Daniel denied hattrick of wins in Formula 4 due to technical problem
SEPANG: Daniel Cao sizzled in the heat of Sepang to win the opening two races of the FIA Formula 4 South-East Asia Championship.
The Chinese driver and the rest of his rivals, however, only completed five laps in Race 3 at the Sepang International Circuit yesterday.
Singapore’s Danial Frost was awarded the victory, with Daniel second.
With only two more races taking place today, Daniel is in pole position to become the Event 1 champion after collecting four points.
Frost is second with five points, followed by India’s Nayan Chatterjee (12), Thailand’s Kane Shepherd (13), Sri Lanka’s Eshan Pieris (14) and Malaysia’s Nazim Azman (15).
The FIA F4 SEA Championship points are calculated based on the lowest score – with first place taking one point, second place two points and so on.
Daniel, who started fourth on the grid after Friday's qualifying, had a great start in Race 1 as he moved up to second after the first corner behind pole-sitter Frost.
Daniel patiently followed Frost and finally nudged in front on the fourth of eight laps.
Daniel took the chequered flag in 15:20.038, followed by Frost (15:23.692).
“I enjoyed the dry and hot race. I didn’t do a good time in qualifying due to the rain.
“I spun out before I could push myself in the closing moments.
“I had a great start and moved up two spots after the first corner. It was then a waiting game to see how I could overtake Frost.”
In the second race, the Chinese sensation clocked 18:03.143 to claim first place again, pushing Frost into second in 18:08.188. Nayan improved three spots from Race 1 to finish third in 18:08.582.
Race 3 came to a premature end when none of the cars completed the eight laps.
Asian Autosport Action chairman Peter Thompson said: “I apologise unreservedly for the results of Race 3. With Races 2 and 3 backto-back and without the possibility to top up (fuel), we filled the cars for both races before the start of Race 2.
“However we miscalculated the requirements.”