"Everything’s fine. The engine is good, the set-up of the car is close to perfect. Now, all we need is to pull off in the actual race," said the 19-year-old Pena of Team Goddard, who clocked 1:26.912, just a tad slower than his clocking in practice Tuesday.
Briton James Winslow of JA Motorsport posted the fastest time in ideal conditions, just a tenth of a second faster than Peña, while another Pinoy star Tyson Sy, 18, of Speedtech Asia, struggled aboard his car, the same Dallara that he wrecked in a crash in China last June.
Sy was seventh fastest in 1:28.252, just a whisker ahead of last year’s promotions class champion Moreno Soeprapto of Indonesia. Finnish driver Henri Karjalainen of Team Goddard, making his series debut, clocked 1:27.417 while series leader Ali Jackson of Ireland’s Aran Racing clocked. 1:27.552. Another debuting driver, Indon Rama Danindro, in the seat of a Shell Helix Kinetic car, clocked 1:27.804, followed by Satrio Hermanto of R&W Team Indonesia who had 1:28.232.
"We are .8 of a second behind when we are actually looking to be two seconds faster than the rest," rued Sy, who is running third in the standings with 105 points, 22 behind Jackson and just two behind Winslow.
Two more practice sessions will be held Wednesday afternoon, giving Sy’s pit crew more time to fine-tune his racing machine. If his car doesn’t improve, Sy said he would be more than willing to play back-up and help Peña clinch a podium finish.
"That’s the best we can do if we really can’t find the right set-up. Dado is running real quick and if I can’t challenge for the win, I’d be very happy to help him do it. Basta sa Pinoy pa rin mapupunta ‘yung panalo," Sy declared.
Two races will be held Thursday just after the race for pole position, with the next four spread out over the next two days.
Pena earned just eight points out a possible 80 in China where he had a severe case of bad luck. He failed to finish Round 6 due to electrical malfunctions and figured in separate collisions with compatriots Roland Hermoso and Pepon Marave in the next two rounds. He finished fifth in Round 9.
Briton Dillon Battistini of JA Motorsport clocked 1:28.562 in practice, followed by Bagoes Hermanto of R&W Indonesia (1:28.727), lady driver Gaby de la Merced of Speedtech Asia (1:28.845), twice series runner-up John O’Hara of Aran Racing (1:29.242) and former Asian karting queen Michele Bumgarner of Team Goddard (1:29.688).
Shell Helix lead driver Pepon Marave celebrated his 41st birthday and opted to stay out of the track. The sky over the 3.9-kilometer circuit stayed clear with temperatures reaching 34 degrees Celsius and Winslow, a driving instructor at the Silverstone Circuit in England, took advantage.
"The track is really hard on the tires. It’s really abrasive but we’re still doing really quite well. We did some good times and we think we’ll do even better tomorrow," said the 25-year-old Briton.
Jackson, the 17-year-old circuit leader who has won four of the last five races, will use a simple strategy. "Just keep the drive smooth all the way," he said.