Yifei Ye was the class of the field in the Asian F3 Winter Series as he recorded two victories. Rinus Veekay now has only a twelve point lead with one race to go.

At the beginning of the final round of the Asian F3 Winter series the lead that Rinus Veekay had was mora than comfortable with 29 points to number two in the standings, Yifei Ye. But Ye would rapidly decrease the Dutchmans points lead.

Two pole positions

18-year old Ye proved to be stronger than ever bij topping the two qualification session at Sepang and thus taking pole position for race 1 and 3. His title rival Rinus Veekay was in third and in third again. The starting grid for race two is determined by the drivers fastest laps in race 1.

Not eligible

Absolute Racing’s Ye got a great start in the first race from pole and never looked back. Veekay’s race was more difficult and he tangled with Alessandro Ghiretti in the final stages of the race, dropping him down the order to sixths. That’s how the race would finsish. But because numbers two, three and five – Jack Doohan, Victor Martins and Christian Lundgaard  – weren’t eligible to score points, Veekay was lucky to take the points for third. Damage control.

Class of the field

Ye set the fastest lap in the first race, more than 8 tenths faster than number two Veekay, so the two started alongside each other. Doohan was right behind the two and overtook Veekay on the first lap. The Dutchman was trailing the son of Mick Doohan the whole race and came in third, getting the points for second. Again Ye was the class of the field as he won the race.

Final race

The points deficit is now 12 points, which means that if pole sitter Ye wins the final round on Sunday, Veekay has to finish third or higher to secure the championship.

Standings