Press

Sepang International F1 Circuit–

This weekend, four-time Asia Formula Renault Championship-winning team BlackArts Racing extended its lead in the Driver and Team Championships in Round Three, at the incredible Sepang International F1 Circuit. Joey Alders [Netherlands] took two wins and a 2nd place, while Stephen Hong [China] and Sandro Tavartkiladze [Republic of Georgia] both took to the podium as well in the triple header race weekend.

With sunny and hot conditions for the duration of the race weekend, Official Practice and Qualifying took place on Friday, followed by Race One and Two on Saturday and Race Three on Sunday.

After leading Official Practice on Friday morning and being the only driver into the 2:03s, Joey Alders in the OLOI Powered by BAR car [www.OLOIinc.com] took the pole positions for both Race One and Race Two in Friday afternoon’s Qualifying, with Sandro Tavartkiladze taking P3 to start on the second row and Stephen Hong in P5.

Race One followed on Saturday morning, with Alders taking a flag to flag win despite a safety car period and race restart for the final lap. Stephen Hong had a fantastic podium finish in 3rd after passing Elias Niskanen and then on the final lap, Sandro Tavartkiladze, to take to the podium.

Race Two took place a few hours later and saw Joey Alders dropping to P2 on the start but repassing Bruno Carneiro into turn four to quickly retake the lead. Despite strong pressure from Carneiro, the Dutch driver held onto the lead to take the win, with teammate Sandro Tavartkiladze taking 3rd on the podium and Stephen Hong dropping to 5th to finish behind Finnish racer Elias Niskanen after a technical issue.

Race Three followed on Sunday, with the starting grid determined by the combination of the points earned by the drivers in Race One and Race Two. With Alders starting on pole with ART’s Bruno Carneiro alongside, BAR’s Sandro Tavartkiladze and Stephen Hong made up the second row starting in P3 and P4.

On the race start, Bruno Carneiro got the jump on Alders to take the lead into P1 after Alders had a clutch issue on the start. During the remainder of the race, Alders and Carneiro traded off the fastest race lap - however, Alders didn’t have enough advantage to make the pass for the lead on the ex-F3 driver and finished the race in 2nd just behind Carneiro. Sandro Tavartkiladze took to the podium once again for 3rd, while Stephen Hong took a fine fourth, well deserved after holding off a very close Elias Niskanen the entire race.

Joey Alders: "Great weekend at Sepang! Fastest at Free Practice, 2 times pole, two wins and P2 for race three! Had fun and great races. Many thanks to everybody in the BlackArtsRacingTeam for a great car and an amazing opportunity!”

Sandro Tavartkiladze: "It was great experience to race at F1 Sepang F1 Circuit. Not a weekend i was hoping for but gained huge experience and good to be on the podium. Hope to come back stronger next time. Thanks to the all team members for great car and the weekend.”

Stephen Hong: Great weekend! The Sepang F1 Circuit is one of my favorite tracks and it was a real pleasure to get on the podium here, even though there was some machinery problem in the car for the second race of this third round. But the team helped me out quickly and kept me competitive in the third round where we were able to finish fourth. Also during the weekend we had good strategy which was our advantage. Thanks to my family for their support! And thanks to the joint efforts of the team, i believe that in the September race here in Sepang, I will have a better performance.”

Round Four of the exciting 2019 Asia Formula Renault Championship will take place at Sepang International F1 Circuit on September 28-29, where Joey Alders will be looking to put a solid lead in the Driver’s Championship and Sandro Tavartkiladze will be looking to regain his 2nd place in the points from Bruno Carneiro, while Stephen Hong looks to continue the climb up the pyramid from 5th.

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OLOI is a San Francisco-based motorsports-inspired line of apparel which focuses on blending performance with time-proven classics in its product line. Please support the OLOI brand by subscribing to their website for more details and exciting promotional offers. For more information on OLOI, please visit: http://www.OLOIinc.com.

BlackArts Racing Team is a China / Hong Kong registered motor racing team that was formed in January, 2015. Its main operational headquarters are located within the Zhuhai International Circuit, in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province [bordering Macau] and the famous Sepang International F1 Circuit in Malaysia. The team’s business operations predominantly focus on professional racing series in Asia including F3 Asian Championship, Asian Formula Renault Series/AFR Series, FIA China F4, and various touring car series. The team also provides year-round beginning and advanced driver training via racing schools, individual driver training, and corporate track days. For more information on BlackArts Racing please visit http://www.BlackArtsRacing.com.

2019 Asia Formula Renault Championship Schedule:
Rnd 1 – March 23-24 - Zhuhai International Circuit, China
Rnd 2 – May 25-26- Zhuhai International Circuit, China
Rnd 3 – August 24-25- Sepang International F1 Circuit, Malaysia
Rnd 4 – September-28-29- Sepang International F1 Circuit, Malaysia
Rnd 5 – [TBC] Oct 12-13 – Bira International Circuit, Thailand