Ex-F1 driver rules at Sentul

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jean Alesi of the Speedcar Team won the opening day of the inaugural round of the Speedcar Asia series at the Sentul International Circuit, south of Jakarta, on Saturday.

The former Formula One driver from France finished 27 laps in a time of 45 minutes and 48.803 seconds. Second place went to Mathias Lauda of the GPC Team, with a time of 45:54.263, while in third was Johnny Herbert, also of Speedcar Team, in 45:58.963.

RACE PARTY: Former Formula One driver Jean Alesi of France (27) pulls ahead during the Speedcar Series at Sentul circuit, south of Jakarta, on Saturday. Alesi won the opening day's race, followed by Mathias Lauda of Austria and Johnny Herbert of Britain. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)

Ananda Mikola, representing Indonesia along with brother Moreno Soeprapto, failed to reach his goal of a top three finish, ending up in eighth place.

Moreno failed to finish the race after experiencing engine problems in the 17th lap.

Alesi, driving car number 27, said he was very happy about beating out younger racers like Mathias Lauda.

"I'm happy about today's race, and was really challenged to race with young racers like Mathias," he said.

Lauda said he was honored to race along past F1 drivers, the other being Johnny Herbert of Britain.

"It was a worthy race to have seniors like Jean and Johnny winning. I'm glad to end up on the podium," he said.

Herbert said he was exited by his third place finish after a difficult last 10 laps during the race.

"The last 10 laps were so demanding," he said.

In Saturday's other race, Luca Filippi of Qi-Meritus Mahara won the Grand Prix 2 Asia series, beating out Sebastien Buemi of Trust Team Arden and Adrian Valles of FMS International.

It was an improved performance by Filippi, who failed to finish the fist series in Dubai due to a gearbox failure. Dubai winner Romain Grosjean had to be content with fifth place on Saturday.

The GP2 Asia series features 27 racers from 12 European teams and an Asian team. (nkn)