Roy aims for straight victories

Roy aims for straight victories

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian driver Roy Haryanto is setting his sights on a second triumph in the second leg of the Formula Asia auto racing championship series at the Sentul circuit this weekend.

Roy will lead the trio of Humpuss Team drivers, who reigned during the opening leg at the same track three weeks ago.

Humpuss team manager Tinton Soeprapto said that solid back-up from Stanley Iriawan and Ananda Mikola are well prepared to pave Roy's way to double glory.

Twenty cars are expected to compete in the Gudang Garam Formula Asia race, the region's prestigious single-seater event scheduled to be staged over 16 legs. Indonesia will host four of them, while the others will take place in Malaysia, Thailand and China.

"We have been grooming Roy for the next year's Formula 3000 races and eventually for the prestigious Formula One championship," Tinton said.

He also said Ananda will take over Roy's role once the Humpuss team backbone wheels his racing car off the Formula Asia pitch. "Ananda has been improved greatly. He clocked his fastest time of one minute and 32.59 seconds to complete a lap," said Tinton.

Eighteen-year-old Roy sped his way through a successful first leg, winning on both Saturday and Sunday. He now tops the drivers' championship standings with 20 points, followed by Niclass Jonsson of Sweden with 15 points.

"Our drivers are ready to race on either dry or wet tracks this season," Tinton said when asked about the chances of his men this year. Roy finished the inaugural season last year in fourth place. (amd)