Driven Malaysian trio opt for safety in Buriram
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s awesome racing trio of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Afiq Ikhwan will take a cautious approach to their first test in the third round of the Asian Le Mans Series in Buriram, Thailand, this weekend.
Excited to be putting their skills and minds together as racing partners for the first time, all three drivers acknowledged that there was plenty for them to learn at the Chang International Circuit.
Racing under the banner of the renowned Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA team, the trio have been selected by Sepang International Circuit (SIC) in a bid to have an all-Malaysian line-up to participate in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race in France in 2019.
Jazeman said the immediate focus for him and his new partners was to learn to understand each other, build on their strengths and develop good team work.
“The first step is to gel together and work towards a strong result,” said the 25-year-old Jazeman, who is confident that Weiron, Afiq and himself will be able to work well together despite coming from different racing backgrounds.
“The good point is that we all have experience competing in the Asian Le Mans series. So, it’s all about enhancing this experience and putting them together,” he added.
The 23-year old Weiron echoed his teammate’s view, saying solid teamwork has always been the most important formula for success in motorsports.
“It will be an exciting race coming up together with these guys.
“As Jazeman said, we are going to focus on working together as a single unit and work hard towards achieving strong results,” he said.
The Asian Le Mans Series is the embodiment of Le Mans endurance racing for the Asian continent where each class winner of the series will get an invitation to the Le Mans 24 Hours in France.
While Jazeman cut his teeth with single-seater racing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series and the Formula BMW before moving on to race in the GT races in the Blancpain Endurance Series, Weiron made his name after finishing fourth overall in the Pro Mazda Championship in the US in 2015 after years of kart racing.
He competed in the European Formula 3 with Carlin Motorsport and also in the LMP3 class of Asian Le Mans Series last year.
Afiq, the oldest of the three drivers at 26, started karting in 2007 before moving on to GT racing in 2013.
Afiq has won the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia Series for the last two years.
The fourth and final round of the Asian Le Mans Series will be held at Sepang from Feb 2-4.