Love takes final two races en route to AsiaCup Series championship title

After an emphatic season that produced a near-perfect record of 14 wins out of 15 races and a total of 289 points, the 2015 AsiaCup Series season finale drew to a close with Australian Jordan Love (#79 AUS) taking home the honour of being the final AsiaCup Series champion.

Malaysian Adam Khalid (#5 MAS) came home as the vice champion. His strong form in the latter stages of the series helped contribute towards a clean sweep of six podium finishes during the four-day weekend. His total of 154 points after 15 races was enough for Adam Khalid to secure the vice-champion position as well as the overall AsiaCup Series Rookie Title.

Adam Haikal made it a memorable weekend for the Malaysian contingent claiming the bronze medal position in the overall drivers’ standings.

In what turned out to a closely fought affair at Sunday’s final two races from the six that were scheduled, with the final sixth race being an AsiaCup Super6 race, it was Jordan Love who signed and sealed his dominance. With victories in both races, the Aussie ace outclassed the field in Race 5 to end his 2015 AsiaCup Series campaign on a high with his 14^th win and then followed it up with another comfortable win in the AsiaCup Super6 Race 6.

Race 5 – Final Race of the 2015 AsiaCup Series

With a pole position start for the fifth race of the weekend on Sunday morning ahead of Adam Khalid, it was the Aussie ace that had the better start, exploding into action to quickly pull out an incredible gap from the rest of the field by the first sequence of corners.

Behind Love, there was plenty of action between the rest, particularly between Adam Khalid, Drew Ridge, Adam Haikal (#77 MAS) and Andrew Kim (#24 KOR) on the opening lap. However, a collision involving the Korean and Adam Haikal, forced the Malaysian off the track, before subsequently ending his race prematurely. A damaged front wing for Kim also saw the Korean drop down the field.

Meanwhile, a costly spin for Adam Khalid several corners later also on the first lap dropped the youngster down the order, promoting Drew Ridge (#4 AUS, AsiaCup Super6 contender) and Nazim Azman (#17 MAS) into podium contention.

Despite the setback, Adam Khalid made a spirited comeback by the third lap, recovering to make his way up the field to be within reach of both Ridge and Nazim by the halfway point of the 8-lap race. Ahead of him, there was also plenty of drama involving Ridge who suffered a spin on several occasions, which later pointed toward a tyre failure.

That caused Ridge’s pace to suffer, allowing Nazim to take second position on him. Their on-track duel would go on until Nazim was able to pull away slightly by the penultimate lap.

More drama would ensue towards the end of the race when a recovering Adam Khalid managed to catch Ridge into the final stages of the race, to set up a nail-biting end to the season finale race. Despite suffering tyre issues, it took a monumental effort on the Aussie’s part to hold off the Malaysian’s challenge. Though Adam did manage to temporarily overtake Ridge, it was a thrilling drag race to finish line, which saw Ridge edge Adam Khalid for third spot in the race.

Though Adam Khalid did finish fourth on the road, he was able to claim third spot for the AsiaCup Series podium.

 Race 6 – (AsiaCup Super6 only)

The final race of the weekend, which counted for the AsiaCup Super6 one-weekend event that ran concurrently with the AsiaCup Series, was again a Jordan Love affair in extremely wet and challenging conditions. The heavy downpour prior to the scheduled start led to a delayed start due to the extreme wet conditions deeming it too dangerous. With the conditions abating slightly, the race went underway at 3.00p.m with race officials allowing the drivers an extra reconnaissance lap.

Proving himself as the weekend’s rainmeister, Love was able to have a comfortable race overcoming the conditions en route to a masterclass race victory. Behind the leader, his fellow competitors had a more difficult time negotiating the spray from other cars rendering it more difficult to find the optimum racing lines causing many to suffer spins and off-track moments as well as retirements.

Meanwhile, after carefully navigating the track, AsiaCup Super6 title contender Ridge began picking up his pace in the latter stages of the race to begin closing in on Love. The young Australian eventually finished in second ahead of Malaysian Adam Khalid.

With the win, Love also picks up the AsiaCup Super6 title with Ridge in second and Adam Khalid in third overall.

Driver Quotes:

Jordan Love (#79 AUS) – Winner, Race 5, Winner Race 6 (AsiaCup Super6) – “My main focus today was to ensure I get a good start. In Race 5, Adam was next to me but I managed to outrun him into turn one, but I was in a defensive mood. But the whole championship season has been great, as I’ve won all races except one, due to the mechanical failure. I have learned a lot from the year and can’t wait for next season.

