Final day surge nets O’Hara second overall

ROSARIO, Batangas — John O’Hara of Ireland swept the last two races of the Asian Formula Three Grand Prix Sunday and snatched second overall from Filipino Tyson Sy and Briton James Winslow at the Batangas Racing Circuit here.

Taking off from where he left off in Round 11 earlier Sunday, O’Hara, of Shell Helix Kinetic PCSO, ruled Round 12 in 15 minutes and 33.954 seconds for his third victory this season in the nation-hopping series before a capacity crowd that included 200 Indonesian students cheering for runaway winner Ananda Mikola.

Mikola, of Fastron Racing with Threebond, settled for second in 15:43.963 and finished the season with 154 points, 35 points ahead of O’Hara who ended the series by clinching 40 points that powered him to second from fourth in the series sponsored by Addict Mobile, PLDT myDSL, Boysen Paints, Yokohama Tires and Lima Hotel. Rounds 11 and 12, which had as it media partners Wave 89.1, Magic 89.8, K-Lite 103.5, Jam 88.9, 99.5RT, Celebrity Connect Magazine and Manila Bulletin, were broadcast live over Studio 23. Race enthusiasts can log on to www.asianf3.net and www.mypad.net for the final results.

In the promotions class, Emmet Queenan of Ireland, driving for Speedtech Asia, scored a second straight win while Indonesia’s Moreno Soeprapto, Mikola’s half-brother driving for Denso Hanjin JF$ who had earlier clinched the title for entries driving cars with chassis built in 2000 and below, was second for the second straight time.

Fil-Briton Jonathan Legris placed third in Round 12. Winslow, O’Hara’s teammate who was disqualified after finishing third in Round 11 after jumping the start, finished fourth in 15:56.802 for 10 points and edged Sy, of Speedtech Asia, for third overall, 110-109. Sy, after a fifth place finish in Round 11 worth eight points, skidded off the track after nine laps and was relegated to fourth, a dismal finish considering he went into the final two rounds running second overall.

Rodolfo Avila of Macau, racing for Christian Jones Motorsport, clinched third in Round 12 and finished fifth overall with 95 points, ahead of Dado Pena of Team Goddard-Minardi Team Asia who had 85 points. Like Sy, Pena, 18, failed to finish the final race after being bumped from behind in the first lap, damaging the suspension of his car.

"It was great that I managed to keep them at bay, it was a good race from start to finish," said O’Hara, 24, who posted his second straight second overall finish. Christian Jones of Australia, racing for Christian Jones Motorsport, won last year’s title but was forced to give up the crown without a fight halfway through this season to pursue a career in the newly-organized A1 Grand Prix.

"Heading into the race, the placings in the standings didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted to finish the season on a high and I’m very glad I was able to do it," added O’Hara.

Mikola tried to chase O’Hara but gave up trying when it became clear the Irishman was headed to victory. "He was going very fast and I just did not want to commit any big mistake,"said Mikola, 25.

"I tried to push hard until the final three laps and then I decided second would not be very bad."

Sy started fifth on the grid but lost six places when he momentarily lost control of the car after hitting a small bump on the final turn of the third lap. He managed to claw his way back to eighth before running over another bump while braking on the same turn in lap 10, making his car jump a few inches and skid off.

"Things like that happen. I just wanted to catch the others pero bigla lang natamaan ko "yung bump na ’yun," said Sy. "The really bad thing is it happened twice on the same turn. But I’ll get over it. Things like that happen."