2021 Formula 3 Asian Championship

[Aislabie]

Click here for the Wiki page

The 2021 FIA Formula 3 Asian Championship season is the second season of the Formula 3 Asian Championship, and the first one to include a race that is part of the 2021 FIA Formula 3 World Cup. It has a nine-round championship calendar, as well as one non-Championship event in support of the Indian Grand Prix in Chennai.

Entries

Full Season Entries
The FIA Formula 3 Asian Championship is aiming for ten two-car teams to fun full-season campaigns. These are expected to be:

1. Jagonya Ayam Racing (Aislabie)
   2020 Championship winner; must run at least one Indonesian driver or else change its name
2. B-MAX Racing (Novitopoli)
   No team-specific requirements
3. Aspire Formula (pinkd56)
   Expected to run at least one Qatari driver
4. Bentley Team Kahama (Klon)
   No team-specific requirements
5. K-Apex (Ciaran)
   Expected to run at least one Korean driver
6. Red Dragon Junior Team (CarloSpace)
   Expected to run at least one Chinese driver
7. TATA Racing Academy (Dom)
   Expected to run at least one Indian driver
8. MarchSixteen Racing Japan (Hermann)
   No longer expected to run Karumi Fujibayashi for her first full season of Formula 3.
9. KCMG (Pasta)
   No team-specific requirements
10. BORC (TCBY)
    No team-specific requirements
11. Racing Team Sibir (Anna)
    Goodness knows what Anna has in mind
    
    Green teams are expected to run in the series under their current identity.
    Orange teams can be changed, but in a way that continues the previous year's lineage.
    Red teams are completely replaceable according to their new owner's wishes

Guest Entries
Guest entries will not be eligible to score points in the FIA Formula 3 Asian Championship. There are two main kinds of Guest Entries:

Local Entries
Some race organisers will invite local teams or drivers in order to attract more fans to the event.

World Cup Entries
Some teams and drivers from Europe or the Americas will enter the Macau Grand Prix as part of the FIA Formula 3 World Cup. Asian Formula 3 Championship teams will also be eligible to do the same thing in those other series.

Events

1. Hotstar F3 Shootout (Madras Motor Race Track)
   This is a non-championship event in support of the Indian Grand Prix, open to drivers and teams from any F3 series.
2. Dubai Grand Prix (Dubai Autodrome)
3. Grand Prix of Java (Sentul Circuit)
4. Singapore Grand Prix F3 Support Race (Marina Bay Street Circuit)
5. Pacific Grand Prix (Fuji Speedway)
6. Chinese Grand Prix F3 Support Race (Shanghai International Circuit)
7. Korean Super Prix (Changwon Circuit)
8. Macau Grand Prix (Guia Circuit)
   This race is part of the FIA Formula 3 World Cup
9. Saudi Vision 2030 Trophy (Riyadh Street Circuit, Ad Diriyah)
10. Kuwait Grand Prix (Kuwait Motor Town)
11. Boxing Day Grand Prix (Mount Panorama Circuit)
    
    All Championship events are run to 100km race distance

What Next?
You can start to sign up for teams, and place bids for drivers, right away. Real-life drivers will be subject to RNG; DEC drivers will be subject to approval from their DEC holder.

You can also start to register entries for the Hotstar F3 Shootout event - there will be no requirement for two-car teams, or for the entries to be regular Asian F3 Championship teams. Apart from the TATA Racing Academy, there is no obligation for Asian F3 Championship teams to register for this event.

[pasta_maldonado]

KCMG will return and switch to numbers #31 and #32. We are currently accepting applications for our two seats.

[Klon]

Going along with the Kahama rebrand, the team will compete the 2021 season as Bentley Team Kahama and race under the British flag. Salva Al-Bashir will take one of the drives and will hear all interested drivers for the other seat.

[Aislabie]

[Dom_Wings]

TATA Racing Academy confirm their registration for next season. If possible, the team will also switch to numbers 55 and 56.

[This Could Be You]

BORC will continue, using numbers #30 and #31 ideally and with Toshio Maka as our lead driver

[novitopoli]

I'll take control of B-Max racing, keeping #3 and #4. Driver plans to follow, open to offers for any good Japanese youngsters.

