After claiming victories in both classes at the previous round in Zhuhai, Craft-Bamboo Racing are looking to carry the winning momentum into the season finale of the 2018 FRD LMP3 China Endurance Series at the brand new V1 Autodrome in Tianjin, on the 9-11 November 2018. Both cars have shown their capabilities throughout the year, proven by the convincing win in Zhuhai. Because of the curtailed weekend in Zhuhai due to inclement weather, an extra race will be held at the season finale in Tianjin this weekend.
The team has retained its driver line-ups from the previous round. Reigning 2017 FRD LMP3 CES champion James Winslow and Australian Jake Parsons will be sharing the #95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3. The #96 Ligier will be driven by experienced GT and Prototype driver Neale Muston co-driving with young gun Nathan Kumar, who has continued his rapid progress in the Ligier JSP3 with the team in 2018.
#95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3
At the previous round in Zhuhai, the #95 Ligier driven by James Winslow and Jake Parsons proved to be a strong driver pairing, qualifying 2nd and taking a controlled victory. James Winslow, the fast and highly experienced driver, will be looking to end his 2018 campaign on a high after a strong season despite starting the year with an incident that left the British-native with broken vertabrae. The Brit, who now lives in Australia, has already proved that he has not lost his winning edge by making a bold and daring move at turn 1 in Zhuhai to take the lead of the race and eventually taking outright victory with then-newcomer Jake Parsons.
Winslow will once again be partnered with up-and-coming single seater driver Jake Parsons, who shared an impressive win at the previous round at his debut weekend with the team. The 23 year old has shown his versatility in high-downforce racing cars; currently racing in the Japanese F3 series after having previously raced in Super GT in Japan and LMP2 in the Asia Le Mans Series. Having already taken a win on their first outing together, Winslow and Parsons are a formidable pairing that aims to challenge at the front for the final round of the 2018 season.
#96 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3
The sister #96 Ligier took an Am class win the last time out in Zhuhai, with Neale Muston and Nathan Kumar on driving duties. Despite starting in the middle of the pack in 8th and getting bundled down to the back of the field from the melee into the first corner, Kumar showed great maturity and skill to avoid further incident and to fight back through the field. Kumar’s experience gained over three race weekends in the 2018 FRD LMP3 season will be put to good use, as he faces yet another new circuit.
Sharing the #96 Ligier with Kumar will be Australian Neale Muston. Muston, most recently having shared the Am class win with Kumar in Zhuhai will be keen to display yet another solid and consistent performance. Muston’s experience sets a high benchmark for pace of the #96 Ligier; his intelligent, strategic defending last time out in Zhuhai meant victory for the am pairing.
With the 2018 FRD LMP3 China Endurance Series drawing to a close, Craft-Bamboo Racing has gained valuable knowledge and track time at various new facilities being built in Asia. The team is confident that the drivers have also gained experience and knowledge of driving LMP3 prototypes. The weekend’s action begins today with Open Practice 1 at 1100hrs (GMT +8) and the first Qualifying session at 1000hrs (GMT +8) on Saturday. The two races on Saturday start at 1205hrs and 1530hrs respectively, and the main race on Sunday begins at 1245hrs. (All times GMT +8)
Catch all the live action at FRD Motorsport’s YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ7j4ZjHwrkA7wv3cJ9V6cQ/videos
Schedule – Tianjin Circuit [GMT +8]
- Friday 9 Nov
Open Practice 1 1100hrs[40mins]
Open Practice 2 1150hrs[40mins]
Free Practice 1 1400hrs[60mins]
Free Practice 2 1600hrs[60mins] - Saturday 10 Nov
Qualifying 1 1000hrs[10min]
Qualifying 2 1020hrs[10min]
Rd 3 Main Race 1230hrs[60min plus leader]
Opening Race 1530hrs[50min plus leader] - Sunday 11 Nov
Main Race 1245hrs[60min plus leader]
Quotes:
Darryl O’Young – Director, Craft-Bamboo Racing
The drivers have all made strong progress the past season, which was capped with the double win last time out in Zhu Hai. I am confident that the team will adapt to the new circuit quickly to give the drivers confidence in their quest to take the final wins of the season. Although we are in contention for the drivers title with 3 races to go, it will be stretch to win this year due to some bad luck earlier in the season. With that in mind, we will put our sole focus on winning the races in Tianjin.
James Winslow – Driver, #95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3
“I’m looking forward to coming to the final round of the FRD LMP3 series with the reigning champions and we still have some chance of winning the championship this weekend. After a slow start we found our pace mid-season and winning the last round in Zhuhai has put us in a good position to come to the final race weekend of the season and hopefully fight for the championship.”Jake Parsons – Driver, #95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3
“Excited to be returning with craft bamboo for the final round of FRD. They were a great bunch of people to work with at Zhuhai and I believe we can keep the momentum we built there coming into this weekend. After walking the track and taking in the layout I think it will be a very enjoyable circuit with a lot of unique corners so I’m excited to get started.”Neale Muston – Driver, #96 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3
“After winning the Amateur class division at the previous round in Zhuhai, Nathan and I are keen to put in a similar strong showing at this new track. Our aim is to finish top 5 outright, bettering some of the professional cars.”Nathan Kumar – Driver, #96 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS P3
“I am looking forward to the final show down at Tianjin speed park. All teams are going into the weekend on an even field with the venue being a fairly new track, and I believe we have a good car based on the performance at the last round at Zhuhai. My co-driver, Neale Muston, drove faultlessly last round I hope to be able to complement him and come away with another podium for the team again.”
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