The third round of ROK Cup Singapore was held at the counter-clockwise layout of KF1 last weekend. Victories were grabbed by Riley Jackson (Cadet), Aaron Aqil (Cadet U10) Danish Chen (Junior), Lewis Xie (Senior), Peter Chua (Expert/Expert PLUS), and Wang Jiahao (Rookie).
Satt Kotak looked set to win the cadet category having taken pole position and wins in the heat and pre-final ahead of Riley Jackson. After having finished earlier races several seconds adrift in 2nd, Jackson put on a lot more pressure in Kotak in the final, and it culminated in a last-lap battle with a move in the Pico corner. Jackson got ahead and led the most important lap of the weekend, crossing the line just 3 tenths ahead of Kotak. The move came under some scrutiny in the stewards room after the race, but the footage didn’t show any contact – just a good clean overtaking move – so Jackson kept his win. Aaron Aqil crossed the line in 3rd overall, and first of the Under-10 drivers.
Conrad Garrow took pole in the Junior heat just 7 thousandths ahead of Danish Chen. Chen then took control from the start of heat – winning the heat and pre-final. In the final it was Danish that got through lap 1 clean, with Garrow starting in 4th managing to take 3rd after turn 1, and then 2nd a little later. The battle for 3rd and 4th was intense between the Dandu sisters and Tibeau Fraise.
Garrow then put in a series of fastest laps and with 10 laps to go was within shouting distance of Chen, but as he got closer to the leader, the leader’s pace got faster as well with the gap stabilising. Garrow never had a clear opportunity to pass, and Chen took the win by a 1-tenth margin at the end, extending his championship lead.
The Senior race had the largest shuffle from pre-final to the final, with both favoritres Dillan Tan and Rafael Vaessen having a horrible time of it. Tan had a mechanical issue from the start that slowed him down, which allowed Lewis Xie to take the lead and drive off into the distance. While trying to navigate his way past Tan, Vaessen had contact with Kareen Kaur, ending his race. Yehonathan Moshe meanwhile was able to grab a comfortable 2nd place, but a bumper penalty dropped him to 3rd, with Kaur setting the fastest lap inheriting 2nd after crossing the line in 3rd.
In Expert/Expert Plus, Ian Whillock had pole, heat, and pre-final wins, but wasn’t able to capitalise in the final as it was Peter Chua that found the pace when it mattered most. Despite setting the fastest lap, Whillock wasn’t able to get close enough for a move, crossing the line 3 tenths behind Chua.
Ivan Lai took 3rd overall, and 2nd in Expert Plus (with Chua also in the Expert Plus category).
Wang Jiahoa had a clean sweep of the event in the Rookie category, taking pole in qualifying, heat, pre-final, and final wins. He finished the final over 5 seconds ahead of Gwanhui Kim and Jeaven Leong.
Race Results on race-monitor.com (before any penalties): https://www.race-monitor.com/Results/Race/155035
Credit photos @kartingasia / KartingAsia.com
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