[Aislabie]

The Asian Formula Three Championship is operating a numbering system wherein teams are assigned a pair of numbers with the following conditions:

1. The team whose driver won the Championship takes the #1 for the following season.
2. Teams that do not return to the series for over 12 months lose their numbers

Thus, at this point the numbers 11, 12, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33 and 34 are reserved by teams who entered races in 2020 but have not yet entered races in 2021.

Additionally, teams who already have assigned numbers are generally expected to stick with them.

If most of the series is against this plan though, I will drop it and grant everyone their preferred numbers.

[Frogfoot9013]

A new Russian outfit, Racing Team Sibir, based in Novosibirsk (a very bold choice that has many people raising eyebrows), is looking to compete in Asian F3, with a view to promoting talent from Russia and across the CIS.

Preferred team numbers: #25, #26

[CarloSpace]

Red Dragon Junior Team would like to approach Ye Yifei to continue driving for us in 2021.

Xu Shiqing (DEC: Me) will take the second seat.

[Frogfoot9013]

Racing Team Sibir has confirmed the signing of Russian driver Olga Timofeeva (DEC: CarloSpace). She will be driving the #37 car.

[Gertrand Bachot]

Would like to affirm that Abkhazian driver Davit Kopalyan (DOB: 6/7/2001) has been signed onto the other Sibir car.

[Frogfoot9013]

Would like to affirm that Abkhazian driver Davit Kopalyan (DOB: 6/7/2001) has been signed onto the other Sibir car.

Racing Team Sibir can confirm his signing.

[Hermann95]

If there is still a spot left I'd like to take over a team please, otherwise just put me on the reserve list.

[pasta_maldonado]

KCMG has confirmed the signing of Tony Wai-leuk (HKG) [DEC: Me] for the #31 car.

[Hermann95]

Fujibayashi Buyout
The Austrian MarchSixteen Group is set to buy the Fuhibayashi Racing Team. According to sources, the core team personal will stay on board and all facilities will be used by the new outfit called MarchSixteen Racing Japan. This means the future of Karumi Fujibayashi is very much in doubt.

MarchSixteen Racing Japan is recruiting drivers. If you have a talented DEC interested in a drive, this might be their chance.

[Ciaran]

K-Apex will retain our 2020 lineup of Kwon Sung-Tae and Song Ki-Hyun.

[Aislabie]

In the interest of sensibility, I'll take on Jagonya Ayam to make sure that there aren't any significant drivers who fall through the gaps and miss out on F3

[Hermann95]

MarchSixteen Racing Japan driver bids:

1. Hibiki Taira (RL)
2. Jack Doohan (RL)
3. Seita Nonaka (RL)
4. Iori Kimura (RL)

We are still open to negotiate one of our seats with a DEC. In case no DEC is signed until the driver RNG, we'd like to fill both seats with the top two drivers from the list above.

[Pinkd56]

Qatari youngster Omar Aswat will take the #5 for ASPIRE.

The Scottish Red Bull Junior Team member Michael McManus will take #6 for ASPIRE. (DEC: me)

[novitopoli]

Seat #4 will be filled by Satoshi Murakami (DEC: Novitopoli).

RL driver bids for car #3:

- Ayumu Iwasa
- Teppei Natori
- Seita Nonaka
- Ren Sato

[Aislabie]

Greetings all. Having totted up everyone's bids so far, we have not had a single conflicting bid for a driver. Nor have we had any envelope-pushing bids, so with that in mind I have assigned first-choice drivers to teams pending any challenges from opposing teams.

Jagonya Ayam
1. TBC
2. Presley Martono

B-MAX Racing
3. Hibiki Taira
4. Satoshi Murakami

Aspire Formula
5. Omar Aswat
6. Michael McManus

Bentley Team Kahama
7. Salva Al-Bashir
8. TBC

K-Apex
9. Kwon Sung-Tae
10. Ki-Hyun Song

Red Dragon Junior Team
14. Ye Yifei
15. Xu Shiqing

TATA Racing Academy
18. TBC
19. TBC

MarchSixteen Racing Japan
25. Ayumu Iwasa
24. Jack Doohan

KCMG
31. Tony Wai-leuk
32. TBC

BORC
35. Toshio Maka
36. TBC

Racing Team Sibir
37. Olga Timofeeva
38. Davit Kopalyan

We have still to collect bids from Bentley Team Kahama (Klon) who need a second driver; TATA Racing Academy (Dom) who need both drivers (including at least one Indian driver); KCMG (Pasta) who need a second driver and BORC (TCBY) who need a second driver. Once that's been sorted out, Jagonya Ayam will pick up a driver who at that point would otherwise end up seatless.