“I am also really pleased to have also won the last race of the year. Even though it was really wet, I went in with the usual start strategy, which was to lead at the start until the first corner and then keep pushing to pull out a gap. It’s simple and it works!”

Nazim Azman (#17 MAS) – P2 Race 5 – “I started the race in P7 and managed to finish in second place, which I almost cannot believe, especially as I had a bad start falling backwards to 9^th and was losing a lot of time. But, I knew a push into the first corner would be my chance, so I took the inside line and came out fourth after the first corner incident. At Turn 7 on the second lap, there was another incident ahead of me when Adam Khalid spun, and I managed to go up into third. Finally on the last corner of the race, Drew (Ridge) had a flat tyre and spun, so I was able to maintain second after overtaking him. Overall, it has been a really good season.”

Adam Khalid (#5 MAS) – P3 Race 5, P3 Race 6 (AsiaCup Super6) – “I really did not have such a great start, especially with Drew threatening me on the inside. I tried to dive into him, but he had a better line and he was close for the first corner. Then I had a moment and lost so many positions. It was a real fight for me, and with two laps to the end I managed to catch Drew. I did manage to overtake him near the end of the race but he was right behind me, but I went into the gravel and had a spin because I had misjudged my braking. On the last corner on the last lap, I pushed to overtake him, but he had a better line in the last corner and beat me to the finish line.

“In the second race, the conditions were really bad, as the entire warm-up lap was like a huge swimming pool. I went off into the gravel but thankfully managed to keep the engine running and the revs up. That was a good learning experience for me. I had to work hard in this race and it took me four laps to settle into a good rhythm and find my pace. I am happy to have made it to the podium again for the last race of the year.”

Drew Ridge (#4 AUS) AsiaCup Super 6 contender – P3 Race 5, P2 Race 6 – “I am relieved to finish third because it was a really tough race. After a good start, I went on the inside of Adam in the first corner and managed to hold him into the second corner and keep second place even though I could see that Jordan had started to pull away. Halfway through, my left front tyre went flat and I suffered a spin on Turn 14 while I was chasing Nazim, who managed to get ahead of me. And then I had Adam Khalid who had managed to catch me and I could see him in my mirrors. In the end, it was a tough fight to the line! A happy end by 0.075s for me!”

“What an enjoyable final race as I had so much fun fighting with the water that I forgot about how tough the conditions really were. The only way to get through this 10 lap long race was to push very hard all the time. I was trying to catch Jordan Love despite the spray all over. It was just so hard. But I am happy and I learned a lot again.”

Firhat Mokhzani, Race Director AsiaCup Series – “That was quite an unpredictable race 5, with the first incidents beginning at the first corner and throughout the race with a lot of position changes. At the end of the last lap, it was thrilling with Drew Ridge and Adam Khalid both crossing the finish line in what felt like a drag race. Fantastic final race in the AsiaCup Series!

“Congratulations to Jordan Love for a masterful race 6 win. He seemed so comfortable in the race as if he was not sharing the wet weather conditions with everyone else. It was a really a tough race with difficult visibility and poor grip with lots of patches of water and lots of hot battles for positions and lots of going off in the gravel whether for Danial Frost (#66 SIN) or Nazim Azman. As always though, these 10 laps races are valuable experiences for young drivers who have to learn to drive under all racing conditions.

“Overall, it’s been a great final season of the AsiaCup Series and we are proud to have been able to produce so many successful drivers in the three years of the series. With the end of the series, we begin a new chapter with the Formula 4 South East Asia next year and I cannot wait!”

Closing out the series with the preview of the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship racecar for 2016, the event witnessed a special Formula 4 car shakedown by the 2015 AsiaCup Series champion, Jordan Love.

For more information visit  www.meritusgp.com

Race Results (Selected)

Race 6 (AsiaCup Super6 race 10 Laps), Sunday, 13 December

* *results only counts to the AsiaCup Super6 Series

** Guest driver

Race 5 (10 Laps), Sunday, 13 December

* *result only counts to the AsiaCup Super6 Series

** Guest driver

Race 4 (8 Laps), Saturday, 12 December

* *results only counts to the AsiaCup Super6 Series

** Guest driver

Race 3 (10 Laps), Friday, 11 December

* *results only counts to the AsiaCup Super6 Series

** Guest driver

Race 2 (8 Laps – shortened to 7 Laps), Friday, 11 December

*results only counts to the AsiaCup Super6 Series

Race 1 (10 Laps), Thursday, 11 December

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