PCCA Rounds 7 & 8 - Sentul, Jakarta

PCCA Rounds 7 & 8 - Jakarta, Indonesia
(Asian Festival of Speed - 22-23rd July 2006)

Thanks again to Thomas Lam from Create Images for the excellent photographs!

The day of scoring poorly

Forty years ago President Sukarno was toppled from power in Indonesia. Similarly, perhaps, the Asian Festival of Speed event at Sentul circuit saw the end of Darryl O'Young's run of five wins in the Carrera Cup Asia. It also saw me fail to make the podium for the first time since the first round - and slip from second to the third in the championship points table.

The Gates GR Asia crew taped the headlights to avoid damage from the surface of the Sentul track

This was my first visit to Indonesia since I stopped working there in 2000. My strongest memory of Sentul circuit is of the final round of the 1995 Formula Asia series. The championship was won by Brian Saunders, at that time managed by Peter Windsor and me. So, I had experienced success at Sentul without actually ever having completed a lap of the track.

The 3.935 kilometre Sentul circuit, near Jakarta

The surface of the Sentul circuit is rather abrasive and the fear before the weekend was of severe tyre wear. To counter this I set my car conservatively - running very reduced camber. From the results of Friday's free practice sessions this was clearly a mistake: my rubber was in good condition but I was two seconds off the pace - and ninth quickest!

Overnight we changed the settings of the car and jumped to third quickest in Saturday morning's final untimed session. Things were now looking better.

The Gates GR Asia car at speed during practice in Indonesia

It's difficult to understand how I ended-up qualifying seventh. First we should note the outstanding performance of my friend Keita Sawa. He has been quick all season - sometimes astonishingly so. He had been fastest in the first and third free sessions before setting pole position, over four-tenths of a second ahead of Shinichi Yamaji in second place. In the context of the 2006 Carrera Cup Asia series, that kind of margin is extraordinary. Second through sixth places, for example, were covered by a little over one second:

Qualifying positions:
1. Keita SAWA                  1:30.376
2. Shinichi YAMAJI            1:30.782
3. Darryl O'YOUNG            1:31.084
4. Nigel ALBON                 1:31.295
5. Kazuyuki NISHIZAWA   1:31.373
6. VUTTHIKORN                1:31.390

Sawa - super-quick at Sentul

My time of 1:31.507 was set on my seventh lap - and on my second set of tyres. The first run had been good. Indeed the data showed that until two-thirds of the way around the lap it would have been good enough for a top three position. But I made a mistake under braking and had to abort the lap. Then there were yellow flags for the gravel-trapped car of Hashimura-san so it was impossible to go any faster.

So I took to the pits and fitted the second set of new tyres and waited for a clear track. Somehow it just didn't come together. I didn't quite get a clear piece of road and I didn't quite put the lap together - in fact I didn't get close to putting the lap together. Half a second can be lost through a slight mistake under acceleration, or a missed apex at a turn, or a slightly locked front wheel under braking. It's a small amount of time but represents the difference between third on the grid (and a shot at glory) and seventh place and being 'amongst the desperate ones' into the first turn of the race.

Yamaji beats Sawa off the line - whilst Nigel gets alongside Darryl (far left)

I made matters worse by not making a great start for Sunday's first race, round seven. I could almost imagine my mechanic Tomy shaking his head on the pitwall. Nattavude leapt past me into the first turn and it was only the mid-race retirement of Nishizawa that elevated me again to seventh place at the finish.

Chasing Nigel Albon to the flag in race one

After studying my Motec data I had worked out how to make a better start and duly did so in race two - getting up with Nigel Albon and Vutthikorn into the first turn. I was unable to get past there but went around the outside of Vutthikorn later in the lap to take sixth place. A few laps later it all went very sideways, literally, on the approach to the double apex hairpin bend (turns 3 and 4). What felt like a puncture turned out to be a loose wheel bearing. The result was a difficult handling car for the rest of the race.

On the grid before race - the live band were playing Elton John's 'Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting'!

I was able to get back ahead of Alain Li for seventh place and had begun again to challenge Vutthikorn for sixth when one of those moments happened which proves the point about how things can go from bad to worse if you start poorly.

We suddenly came across Nigel Albon, spun at the first chicane. Darryl had benefitted immediately - taking fourth place and, as Nigel recovered, it seemed that Vutthikorn and I could get past also. We four - Nigel, Vutthikorn, me and Alain - were together as a group. What could have resulted in fifth place for me actually turned out as eighth!

And there ended the race weekend in Indonesia!

Early in race two (A): Yamaji ahead of Sawa and Nattavude.

Early in race two (B): Darryl ahead of Nigel, me and Alain

RESULTS
ROUND 7:
1. Shinichi YAMAJI                Tomo Racing
2. Keita SAWA                      Cref Motorsports
3. Darryl O'YOUNG                Team Jebsen
4. C. NATTAVUDE                SCC Racing
5. I. VUTTHIKORN                  SCC Racing
6. Nigel ALBON                      Vertu Racing
7. Matthew MARSH               Gates GR Asia

ROUND 8:
1. Shinichi YAMAJI                Tomo Racing
2. Keita SAWA                      Cref Motorsports
3. C. NATTAVUDE                SCC Racing
4. Darryl O'YOUNG                Team Jebsen
5. Nigel ALBON                      Vertu Racing
6. I. VUTTHIKORN                  SCC Racing
7. Alain LI
8. Matthew MARSH               Gates GR Asia

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS:
1. Darryl O’YOUNG                 144 points
2. Shinichi YAMAJI                130 points
3. Matthew MARSH                 113 points
4= Nattavude C.                         94 points
4= Keita SAWA                         94 points

Round 9 of the series will be held at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on October 1st.

Photographs courtesy of Thomas Lam - www.createimages.com.hk