Please can teams also submit entries to the non-championship Hotstar F3 Shootout event if they are interested?

Thanks all

[Nessafox]

If you're still looking for teams, i have a silly plot of Bongbong Marcos taking over the Marcos car brand, if that is not considered too insentive towards filipino people at least.

[pasta_maldonado]

KCMG will attempt to sign Danial Frost to fill our second seat.

[Klon]

Bentley Team Kahama will attempt to sign Muizz Musyaffa from Malaysia. If that fails, the drive will be taken by Sandra Yoo (DEC: me, nationality: German).

[This Could Be You]

BORC confirms Ryunnosuke Takashi (DEC: formely JohnRafael, now me) as our second driver for 2021. North Korean driver Joo-Woon Song is also available for other teams to sign (and can race under a Singaporean licence for convenience's sake)

[Pinkd56]

ASPIRE Formula would like to enter the Hotstar race. Same lineup as the full championship please.

[Aislabie]

You will be pleased to know that our Championship grid (at least to start the season) is complete.



Before the Championship gets underway, however, there will be the Hotstar F3 Shootout in support of the Indian Grand Prix. This is a non-Championship race and thus there is no obligation to take part.

So far, Jagonya Ayam, Aspire Formula, Bentley Team Kahama, TATA Racing Academy and guest entry Hotstar Invitational Team have entered the event. Entry is not only restricted to teams from the Asian F3 Championship.

I am setting a deadline of midnight BST (01:00 GMT) for entries to the Shootout, seeing as they have been open the whole time and we have so few.

[CarloSpace]

Red Dragon Junior Team will enter the shootout.

[Aislabie]

Greetings all and welcome to the 2021 Hotstar Formula Three Shootout here at the Madras Motor Race Track. We have twelve entrants from six different teams, including a duo hand-picked by the event's sponsor to add a bit of local star power to the field. Additionally, Bentley Team Kahama have confirmed that Chetan Korada will be racing with modified hand controls that will allow him to compete despite his lack of feet.

The twelve drivers will be split into two heats of six who will race on the Saturday, the best of whom will then race in the feature race on Sunday morning before the Formula One Grand Prix. In Heat One:

• 1 -Roy Nissany
  5 - Omar Asway
  8 - Chetan Korada
  14 - Ye Yifei
  19 - Sanjay Singh
  48 - Arjun Maini

And in Heat Two:

• 2 - Presley Martono
  6 - Michael McManus
  7 - Salva Al-Bashir
  15 - Xu Shiqing
  18 - Kush Maini
  47 - Jehan Daruvala

Heat One was a closely contested affair as polesitter Aswat failed to build a lead. Eventually, he was attacked and passed by Ye Yifei, while Roy Nissany held onto the all-important third place after gaining it with a fast getaway. Only one retirement in this race, as Korada had to retire due to an issue with his hand controls


Heat Two saw the experienced Jehan Daruvala dominate from pole position, staying well clear of Salva Al-Bashir and Xu Shiqing. Part of the field spread may have been due to a turn one divebomb from Kush Maini: he gained nothing apart from front wing damage, and while getting past his car, Martono and McManus would lose the tow from the front-runners.


In the following day's Feature Race, the fans were treated to a spectacular three-way battle for the win. In the fight were the two Red Dragon drivers, Xu and Ye, and Aspire Formula's Omar Aswat. Aswat had the advantage of starting from pole position thanks to a very quick qualifying lap, and try as they might the Chinese drivers couldn't quite find a way past. For the entire race, the three cars were within just a few seconds of each other, closing up to just a few tenths by the chequered flag. But Aswat wins for Qatar!


IIDOTR goes to Omar Aswat for being the driver to beat all weekend after a lukewarm 2020
ROTR goes to Chetan Korada's hand controls for ending his weekend almost before it had begun

[Pinkd56]

Abiadura Euskara will enter the Macau GP round, Rodriguez and Vidales both are invited to join.

