SEPANG (May 28, 2011) – Mohd Afiq Ikhwan and Akash Nandy, from www.Meritus.GP, performed remarkably to secure podium positions in Round 3 and 4 of the JK Racing Asia Series at the Sepang Circuit here today to prove the team’s superior consistency this season.

Meritus.GP, who have PETRONAS as its key sponsor, have won four podiums in four rounds of the JK Racing Asia Series and appear poised to continue their outstanding performances in the remaining two rounds (Round 5 and 6) tomorrow which is being run as part of the Asian Festival of Speed (AFOS).

Afiq, second twice in the first two rounds, made it three straight podiums when he finished third in Round 3 today.

“I had a bad qualifying session and started from sixth place. After a few laps in the race the safety car appeared and I took advantage of that situation,” said Afiq. “I kept my time consistent and it paid off. This is my third podium in three races. I hope there will be many more but we’re still finding the set up of the car. So let’s see how it goes,” Afiq said.

“Car was good but it was just too bad with the puncture. Certainly not a good weekend so far, will have to make up for it in tomorrow’s race,” he said.

Afiq’s hopes of a better performance later in the evening were blown away when he suffered a puncture. The Malaysian had started fifth and was very quickly up into third place at the second corner on lap two. To his horror, a car struck his rear tyre which led to a puncture.

“We go him back into the race but he was already 62seconds down and to save tyres for tomorrow, we retired him,” explained Meritus.GP’s Peter Thompson.”Not a fantastic weekend as we struggled with the tyres in the qualifying. The tyre compound is very different from what we are used to and with the wet weather conditions,, it made things tough.”

Round 3 was eventually won by Lucas Auer of EuroInternational. Irfan IIyas (PETRONAS Mofaz) was second in a time of 24:06.807s. Afiq was 3.136s behind the champion.

While Afiq suffered some bad luck today, his teammate Akash was on fire and kept the Meritus.GP flag flying high with a third placing in Round 4. Akash shot out of the grid and took his chances well to move up into third behind Lucas Auer and Irfan Ilylas.

“I started from 7th and fought up to third to finish on the podium. So it was a good race after the disappointment in the morning. Did not finish (the morning race) because of puncture,” said Akash. “I had a better start in the second race and I always kept pace with the leaders. I fought hard to maintain position and I would like to thank my team for all the hard work to find the right set-up. And also thank you to my parents for the opportunity. I hope that I can keep up with the performance for tomorrow where I will be on third for the race tomorrow. “

Formerly known as Formula BMW Pacific, the Series is now run under Motorsport Asia with the backing of Indian tyre manufacturer, JK Tyre & Industries.

The level of competition in the Series has increased as evidenced right from the start, with the top eight qualifiers coming in within one second of one another. There was plenty of action throughout the first four races with battles all the way down the order right to the closing stages of the races.

Rounds 3-6 of the JK Racing Asia Series will be held as part of the Asian Festival Of Speed event on 28-29 May at Sepang International Circuit. This will be the second outing in Malaysia before the Series travels to Indonesia, China, Singapore and India.

www.Meritus.GP are the most successful team in the history of the series, having won seven consecutive team titles and five of the Drivers’ titles.

Results
Round 3: 1. Lucas Auer 24:03:671, 2. Irfan Ilyas 24:06:807, 3. Afiq Yazid 24:10:170
Round 4: 1. Lucas Auer 22:10:417, 2. Irfan Ilyas 22:16:641, 3. Akash Nandy 22:33:964


Prepared By www.meritus.gp