After qualifying third at Ordos International Circuit, Indian racing driver Raj Bharath rounded off his race weekend with a podium finish in race one while engine issues in race two didn’t allow him to finish better than sixth at round three of Formula Masters China.
Driving for Meco Motorsport, the Bangalore lad had posted his maiden win of the season on the last outing at Shanghai International circuit. At Ordos though, mechanical issues which first surfaced in qualifying, prevented him from showing his pace. But the 19-year old manage to hold on through the opening race of the weekend to finish third.
“The car seemed to lack acceleration out of corner exits, so I was losing speed on the straights and couldn’t catch up to my rivals ahead”, conceded Raj.
Things took a turn for worse in race two and Raj found it difficult to maintain his position, having started third. So despite a bout of defensive driving, he could only cross the line in sixth.
“It was much harder in the second race as drivers behind me were quicker, as our issues had become more pronounced”, he said.
“I did the best I could but there was no way of holding them back when you’re lacking a lot of speed on the straights”, he added disappointingly.
Race three of the weekend was cancelled due to some safety issues on the circuit, which turned out be a blessing in disguise as it limited the amount of points that could have been further lost in the championship standings.
The cancelled race will be held at the championship’s next outing scheduled at Inje Circuit in Korea.
“Honestly it was a relief that one race got postponed, so hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of the issues and we’ll be back to our usual competitiveness in Korea”, concluded Raj.
Round four of the Formula Masters Championship is scheduled at Inje Circuit from 2-4 August.