As an aside - Red Bull juniors Paolo Leonetti and Jemma Triggs are available to teams in the event their usual teams do not enter Macau.

[Stareagle]

Corsa Piemontese will enter Macau with its normal pairing of Nannini and Perreault.

[Aislabie]

The opening race of the season is the Dubai Grand Prix, which is taking place at the Dubai Autodrome. If the results from a few months ago in India are anything to go by, Aspire's Omar Aswat and both Red Dragon drivers are looking forward to strong seasons - though it may be different against the full F3 field.

In qualifying, both K-Apex drivers were setting the standard and only Aswat could keep up with them. He lines up in second, behind Ki-Hyun Song and ahead of Kwon Sung-Tae. The leading rookie driver was BORC's Takashi in fifth place, forming one half of an all-Japanese third row alongside Ayumu Iwasa. Unfortunatelly for Racing Team Sibir, both of their drivers struggled on Formula Three debut, qualifying 18th and 22nd respectively out of 25 runners.

On race day, the action started on Lap 1 as Ayumu Iwasa made a superb start. He picked his way up to fourth place, and jousted Kwon Sung-Tae for third around the outside of Turn 7. This did not work out for him. Iwasa got squeezed out into one of the closest barrier on the entire circuit, while Kwon had his run onto the backstraight compromised and lost a position to Ye Yifei.

Earlier on, Toshio Maka had qualified 12th, but that was the highlight of his race as on Lap 3, he developed a problem with his Tatuus and pulled over to the side of the road. There followed a pretty dull period through the middle of the race until the pit stops came around - the Goodride tyres beginning to show signs of real wear. Takashi, Doohan and Michael McManus were among the very first to pit, and they benefitted from a huge undercut.

The Japanese driver's bold choice (and Doohan's decision to follow him in) saw them jump from fifth and sixth all the way up to first and second
Aswat, meanwhile, held on much later in the race - evidently he trusted his overtaking ability to make his way back to the front before the end. He certainly had the pace to get there - he was comfortably the fastest driver on track - but Jack Doohan made his Tatuus incredibly wide to hold onto second place.

And, safely ahead of that battle, Ryunnosuke Takashi WINS for Bakkumakaotoreshinguchimu on Formula 3 debut!



IIDOTR goes to Ryunnosuke Takashi, for winning on Formula Three debut despite never managing P1 in Asian F4
ROTR goes to K-Apex, for turning first and third on the grid into no drivers on the podium.

[Gegeolbi]

Is it possible for me to be added to the waiting list? Since the competition is already starting.

[Aislabie]

Good evening all and welcome to the Grand Prix of Java, round two of the FIA Formula 3 Asian Championship. This event will be held at the Sentul Circuit, and will no doubt boast at least 4/10 levels excitement.

In qualifying, K-Apex's Kwon Sung-Tae set a very competitive 1:20.705 to take pole position ahead of Red Dragon's Ye Yifei. Championship leader Ryunnosuke Takashi followed them in third with Iwasa, Singh and Song completing the top six. Further back, both KCMG and Racing Team Sibir continue to struggle, with Russia's Davit Kopalayan qualifying in 22nd and last.

On race day, things didn't get much better for Kopalayan once the race started either. Eager to improve on his qualifying position, he sent a massive dive down the inside of turn one, presenting his rivals with the choices of either yielding or crashing. One person who's never been afraid of a crash is Israel's Roy Nissany; the 26-year-old was lucky to get away with only minor damage while Kopalayan broke his suspension and was forced to retire to end a chronic weekend.

As the race progressed, it looked as if the pit window would fall between laps 10 and 15. MarchSixteen's Hibiki Taira came into the pits on the very first lap of the window, but although his team fitted new tyres to his car, they then slid the wheely-tray-thingy underneath and wheeled him back into the garage to retire from the race.

Kwon, Takashi and Song all pitted early in the window, only to lose out disastrously when Ye Yifei slowed to a stop on lap 13. The safety car had to be brought out for a couple of laps, which allowed for some drivers to benefit from pitting while it was still out. The biggest beneficiaries were Sanjay Singh, who burgled the race lead, and Olga Timofeeva, who was in just the right point on the track to dive into the pits right as the safety car was dispatched.

