BY CHARLES D'SOUZA
MARGAO: Hong Kong-based Goan, Brad Dias in his first Asian Renault Outing clinched two podiums in Class B Category at Zhuhai,China’s southern Guangdong province, on the border with Macau, recently.
The Indian started the weekend in the BlackArts Racing car with 17th and 16th places overall, while fourth and third in Class B in the two practice sessions.
For the first race, Brad was forced to start from the pitlane after failing to make the grid on time due to frantic scenes after rain hit the track. Dias qualified as 11th overall, with Josh Burdon winning the race from Pavan Ravishankar and Maxx Ebenal.
In Race 2, the Indian started on pole but lost his lead going into Turn 1, though he managed to get it back but Ngan Ming Hang remained on his tail all along. While the two battled for the class victory, exchanging places all through, Jie joined in the fight to make it a three-way tussle. In the end with three corners to go, Hang managed to get his nose ahead in Turn 9 which also allowed Jie to pass Dias, demoting him to third. The three separated by a mere 0.331s as the chequered flag fell with Dias 12th overall.
Up ahead, Burdon won the final race of the season with Ebenal second and Najiy Ayyad Bin Abd Razak third.
Earlier, Dias, who competed in the MRF F1600 this year finishing ninth, will make his international debut racing with leading BlackArts Racing team in Class B category, at Zhuhai. "I knew the guys at BlackArts Racing already, and completed a very positive test day at Zhuhai prior to the MRF F1600 series," he told The Goan Everyday. "We both wanted to work together this year and now when the opportunity came up to compete in their final AFR race this year. I grabbed it with both hands."
The Indian who is based in Hong Kong wants to compete in the MRF F2000 series in future. "My aim was to compete in the F2000 series this year. Though after the car got upgraded to close to F3 level, it definitely made sense to put it on hold and compete in it later.” For Brad Dias, racing is passion. He lives and breathes motorsport.
Brad Dias, who is preparing for AFR Race, is taking home a lot of positives from Zhuhai . “I am thrilled to complete this rally,” he said . “Every stage was quite challenging, physically and mentally. But I managed to use all the training experience, especially while navigating, to stay in the race.”
Now the 19-year-old Brad has been racing for quite some time and has successfully managed to continue pursuing his passion. “I am practicing daily since I am serious about racing. I plan to continue racing till I am fit. Racing keeps me motivated to stay fit and helps me in flying,” said the Goan native.
