The third round of the IAME Series Asia took place at LYL Circuit in Malaysia last weekend.
For the Juniors there was confusion before the final start as the superheat results were initially posted with the race winner Andrea Galimberti having received a technical infringement disqualification, which would have had him starting in 8th place for the final, and Jack Larsen on pole. The organiser later explained that there was miscommuncation and that it was not supposed to be a DQ, so Galimberti was reinstated as the polesitter. The part in question has been sent to IAME for inspection.
The race got underway with Galimberti continuing his dominant form – once he had broken away from slipstream range from Jack Larsen and Conrad Garrow, he extended his lead to win the race by over 2.5 seconds from Larsen. Mauri took 2nd place briefly at the start of the race, but Larsen and Garrow made it past him in turn 12 of lap 1. In the battle for 2nd and 3rd, Leonardo Mauri did his best to work together with Conrad Garrow to keep touch with Larsen, but Larsen gradually extended the gap and came home in a comfortable 2nd, with the gap between Garrow and Mauri also increasing, resulting in much less exciting final compared to the previous round which saw four lead changes on the final lap!
In post-race technical inspections Galimberti’s engine was under observation again. It was decided that the part under suspicion would also be sent to IAME, and no disqualification applied. There was some doubt as to if it was normal wear-and-tear or a deliberate modification.
The Cadets were next and put on a show. With 4 laps to go, Mason Kwong had the lead ahead of Jay Kostecki and Posh Kongchol. Kostecki and Kwong battled hard and switched places several times, with Kostecki briefly falling back to third behind and Kongchol in the lead. The battle kept going all the way to the final lap, with Kostecki successfully defending to win the race, and Kongchol took the final overtaking move in the top 3 getting past Kwong in the penultimate corner to finish 2nd. The Cadets put on a masterclass in clean racing, it’s worth a look in the official IAME youtube channel!
The Masters category had their own grid for the final this time in contrast to previous rounds, where they shared the grid with the Seniors. Thiru Kumaran started on pole and after going side-by-side with Harith Oh at the start, he mainted the position just ahead of the chasing pack which included the entire grid. Werasak Aiemwichan was overtaken for 3rd place by Darren Formosa. Darren Formosa then took the lead from Kumaran, and Kumaran had to limp back to the pits after a mechanical flag for a rear bumper that was falling off and likely slowing him down. He rejoined the race to finish at the back after repairs. While Formosa crossed the line in 1st, a bumper penalty dropped him to 2nd place with Aiemwichan close enough to inherit first. Scoot Wood took third, with Harith Oh in 4th and Kumaran a few laps behind in 5th.
The Senior race had so much action that words won’t do it justice! Just as with the Cadets, make sure you enjoy the official stream.
Toby Gale was on strong form all weekend and started the final ahead of Ky Burke and Sharvesh Senthil. After the opening lap Gale and Burke had a decent gap to Putera Adam in 3rd, but by lap 4 Adam and Yu Ka Po had worked together to close the gap. From about lap 7 onwards the race looked like every lap was a final-lap with intense defending and battles. Starting the race in 5th, Zarief Rayqal carved his way through the field, and with 2 laps to go he had a margin to the pack behind as the battle for 2nd and 3rd place continued. Toby Gale took 2nd place with Sharvesh Senthil coming out well from the last lap mayhem to take 3rd after starting the final lap in 5th.
The Senior results remained provisional even after the trophies had been handed out as Gale and others felt that Rayqal had pushed his way through on a few of his overtaking moves. Four of these moves can be viewed on the stream (at 4:51:44 , 4:54:43 , 4:56:52 , and 4:57:55 ) – so you are also able to draw your own conclusions as to whether it was just aggressive driving or over the line. It is of course possible that the other drivers did the same to Rayqal – but those were not caught on stream. Rayqal’s engine had the same discrepancy as his teammate Galimberti in Juniors – but was cleared by the stewards. The final results are now posted, with the original order remaining.
Full Results: https://timingresult.com/events/185