Suddenly the last 10 laps looked like they could have some real action. Kwon Sung-Tae, Omar Aswat and Presley Martono all put in eye-catching overtakes to regain some of that lost ground. By comparison, Ki-Hyun Song had the misfortune of getting stuck first behind Presley Martono, then eventually behind Timofeeva as he could only take home ninth place.

But his teammate made one last crucial overtake with two laps left, diving past TATA Racing Academy's Sanjay Singh to reclaim the race lead. He then finished with a flourish, putting in the fastest lap in clear air to complete the grand slam



IIDOTR goes to Olga Timofeeva, who took advantage of a well-timed safety car to take home her team's first points
ROTR goes to her teammate Davit Kopalayan, who went from last on the grid to first in the wall - an awful weekend

[Aislabie]

Hello and welcome to the first street race of the 2022 Asian Formula Three Championship, the Singapore Grand Prix Support Race at Marina Bay. In the wise words of Jolyon Palmer, "you have to be alert on a street circuit" and this is certainly one that separates the alert drivers from the rest.

In qualifying, Michael McManus claimed pole position for Aspire Formula with a laptime of 2:06.998 around the tricky track. He shares his front row with Ki-Hyun Song, at the very opposite end of the grid from Davit Kopalyan and those with a similar lack of speed. Indeed, the first four places on the grid were claimed by drivers representing different teams, and Ye Yifei's Red Dragon was the leading second driver in fifth place.

On race day, only 21 cars started the race after Racing Team Sibir failed to get Davit Kopalyan's car into proper working order ahead of the race start - yet another embarrassment for the team. The Marina Bay Circuit is one where it is notoriously difficult to overtake, which is why this was the most important race start of the season so far.

Three drivers in particular really capitalised on the opportunity: Ye Yifei, who picked his way through the second-row cars to take up position behind Ki-Hyun Song; Hibiki Taira, who claimed several places in the midfield with a fast start, and Roy Nissany, who made and got away with a huge divebomb into the Turn 7 left-hander to gain several positions.

From there on, the race was very processional until Omar Aswat lost patience and tried to overtake Kwon Sung-Tae for eighth place. He damaged his suspension for his troubles, and pulled his car into the escape road. Kwon tried to continue, but ultimately also had to retire the car with damage that he said made the car feel "sketchy".

In the closing laps, Ki-Hyun Song - who had been pressuring McManus for the lead, started to experience gearbox issue. He initially fell back from McManus, then into the clutches of Ye. The young Chinese driver was initially cautious, but with a lap and a half to go was able to get a better exit out of the hairpin and claim second place. Suddenly Song was fighting Takashi for the last podium place, but some superb racecraft allowed him to get the best exit out of the last turn of the last lap, and hold onto his position by a tiny 0.016 seconds at the line.



IIDOTR is Ki-Hyun Song, for narrowly holding onto a podium position despite a mechanical issue.
ROTR goes to Davit Kopalayan for the second race in a row, qualifying last and then not even taking that position.

[Aislabie]

After last year's failed attempt to race in support of F1 at Okayama, the Asian F3 Championship makes its first ever visit to Japan for the 2021 Pacific Grand Prix at the historic Fuji Speedway.

In qualifying, Ki-Hyun Song took a dominant pole position by nearly half a second ahead of local starlet Ayumu Iwasa. Other Japanese drivers would line up in fourth place (Takashi), 13th (Fujibayashi) and 17th (Taira). Last place on the grid also went to a local guest driver: 61-year-old Masayuki Ueda for Looney Sport who was more than a second back from the penultimate qualifier.

On race day, polesitter Song dominated from the very start of the race. He pulled away easily to around five seconds before throttling his back a little to preserve his car to the best of his ability. His teammate, who had qualified in fifth, started less well and was overtaken by Salva Al-Bashir. Omar Aswat tried to follow the Bentley driver through, but couldn't quite do it - the Qatari ending up in the gravel and out of the race. As those drivers behind took evasive action, some mid-pack runners suddenly made up two or three very useful positions. Roy Nissany also spun out on his own, but was able to keep it running through the gravel trap to rejoin the track in last.

In the lower points, Omar Aswat and Sanjay Singh engaged in a titanic battle for what was essentially one point either way. It would be Aswat who ultimately would get the last laugh, pulling past his Indian rival down the main straight with two laps left and keeping hold of his position to the chequered flag.

