Brendon Leitch lies third overall on the Asian Formula 3 Championship table after a podium (third) and two fourth placings at the opening round at Sepang International Circuit over the weekend.
Young Australian talent Jack Doohan took his maiden Formula 3 victory in the final race leading home Hitech GP team mate and championship leader Ukyo Sasahara with Super License driver Tomoki Takahashi taking the final podium place.
After three races, Sasahara continues to lead the driver classification on 68 points, but his advantage over team mate Doohan is now just seven points. After a storming run from P9 to fourth in Race 3, BlackArts Racing’s Brendon Leitch is third on 39 points, with Absolute Racing’s Daniel Cao six points behind. Cao’s team mate, Eshan Pieris of Sri Lanka rounds out the top five, five points behind the Chinese driver.
Race 3
In searing heat and with a track temperature of 64 degrees Celsius, Doohan, son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick, made a wheel-perfect getaway from pole and immediately pulled clear of the battling pack. Behind him, Pinnacle Motorsport’s Tommy Smith moved across on Sasahara from his front row grid position, and immediately came under fire from the quick Japanese driver. Takahashi was also on the move from P4, diving up to third behind Sasahara, with Seven Grand Prix’s Jamie Chadwick tucking in behind in fourth.
Smith held on in fifth, but was quickly caught by the battling Pieris and Leitch. The 16-year-old New Australian was soon overhauled by the more experienced pair, dropping down the order and out of podium contention.
Out in front, Doohan maintained his two second margin from Sasahara, the pair evenly matched on pace and each mindful of tire wear under the sweltering Malaysian sun.
A third of the way through the 30-minute race, Pieris was keeping an increasingly-aggressive Leitch behind him in sixth, but finally succumbed to the relentless pressure. The New Zealander got by on lap six and set off on the hunt for Chadwick more than two seconds down the road
In the Masters class, pole-sitter Yamaguchi continued to lead the category but behind him, team mate DRAGON was overtaken by Luedi into Turn 7. However, in the fight back, DRAGON clipped the rear of his rival’s car, tipping both into a spin. DRAGON lost his wing and retired in the gravel, but Luedi made a skillful recovery to rejoin the race, overtake Wong to cross the line second in class by the flag.
Leitch, meanwhile, was in hot pursuit of Chadwick, reeling her in on Lap 10 and attempting to pass. The W Series driver skillfully resisted the first move but a lap later, Leitch made it stick, storming up to fourth and setting his sights on Takahashi up ahead. Although Leitch made inroads into the Super License driver up ahead, he wasn’t able to close the gap sufficiently before the flag. However, it had been another eye-catching run from the 23-year-old who impressed massively on his championship debut.
As the minutes ticked away, Sasahara began to push, closing in on Doohan, but the Australian had his maiden F3 win in the bag, crossing the line just shy of a second ahead of his team mate and having set the fastest lap of the race for good measure. Takahashi took a well-earned podium finish in third, with Leitch in fourth ahead of Chadwick, Pieris and Cao.
Also see Races 1 and 2: Podium for Leitch in F3 Asia
The F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA continues with another triple-header from May 11-12 at Thailand’s Buriram International Circuit.
F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA Drivers’ Classification after Race 3
Pos Name Team Points
1 Ukyo SASAHARA Hitech GP 68
2 Jack DOOHAN Hitech GP 61
3 Brendon LEITCH BlackArts Racing 39
4 Daniel CAO Absolute Racing 33
5 Eshan PIERIS Absolute Racing 28
6 Tomoki TAKAHASHI Super License 27
7 Jamie CHADWICK Seven Grand Prix 18
8 Yu KANAMARU Super License 16
9 Akash GOWDA M-Sport Asia 6
10 Jordan DEMPSEY Pinnacle Motorsport 5
11 Tom BECKHÄUSER BlackArts Racing 2
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