The 2019 Asia Formula Renault Championship Opener
Zhuhai International Circuit, China
The first race of the 2019 Asia Formula Renault Championship kicked off last weekend, and the Oloi, Inc.-BlackArts Racing partnership is already proving to be a fruitful one. Amid drizzly conditions, the Oloi-sponsored BlackArts Racing team succeeded in mounting the pole position for both Race One and Race Two. The team of international drivers featured Sandro Tavartkiladze of the Republic of Georgia, Stephen Hong of China, and in the pink Oloi livery car, Joey Alders of the Netherlands.
Alders established himself as the dominant driver over the course of the weekend, maintaining the fastest times in both Race One on Saturday and Race Two on Sunday. Due to penalties assessed for jump starts, Alders finished behind Tavartkiladze and Hong in the official standings. Race One saw a 2nd place Alders finish 8th due to the jump start penalty, with Tavartkiladze benefiting from the penalty by moving from 5th to 4th place, and Hong taking 6th. In Race Two, Alders edged out a 31-second lead to finish the race in the first position and while Tavartkiladze came in 2nd. After the assessing the penalty for the jump start however, Tavartkiladze was moved to first place to become the first driver from the Republic of Georgia to win a race in China. A collision by a competitor’s car caused Hong to not finish in Race Two. The next round of the Asia Formula Renault Championship will take place May 25-26 at Ningbo International Speedway near Shanghai.
This race marks the beginning of what is likely to be a great season for the BlackArts Racing team, the four-time Asia Formula Renault Championship winners based in Guangdong Province, China. It is also the first race of the 2019 season with Oloi, Inc. as primary sponsor. Both Oloi and BlackArts Racing are confident that the partnership will be mutually beneficial, and will allow each enterprise the opportunity to highlight their successes. For more information on BlackArts Racing, visit their website at blackartsracing.com
A more in-depth analysis of the race and its outcomes can be found here.
