Sy, who have four victories between them, were amazed at how Jackson, now the lead driver of the Irish team in place of countryman John O’Hara, posted a runaway victory in wet conditions that marked the last race in Guangdong Province.

AF3 Corp. chairman Ed Peña, however, attributed Jackson’s high-powered performance so far to the Irish team’s doggedness in putting a lot of miles in their racing machine in the off-season.

"He’s done a lot of testing in the off-season and put a lot of miles in his car," said the elder Peña, "and the rewards are coming out."

Peña added the results of the coming races, set on Saturday and Sunday at the 4.3-kilometer Zhuhai track, will depend largely on prevailing conditions.

"Europeans are used to racing in wet conditions and Jackson showed this in Round 5. We will see how the coming races develop. If it rains, Jackson and the other Europeans in the field will certainly have the advantage," Peña said.

"If it doesn’t, Dado and Tyson can give them all a good fight. We expect a tough three-way fight for honors. If it stays dry, Tyson and Dado should have the inside track," he added.

On the strength of his Round 5 win, Jackson has climbed into a tie for third and fourth overall with the younger Peña at 52 points, just four points behind Briton Dillon Battistini of JA Motorsports. Sy, of Speedtech Asia, still shows the way with 87 points.

The younger Peña, who celebrated his 19th birthday last Saturday, left for Zhuhai yesterday along with the other drivers while Sy stayed behind to attend to an earlier commitment. He is set to leave on Thursday, just in time for practice runs.

"We’ve proven in Round 4 that we can go fast. We can even go faster, if the conditions allow it. There’s no reason why we can’t win again," said the younger Peña, lead driver of Team Goddard.

In all, 14 drivers will start on the grid on Saturday, including Briton James Winslow of JA Motorsports who is running fifth with 42 points, Indon Moreno Soeprapto of Fastron, Bagoes Hermanto of Indonesia’s R&W Team Indonesia, Filipino Pepon Marave of Shell Helix Kinetic PCSO, Macanese Loumeng Cheong of Team Goddard, Indon Satrio Hermanto of R&W Team Indonesia Joson F3, JP Tuason of the Tuason Racing School, and lady driver Gaby dela Merced of Speedtech Asia.

As of yesterday, Speedtech Asia mechanics have put together Sy’s car heavily damaged in Round 5 when he slammed into the stalled car of Dela Merced at the height of blinding rain.