On May 23 rd , the first points race of the AFR Championship was held at Shanghai International Circuit (SIC) as the supporting race for the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC), the top circuit event in China. The AFR championship is entering its 10 th season this year and features many talented young drivers from all over the world in 2009.

The first round of the AFR Championship started on Saturday afternoon with fifteen cars on the grid. According to the qualifying results, Alon Day of March 3 (M3) racing team and Benjamin Rouget from Asia Racing Team (ART) started from the first row while Rio Haryanto (ART) and Zhang Zhiqiang (M3) were on the 2 nd . The SIC circuit configuration that AFR used (4.603KM) was much longer than the touring car track. The race had 1 formation lap + 10 laps. Alon Day, the young driver from team M3, managed to lead the race from the very beginning and finished with a 1:219 second lead. Rio Haryanto (ART), the young Indonesian driver, finished 2 nd . The French ART driver Benjamin Rouget finished 3 rd .

The 2 nd round started on Sunday afternoon. As a result of Saturday's race, Alon Day again started from pole, with Rio Haryanto next to him on the first row. Haryanto's two other teammates Benjamin Rouget and Luis Gorge Sa Silva started from the 2 nd row. Alon Day got off to an excellent start and managed to create a gap after entering the first turn, with Haryanto following closely behind after lap 1 and struggling to find a way to overtake Day. After a few laps, Day and Haryanto were leading the race with at least a 5 second lead to eventually take 1 st and 2 nd on the podium. Rouget and Sa Silva wound up 3 rd and 4 th . Samin, the only female driver from team M3, did a good job by starting from 10 th and finishing 8 th . The top 5 drivers were the same as race 1: Alon Day, Rio Haryanto, Benjamin Rouget, Luis Jorge Sa Silva and Jim Ka To.

Alon Day, the young promising driver from Israel, indicated after the race that everything went well:”I got off to a good start that helped me to avoid a close fight with other drivers.” Day also indicated that the AFR championship is the only race series that he planned to participate in 2009, and that he is confident to win the title.

Rio Haryanto, the 2-time 1 st runner-up said:” The race went well and I am glad to come back to this championship once in a while. Alon is an excellent driver and I had a great time racing with him.” Haryanto indicated that he will focus on single-seaters for now and wants to race in F3 within the next year.

Jim Ka To, the 2008 AFR Champion, indicated that he had experienced technical problems during the race and that he felt lucky to finish 5 th . “I am happy to see so many young drivers to come to this championship and they made the races more competitive & interesting.”