AF3 Promotion Class will produce close racing

The teams have finalized their new line ups and the Promotion Class for cars built before 1999 looks set for its most competitive season to date. Resident pundit, Don Tacos, gives his predictions on who will be doing the winning

Moreno Soeprapto’s signing for JF3 has produced a good favorite to win races. He already has experience of Batangas and his race winning exploits in Formula BMW Asia demonstrates he knows what it takes to climb to the top step of the podium. When he is in the mood he can beat anyone, the big question is how often will he be in the mood?

Greg Murphy has a good pedigree, racing in Ireland and the UK. He is in the Promotions Class Championship winning team of the past two years and his car is the one that finished second overall in the last round of 2004. Testing has shown he can get on the pace, although he has been exploring the limits resulting in several off track excursions. If he can contain his enthusiasm and keep the car on the road he will be challenging for victories. It’s a hard call as to who to make favorite for the Championship, Murphy or Moreno.

John Marcelo will drive for CJM in the car pedaled by Dado Pena last year. Marcelo is a younger brother of the late Jovy Marcelo who was a Formula Atlantic Champion in the USA before sadly being killed during practice for the Indy 500. Testing has demonstrated that John seems to also be a talented driver but his almost complete lack of experience will count against him. Expect him to get stronger with every race but can he get on the pace soon enough to challenge for the championship?

JP Carino is a Philippine Formula Toyota Champion and he therefore must possess a great deal of talent. He joins Speedtech Asia and they demonstrated with Oliver Turvey at the final round last year that they know how to prepare a winning car. JP knows BRC very well and I expect him to show well there. How he copes with Zhuhai and Sentul will determine whether he can be a championship contender.

Renan Morales is crossing over from Touring Cars with the Fujitisu Ten Toyota Team TOM’S operation. It’s a really tall order to expect him to be a winner this year but expect him to improve with every race, his touring car exploits have demonstrated he does possess a natural talent.

At other end of the scale is JP Tuason who will enter as car under his own team banner, Tuason Racing Team. JP is a quick driver, of that there is no doubt and he does possess a lot of experience. He raced in AF3 during 2002 and demonstrated he can pedal an F3 car extremely fast. The down side is that the whole deal has been put together at the last moment and the team may take some time to get up to speed. If they can, then he should be a race winner. Whether he can win in the first couple of races is another matter.

One car is unaccounted for, it is rumored that Kinetic F3 will run an unnamed driver. The team are frugal with any information so we are unable to comment.

The Don Tacos prediction is that Greg Murphy, Moreno Soeprapto and JP Carino will make up the top three in the Championship, and that JP Tuason will also be a race winner. Predictions are very dangerous and by the last race of 2005 there will be probably be a lot of egg on the proverbial face!