Leopold Ringbom and Juan Arenas Were Shining in the First Race of AFR

The first race of the 2011 AFR Season was held on this past weekend at Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC), as part of the China Superbike Championship (CSBK) weekend that attracted more than 5,000 fans to watch the exciting competition. After the dust is settled, it is very obvious that a rivalry is slowly brewing between the top five drivers. A few major highlights：

Leopold Ringbom of Finland kept his leadership position throughout the whole weekend but lost his podium position in round 2 for his jump start. But he definitely was the fastest guy on the track this weekend.

Juan Arenas from American failed to get up to the podium in the 1st round suffering steering problem. However during the 2nd round, with the supporting of his fans and after the mechanical problem eliminated, he got the first prize for race two.

Alexandra Asmasoebrata, young female driver from Indonesia went to the podium four times, collecting trophies for both the International and Asian classes.

Li Chi Cong, ART’s ace driver this year, lost his podium finish in the first race due to jump start but captured the 2nd place in race two.

Rookie driver, Timothy Teo from Singapore, collected good return for his practice and training investment during the winter months, gained a Asian class podium finish in race one but was out of the race early in race two due to accident.

Qualifying: The Fastest Guy - Leopold Ringbom of Finland

Leopold Ringbom from PS Racing Team immediately put himself on the top of the time sheet and kept it throughout the whole session. He enjoyed the fastest time with 1:37.711 in the 9th lap. Juan Arenas from the Gold Wolf Racing Team, Li Chi Cong of ART achieve the 2nd, 3rd grid position, respectively.

Round 1 Leopold Ringbom encored his successful result received the day before

Pole sitter Leopold Ringbom of PS Racing was expected to have an easy race considering his impressive qualifying time achieved the day before. He made full use of the advantage and finished the race from start to finish. His teammate Alexandra Asmasoebrata claimed to the 2nd place with her great efforts. Timothy Teo of Champ Motorsport ran a nice race and scored better lap time than his own Q time. Finally he claimed to the 3rd position.

Leopold Ringbom expressed after the race :" I am so excited and I don't know how to express it. Generally speaking, I am so happy that I am the fastest guy in the first race in 2011 AFR season. It is really a good start, especially for me to take part in the rest of the series this year."

Round 2 Juan Arenas shared his first prize with his fans in China

During the round 2, Leopold Ringbom did lead from start to finish again but his jump start cooled his perfect weekend. After getting his steering problem fixed, Juan was determine to give a good fight for the podium. He overtook ceaselessly Timothy and Alexandra. Finally, he he slipped inside Li and passed him cleanly on lap eight. Although Li tried to fight back pushed Juan for last two laps. They finished the race with a gap of less than one second.

The drama continued for Juan after he realized that he actually won the race after Leopold was demoted to fifth due to his jump start.

Juan said excitedly :" I am really happy for the intensive competition happening in this race. This is the first time for me to take part in AFR, and I am so proud that I can capture the prize with these good drivers. "

AFR Program Director Paul Hui indicated that:" Happy to see new speedy drivers entering the series. I am also quite happy to see a couple new teams, PS racing and Gold Wolf Racing joining us and ironically, their drivers performed exceptionally good this weekend and beat out the incumbent teams. I hope the incumbent teams can do something next race here in Zhuhai during the CTCC weekend May 28-29.”

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2011 AFR Series Drivers Points Table-Asian Category