Arvin Roslan - Winner Race 1 

PETRONAS FORMULA XPERIENCE - SEASON 2007
SEVENTH SCHOOL SESSION AND SCHOOL RACE REPORT
Sunday – 2 December 2007

Drivers round out penultimate session of the season with final school race
Weather: Sunny and hot.

Sepang, 2 December 2007 – It has been a busy month for the drivers enrolled in the 2007 season of the PETRONAS Formula Xperience (PFX) racing school, who were back strapped into their school race cars to participate in the penultimate session in the 2007 season. The event was also the third and final instalment of the driver’s scheduled school races, this time taking place as the support event at the fifth round of the Malaysian Super Series (MSS) event at the Sepang International Circuit.

In contrast to the previous school race event - held as one of the support events to the A1 Grand Prix the weekend before – the drivers’ final school race was conducted on the shorter Sepang North Track and not the full grand prix circuit. Featuring two races held on Sunday following the free practice and qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, the two races celebrated Arvin Roslan and Dominic Ang as the winners of Race 1 and 2, respectively.

The penultimate training session of the season began on Friday with the drivers continuing their regular school programme with classroom and practical training sessions. Focusing on technical aspects, the drivers worked with instructors on the car setup including camber, toe-in, toe-out and castor. The drivers also conducted mental training and physical preparation exercises with the PFX fitness instructor prior to the free-practice session.

With the dry and hot conditions continuing into Saturday’s afternoon qualifying session, Dominic Ang once again dominated proceedings storming to claim pole position starts for both races. Carrying on the momentum from the previous school race weekends, the 18-year old clocked in with his two fastest laps of 1:07.457m and 1:07.588m. Meanwhile, six other drivers also demonstrated marked improvements with lap times under the 1:08minute mark, keeping the gap to Dominic to just over half a second.

Though starting from pole position on the grid, the first race on Sunday afternoon featured a lottery of opportunities as the young drivers sought to improve on their grid positions at the start. The race eventually settled after several laps following earlier incidents involving a number of drivers. After bagging two second place finishes in the previous school race, 18-year old Arvin Roslan claimed his first school race victory, edging out the rest of the field with almost a 3 second gap to second place Aizat Shamer, who also celebrated his first podium finish this season. Rounding off the top three was Muhammad Shafiq Abdul Aziz ahead of pole sitter Dominic Ang, who settled to finish fourth, after conceding the race lead following a spin during the race.

Intent on re-establishing his dominance for the afternoon’s second race, 18-year old Dominic Ang was the quickest of the line from pole position to take the race lead, though he had a tough fight on his hands to keep the lead from Race 1 winner Arvin over the course of the 15-lap race. Starting from fifth on the grid, Arvin once again produced a gritty performance to push his way up the field to finish second, keeping the gap to Dominic to just over 1.5 seconds through to the chequered flag. The race also produced determined drive from Sarawakian Ammirol Mahmood who despite losing two places in the earlier part of the race, fought hard to regain the third and final podium position from Shafiq on the last lap.

The final event in the 2007 season of the PFX racing school will see the drivers participate in the third and final fitness event, which will be held later this month.

Arvin celebrates his race victory with Aizat Shamer (left, 2nd position) and Shafiq (right, 3rd position) 

Arvin Roslan, Car 6 (age: 18 years). Winner – Race 1; 2nd place – Race 2
“It’s such a great feeling to be up on the top step of the podium, especially after finishing in second place twice at the previous school race events! It was a fun race, with a lot of action throughout the 15-lap race. I started from third position on the grid and pushed as hard as I could at the start and tried to keep my focus to not making any mistakes and the reward is indeed very satisfying! In the second race, I knew that it would not be easy, especially as I had to start from the middle of the grid from fifth. I tried to be patient, so that when the opportunities came, I could capitalise and suddenly I realised I was already catching Dominic. I am happy that I managed to keep the gap down to him and finish second. Overall it has been a really good weekend for me. In fact, it has been a truly amazing season. On that note, I want to thank the instructors and the PETRONAS team for their guidance not just this weekend but throughout the season!” 

Dominic Ang, Car 1 (age: 18 years). 4th place – Race 1; Winner – Race 2
“For me, the final school race was actually very good and exciting from start to finish. In the first race, I made a mistake and spun and lost the race lead. After that I was struggling to try and regain positions. In the end, I am content with fourth place, as everything that happens in the race, good or bad, is always a good learning opportunity for me to improve. For the second race, I had to make the most of the pole position to ensure a good start. Towards the end, I realised that Arvin was closing in on me, so I knew that I had to maintain my focus and to get the win felt really great! I know that this journey is a long one but I really value what the instructors, mechanics and the PETRONAS team have taught us. Their guidance and support throughout the season will go a long way towards preparing me for this journey.”

Aizat Shamer Azmi, Car 9 (age: 16 years). 2nd place – Race 1; 8th – Race 2
“I am really happy with the result from Race 1 as it was my first visit to the podium, especially after the poor results from the previous school races! There were a lot of incidents at the start of the race, but my focus was on trying to improve on my start position. I am not really sure what happened at the front toward the middle part of the race but suddenly when I realised it, I was in second place. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky in the second race, as I spun in the middle part of the race and that dropped me all the way down the order. From that point on, I tried to push as hard as I could to try and regain some positions. Overall, I have to say that I have really savoured the experience and would like to thank all the entire teaching crew and everyone on the PFX team for making this happen.”

Muhammad Shafiq Abdul Aziz, Car 10 (age: 18 years). 3rd place – Race 1; 4th place – Race 2
“What an eventful weekend! There were so many things happening around me in both races, making it quite hard for me to keep my focus. In the first race, I tried to overtake Ammirol and I damaged my front wing but managed to keep it together. I couldn’t tell what was happening at the front but suddenly I was up to third and to be on the podium again is great. In the second race, I lost the position after a good, long and tough fight with Ammirol, who managed to overtake me in the last lap. In the end, although I lost out on the podium, I am happy with the result. For me, the learning experience has been fantastic and I too want to thank the instructors and everyone on the PFX team for sharing their experiences with us.”

Ammirol Ahmad Mahmood, Car 7 (age: 18 years). 5th place – Race 1; 3rd place – Race 2
“Overall I am really happy with the result from the weekend. I knew it was not going to be easy and I did make quite a few mistakes in both races. In general, I know I have the pace to compete but the incident in the first race dropped me down the order and I knew I had a fight on my hands to try and take the positions back. In the second race, I also lost out at the start, but this time I worked to keep the gap as close as possible and in the end I managed to overtake Shafiq to take third place and be back on the podium. In general, I have learned a lot from this experience and for that I have to thank PETRONAS for giving me this opportunity to be part of this racing school programme. I also have to thank the mechanics and the instructors who have shared their own valuable racing experience to teach us.”

Enzo Mucci, PFX Lead Instructor: “It was another successful ending to the second season of the PETRONAS Formula Xperience and we are all extremely proud of the young drivers. Having had almost three back-to-back school race weekends in the span of a month, the final school race event turned out to be an interesting, challenging and demanding ending for the drivers! In general, the drivers have demonstrated considerable improvement throughout the whole season. They have been given this wonderful opportunity to learn, develop and grow as well as proved that they can be quick. On that note, I am confident that we can look forward to seeing them graduate and perhaps see them compete at higher levels in the future.”

Race Results - Race 2 (16:15hrs, Sunday, 2 December 2007)

Race Results - Race 1 (13:30hrs, Sunday, 2 December 2007)