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BlackArts Racing (BAR) are pleased to announce new signings Charles Leong, Brad Dias and David Pun to be joining existing drivers Pavan Ravishankar, Neric Wei and Thomas Luedi for its assault on the 2017 Asian Formula Renault Series.

The reigning AFR championship winning team has had an extensive offseason which included an intensive selection and training process for its drivers. Team principal Bill O’Brien, now believes it is in a strong position to continue their strong form into the new season.
“After the success of last year, we wanted to ensure that we built on this momentum. With the signing of these three new talented drivers, and the return of three of our drivers from 2016, we look to strengthen our position as one the leading forces in junior formula racing in Asia.” O’Brien said.

“BAR has a strong focus on developing racing drivers through a holistic approach, and it’s great that Charles, Brad and David identified this and will be coming onboard to take advantage. From what I have already seen from their early testing and training results, they all have the potential to have successful careers”.

“Having Pavan re-sign is particularly exciting for the team as we have seen him come from being a go kart driver with no race car experience and him finishing the year with him being an AFR front runner. His attitude and approach to his racing has seen him make great progress in a short period of time and we will work with him to build on this throughout 2017.”

The 2017 Asian Formula Renault Championship, supported by Renault Sport F1 Team and organised by Formula Racing Development Limited, will be contested over six events held across the Asia region and will include rounds at the Shanghai and Malaysian Grand Prix circuits. Round one will be held at Zhuhai International Circuit from March 17-19.

BlackArts Racing - 2017 Asian Formula Renault Series line-up: (in alphabetical order)

Brad Dias. Indian residing in Hong Kong.
With two podiums in his first two AFR races in 2016 and top finishes in MRF 1600, Brad moves up to Class A in AFR 2017 and will be aiming to be a constant contender for podium positions.

Charles Leong. Macanese.
China Karting Championship Senior Champion. Chinese Formula 4 race wins. Has been very impressive in his first tests in the BAR Class A FR 2.0.

David Pun. Hong Kong.
On the Class B podium in his first AFR race in the season finale last year, David, a top young entrepreneur, will be fighting for the Class B championship in 2017.

Neric Wei. Chinese.
Neric is a passionate gentleman driver who competes in several different race categories. He has previously competed in Formula Renault, the Asian Le Mans Series and events in Europe.

Pavan Ravishankar. Singaporean.
Multiple podiums in AFR during his rookie season in 2016. Finishing fourth out of 24 Class A drivers, Pavan has placed well in MRF 2016/17 and will be back in AFR aiming to win the championship.

Thomas Luedi. Switzerland, BAR partner.
Thomas has raced for BAR for a number of years now and has been making strong progress, especially over the last 6 months. In 2017 he will be looking to build on this progress as well as assist the team with its ongoing development.

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