Aussie, Irish dominate; Sy makes history

SUBIC, Pampanga — A penalty caused Tyson Sy three seconds in the morning race — the same penalty that motivated the teenage prodigy to the top three in the afternoon and into Formula 3 history books.

Christian Jones of Australia and John O’Hara of Ireland broke away from the rest of the field early in the twin races yesterday and finished 1-2 in the overall standings for a second straight leg in the Asian Formula 3 (AF3) Super Prix Series here at the Subic International Raceway.

But it was Sy, the leader of a new generation local F3 drivers, whose greatness could not be denied as the 16-year-old finished third in the race in the afternoon — the youngest in AF3 history.

The results of the morning contest in the promotions division, which Sy has dominated this year, were revised by race stewards after a video review showed Sy overtaking promotions pole-holder Dado Peña in the hairpin area of the sixth turn while the yellow flag was up.

The yellow flag was raised when Don Pastor, the younger of the Pastor brothers, lost control of his vehicle in a bus stop that caused him to spin out and crash to the wall early in the morning race.

A yellow flag is raised whenever debris is scattered or an accident occurs on the track. Under this condition, drivers must not change their positions.

A time penalty of three seconds on Sy was added on the 16-year-old’s final race time.

Sy was relegated to second with an official time of 27 minutes and 32.12 seconds. Kenko Miura of Japan replaced Sy and assumed first place in the promotions division with a morning time of 27 minutes and 31.46 seconds.

"I wasn’t happy with the decision. I thought a lot of the drivers passed the yellow flag. I was disappointed," said Sy, who was driving for Castrol Team Goddard-Minardi Team Asia.

As soon as the gun fired off in the afternoon race, however, Sy quickly erased the memory of "the yellow-flag incident" with a 15-lap drive that took him a promotions-best 19 minutes and 38.2 seconds to finish. The Brent School eighth-grader registered his fastest time in the ninth lap with a time of one minute and 13 seconds.

With his impressive showing here, Sy climbed to third spot in the overall standings with 32 points after two legs, going to the twin legs in China beginning August.

In a finish reminiscent of his twin victories in Batangas last April, Jones sneaked past top pole holder O’Hara on a corner in the eighth lap of the morning race then Jones maintained his hold on the No.1 grid in the afternoon to claim back-to-back victories on local shores.

The Australian driver, representing Christian Jones Motorsports, clocked 27 minutes and 26.92 seconds in the morning race and 19 minutes and 8.56 seconds in the afternoon.

Jones, who collected 40 points for his dual victories in the Subic leg, has now totaled 80 points through two AF3 spots.

O’Hara, driving for Shell Kinetic Racing, has accumulated an aggregate of 60.

Pastor’s older brother, Enzo of Team TOM’s-Eclipse Petron’s, became the first Filipino to break through to the top three overall in three races.

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