Similarly, Iwasa and Ye Yifei had a tremendous battle for the remaining places on the podium - Iwasa's strong defensive driving kept Ye behind for the entire race, while Song maintained the gap at just under five seconds rather than pushing any harder to pull away from the pair. He even banked a fastest lap to claim a grand chelem of the event and really announce himself as a Championship challenger.



IIDOTR is 62 year old Masayuki Ueda for conning the race organisers to let him onto the grid in the first place.
ROTR is Roy Nissany for spinning early, falling to last, and only seeing other cars in the last few laps of the race.

[Klon]

Victor Martins to Join Bentley to Challenge for 2021 FIA Formula 3 World Cup at Macau

It is with great honour that Bentley Team Kahama announces that French youngster Victor Martins will join the team for the legendary Macau Grand Prix in his pursuit of the FIA Formula 3 World Cup, taking control of our #8 car for the event.

"We are lucky that our connection to HYPERNOVA Racing through the Best In The World™ Support Group has enabled us to get Martins," commented Kahama race engineer Taichi Watanabe, "and we will do our best to help him become the first FIA Formula 3 World Cup winner."

[Aislabie]

For the fifth round of the 2021 Championship, Asian F3 returned to the venue of the 2020 Championship decider: the Shanghai International Circuit in China. Local guest entry Champ Motorsports were invited for this event, alongside the usual full-time entries.

In qualifying, Kwon Sung-Tae continued the Korean dominance that has been the main story of the season, taking pole by more than a tenth of a second from Michael McManus. Kwon's K-Apex teammate Song, and Red Dragon's Ye Yifei swept the second row, while the local pairing of Cao and Hon were thoroughly anonymous amongst the slower runners.

In the race, a Lap 1 incident between Nissany, Aswat and Martin Cao brought their races to an end almost before they had begun. Hibiki Taira was also involved in the fracas, but was able to pit for fresh tyres and stretch them to the end of the race. Once the carnage had been cleared and the safety car called in, the very best battles were towards the front of the race. Ryunnosuke Takashi chased Jack Doohan relentlessly (and both jumped Ye in the pit stops), but ultimately the Australian held onto the final podium position.

Ahead of them, McManus and Kwon were in a world of their own five seconds ahead of the field. On Lap 17, the Scottish Red Bull junior saw his chance and tucked into the Korean's slipstream, then dived up the inside into the hairpin. With a very deft piece of braking, he took the lead and absolutely refused to give it up until the chequered flag had fallen. His second win of the season really announces his Championship challenge.



IIDOTR is Sanjay Singh, who turned a poor qualifying into a strong points finish by keeping his nose clean.
ROTR is Martin Cao, whose guest appearance didn't even last a full lap of the track.

[Aislabie]

Round Six of the Asian Formula Three Championship sees the circus descend on the Changwon Street Circuit, somewhere that I think we can all agree is a Formula E venue just waiting to be used.

In qualifying, neither of the K-Apex drivers could quite nail down their hot laps. Instead, it was Ayumu Iwasa who claimed his first ever Formula Three pole position for B-MAX. Behind him came the consistent Ye Yifei, with Kwon and Song qualifying third and sixth respectively. A long, long way back Hibiki Taira took nearly an additional four seconds to complete a qualifying lap, owing to handling gremlins that he just couldn't get to grips with.

In the race, those gremlins clearly hadn't been fixed as Taira handled his car straight into Sibir's Olga Timofeeva. The Russian was able to continue with no real reduction in pace, but the Japanese driver decided that enough was enough and parked his car in the MarchSixteen garage. Ye Yifei was having quite the opposite day to that: his steering inputs were precise and effective as he showed mastery of the tight Changwon turns, making light work of Iwasa and disappearing down the road.

Iwasa then had to hold off local driver Kwon Sung-Tae for the rest of the race, and despite his very best efforts the Korean proved too strong to keep behind: despite a narrow difference in pace, Kwon was able to place his car better into the turns in order to get past. Takashi and Nissany came in next behind them, each gaining six places from mediocre starting positions for important points.



IIDOTR are Ryunnosuke Takashi and Roy Nissany, who gained six places each on a spirited charge up the points.
ROTR is MarchSixteen Racing, who couldn't get on top of the (kayfabed) problems with Taira's car all weekend.