Roy Haryanto out to win Formula Asia
Roy Haryanto out to win Formula Asia
JAKARTA (JP): The young Indonesian driver Roy Haryanto is
hoping for a sweet farewell party by winning his first home
Formula Asia race this Sunday.
"This is my third year in Formula Asia and I'm poised to win
this time," Roy told a press conference prior to the third leg of
the single-seater championships at the Sentul circuit, West Java.
Roy has changed from the Humpuss team to the Marlboro Castrol
Team PTM. He is making his last appearance in Asia this season
before moving to Europe next year.
"Joining the new team will not be a problem for me because
it's very professional and I'm very confident about joining it,"
the 19-year-old driver said.
Roy, who plans to take part in the Formula Vauxhall
competition in Europe in October, finished third in the Formula
Asia championship last year. He has collected 27 points after the
first two legs in Madras and Shah Alam this year.
"Roy is a very talented driver and I'm sure he can compete in
Europe. But he needs more preparation here," said Peter Thompson,
PTM's team owner.
Roy would have joined the European races this season if he had
found a sponsor.
Indonesia's hopes of winning the race lie also with the
talented Ananda Mikola, son of the Sentul circuit's director
Tinton Suprapto.
The 16-year-old will be donning his Humpuss Marlboro team
racing suit. But this time Ananda will employ Thompson's
mechanics and engineers instead of Sonenscher's who helped him in
last year's races.
Ananda, who finished fifth overall with 110.5 points last
year, has garnered 34 points after two legs this season.
Ananda complained that Indonesian drivers have to compete in
kart and Formula Asia races before moving to Formula One. But
Thomson gave him options other than the Formula Asia single-
seater championships.
"There's a career to be had in touring cars, F3, Indycars and
other categories," he said.
Sentul has been named to host Formula Asia races on June 9,
July 7 and Dec. 8. Other legs will be staged at Shah Alam,
Malaysia, Zhuhai circuit in China and Macau. (yan)