Peña zooms to fame in AF3

GUANGDONG, China — Indonesian ace Ananda Mikola proved untouchable anew but was forced to share the limelight with Pinoy young gun Dado Peña who finished a fighting second Saturday in the incident-marred third leg of the 2005 Asian Formula Three series at the Zhuhai International Circuit here.

After handily topping the qualifying session earlier Saturday, Mikola, 26, raced true to form en route to his third straight win in the series and boosted his front-running total in the drivers’ championship to 60 points, counting the 40 he earned in sweeping the first two legs in Batangas last month.

After a series of misfortunes in Batangas, Peña, 17, the lead driver of the Ambi Pur Team Goddard-Minardi Team Asia, finally drove trouble-free in clocking 20 minutes and 14.955 seconds at the 4.3-kilometer Zhuhai track, emerging as the worthiest challenger going into the fourth leg of the series Sunday.

That distinction could have belonged to defending champion Christian Jones, the Australian lead man of Christian Jones Motorsport, but he was forced to start from the pit lane when his first gear conked out just before the start. Showing resolute determination, he battled back from way down in the first lap and salvaged third in 20:15.304.

Another Filipino, JP Tuason of Tuason Racing School, also earned a podium spot, finishing second to Irish Greg Murphy of Ambi Pur Team Goddard-Minardi Team Asia in the promotions class for cars with chassis built in 1999 and below.

The day, however, clearly belonged to Mikola of Fastron Racing with Threebond, who floored the pedal the moment the red lights went off and streaked to the finish line after 12 laps in 20:12.529.

"I just went out there and got my pace going. Hopefully, I’ll get another good start (in the fourth leg) and take it from there," said Ananda, who now leads Jones by 18 points overall, with Irishman John O’Hara of Fujitsu Ten Toyota Team Toms, fourth in 20:20.192, running third with 32.

The starting grid for the fourth lap of the 12-stop series will be based on the order of finish in the third lap. Race results can be accessed at www.asianf3.net.

Peña earned 15 points and improved his total to 25, seizing fourth overall from Briton James Winslow of Shell Helix Kinetic PCSO, one of four drivers in the 14-man starting field who failed to finish the race, a victim of engine trouble right in the first lap. His mechanics fixed the problem and Winslow returned to action only to retire later on.

The three others–promotions class leader Moreno Soeprapto, Mikola’s half-brother driving for Denso Hanjin JF3; Macau entry Rodolfo Avila also of Hanjin and Renan Morales of Fujitsu–also fell prey to either engine trouble or mishap. Hardest hit was Avila, 18, racing in his home track, who was bumped from behind by 2003 champion Pepon Marave of the Philippines in the ninth lap and was forced to retire after slamming into a wall.

Tyson Sy of Speedtech Asia, whose engine got busted in the qualifying, failed to join the starting grid despite attempts by his crew to fix the problem. He was left hoping he could join the fourth leg Sunday.

"I couldn’t use the first gear and had to start from the pit lane. It was very unusual but I got going and started passing guys one after the other. I tried to catch up with Dado but there wasn’t just enough time. I’ll just do good and have a good start (in the fourth leg)," said Jones, son of one-time Formula One champion Alan Jones.

"There was no way Christian could catch me, our cars have the same pace. Ananda was quite far ahead of me so I concentrated on Christian. I’m now thinking of making the best possible start (in the fourth leg). We’ll see how I can handle Christian," said Peña.

Marave, the most senior driver in the field at 39, stalled on the grid during the warm-up lap and was forced to start from the back. The Shell Helix Kinetic PCSO top man, however, easily passed the slower cars and consistently stayed in the top five until he touched the back end of Avila’s car, due mainly to the Macau entry’s failure to step on the gas at the right moment entering a curve leading to the 900-meter straightaway.

With his car sustaining minor damage, Marave went on to finish fifth in 20:21.258 and salvaged eight points, improving his overall total to 18.