14 Dec 2014 The long awaited Formula Renault Endurance race returned

The long awaited Formula Renault Endurance race had been unseen for 10 years, while the last race was held in 2003. This year there were a total of 11 teams joining the 2-hour endurance race, and each team had 1-2 racers driving in this challenge.

 

Since there was no qualifying in this race, ballot was used as the position allocation. Francis Tjia and Wayne Shen from Modena Team wereballoted in position 10 and 11, while Indonesia drivers DarmaMangkuluhurHutomo and Yasuo Senna Iriawan from ART Team luckily balloted for the pole and second position.

 

Endurance race was an ultimate challenge for drivers to race with stamina, techniques, strategies and cooperation with the team, while Formula Endurance is likely one of the most difficult races in the world.

The race started, #82 Rodolfo Avila and #11 Pu Jun Jin stepped up the pace from 8 & 9 to the pole and third place at the beginning, while #21 Francis Tjia raised his position from 10 to 6 also.

 

#8 Darma, #36 Senna, #10 Sunny Wong and #21 Francis were in a close battle all the time until the 15th lap Francis overtook Senna, Sunny and Darma.

 

After  the15th lap, drivers started to back to the pit. Rodolfo and #61 Guillaume Cunnington went into pit by the 28th lap. #82 changed driver since then, from Rodolfo to Leo Wong. Unluckily, they went to the pit again due to mechanical problem, and lost the pole and dropped to 5th place.

 

The new position had made after all the cars passed through the pit. #8 car took the pole, and then #36, #21, #67, #10, #82, #16, #61, #88, #7. After an hour race had passed, #36 Senna and #21 Francis overtook #8 Darma. #67 Nericover speeded and out of the track and could not make it back to the track, the team retired from the race after that.

#16 Wayne Shen, #82 Leo Wong and #10 Peter J. Olsen were in a close gap during the race. #88, #10, #36, #82, #61 had changed tires, while #7, #10, #82 changed driver, relayed by Yangxi, Sunny Wong and Rodolfo respectively. Guillaume Cunnington stepped down and replaced by Maxx Ebenal at the 55th lap to finish the race.

#82 overtook #16 on lap 51 at the outbound of the corner, and kept up the pace to overtook two more drivers including #8 Darma and climbed up to the 3rd place.

Yasuo Senna Iriawan did a very good job in maintaining his position, while Francis stabilize his lap time in 1:40, making them become the 1st and 2nd place in this endurance race.

Result as follow:

  1. #36 YasuoSennaIriawan,
  2. #21 Francis Tjia
  3. #82 Leo Wong/Rodolfo Avila
  4. #8 DarmaMangkuluhurHutomo
  5. #61 Guillaume Cunnington
  6. #10 Sunny Wong/Peter J. Olson
  7. #88 Victor Yung