The final two rounds of the Asian Karting Open Championship were held as a double-header at the Sentul Circuit in Indonesia last weekend, with Indonesian drivers making it almost a clean sweep on the championship tables, having secured the championship in 4 of the 6 categories, including the 3 largest attended ones.
Senna SN (Indonesia), just back from an impressive performance at the Rotax Grand Finals, took the overall Formula Senior Open Class victory ahead of Andersen Martono and compatriot Zahir Ali. Senna managed to secure the title despite having missed the opening round held in Macau, and Zahir Ali made an impressive appearance on the 3rd step of the championship podium since this was his first weekend of AKOC racing all year! To do so Zahir dominated the weekend taking the pre-final and final wins on both days.
Indonesian driver Dharma Mangkuluhur won the Formula 125 Junior open category. On Saturday (round 4) he took 2nd place behind his main championship rival Estefano Rivera of the Philippines, following that up with a win in the final. Having continued his good form on Sunday, his pre-final victory meant that he had sealed the title before the final, which was critical because a technical problem forced him out of the race. Singaporean driver Jon Lee secured 3rd place in the championship with his best result of the year – 3rd place in the final round.
In MiniROK the championship was decided by a single point, and 3rd place was a further one point behind 2nd! Keanon Santoso (Indonesia) took the title ahead of Barrichello Noor (Indonesia) and Flynn Jackes (Philippines). All three struggled to find the front of the pack in Indonesia, with the top 3 positions on both days going to drivers that had not competed in the opening 3 rounds of the series. Prassetyo Hardja was most impressive taking wins in both finals, as well as the pre-final win on Sunday and 2nd on Saturday.
Aria Bima took the Rotax Junior title ahead of Kezia Santoso and Alroy Syadavirya, while Wong Kang Tong (Hong Kong) reigned supreme in the Rotax Senior category with his title already secured before the final rounds, which he didn’t race a Rotax in, as he was also busy winning the 125 Veteran category ahead of Malaysian driver Freddy Lawan.