| Industry | Motor Racing |
|---|---|
| Founded | Macau, China, (2003) |
| Headquarters | Zhuhai International Circuit, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China |
| Key people | Philippe Descombes (Team Manager) Sergio Fonseca (Marketing & PR Manager) Yannick Mazier (Chief Mechanic) Rodolfo Ávila (Team Consultant & Driver Coach) |
| Website | ART-Motorsports.com |
Asia Racing Team is a Chinese / Macanese motor racing team that was formed in 2003. It is headquartered in Zhuhai International Circuit.
Throughout its history the team primarily competed in Formula Renault, moving after to Formula BMW Pacific, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia & GT3 Asia.
The team is also known in the region for their racing school.
Asia Racing Team in 2011 embarked in another Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season with a line up of 3 drivers.[1] Also the team will run two Porsche GT3 Cup-R in GT Asia Challenge.
Contents |
Philippe Descombes (Team Manager) The overall operation of the company is managed by motor racing multi-titlist Frenchman, Philippe Descombes. He, who is fluent in Mandarin, was the man to help the launch single seaters careers of several successful Asian drivers, including Cheng Congfu, Rodolfo Ávila, Alexandre Imperatori, Jazeman Jaafar, or Rio Haryanto.
Sérgio Fonseca (PR & Marketing Manager) Joined ART in December 2007 as PR & Marketing Manager. Prior to ART, Sérgio worked for more than ten years in motorsports event organization, driver’s management and media in Portugal and Macau. The Portuguese is the Public and Media relations of the team and customer support manager.
Yannick Mazier (Chief Mechanic) Frenchman Yannick Mazier is with ART since the first day and leads a 12-man mechanics in the workshop based at Zhuhai International Circuit.
Rodolfo Ávila (Driver Coach) Former British F3 and International Formula Master racing driver Rodolfo Avila train and coach novice and licensed drivers of all ages. 2003 Asian Formual Renault Champion and 2008 Asian Supercar Challenge Champion. Avila currently races in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia.
The Asia Racing Team, Ltd. (ART Motorsports) is a company registered in China and in Macau with assets amounting to more than RMB 10 million. Its main operational headquarters is located within the Zhuhai International Circuit complex, in southern China.
Team Highlights:
2003: A group of successful Macau entrepreneurs creates ART to compete in Asian Formula Renault Challenge – the first race of the team was the 50th Macau Grand Prix.
2004: First full season of racing in Asian Formula Renault, finishing 2nd (Rodolfo Ávila).
2005: ART wins Asian Formula Renault Macau Grand Prix (Hiroyuki Matsumura).
2006: ART conquers Asian Formula Renault’s Teams title for the first time and finishes 2nd (Alexandre Imperatori).
2007: ART finished 2nd (Alexandre Imperatori) again in Asian Formula Renault Challenge.
2008: The team was 2nd (Mathias Beche) in Formula Asia 2.0 and wins Asian Drivers Trophy (Rio Haryanto). ART returns to Macau Grand Prix, making the first appearance in Formula BMW Pacific.
2009: The team entered a new era, giving the first steps into GT racing, participating in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia with two overall victories and best rookie (Rodolfo Ávila). ART took AFR Championship Teams title and drivers’ classification first runner up (Luis Sa Silva). Contested the Formula BMW Pacific Macau Grand Prix and Singapore Grand Prix rounds.
2010: Asia Racing Team clinched the AFR Series’ team championship while Sandy Stuvik[2] clinched the Driver points championship, followed by his teammate Tin Sritrai, and the “Asian Drivers Category”.
The ART Motorsports Racing School is the only formal driver training course recognized by both the Hong Kong Automobile Association (HKAA) and the Associação Geral Automóvel Macau-China (AAMC). The organization of a monthly course continues to be popular among the young and elder alike from students to corporate decision-makers.[3]
In 2011 Asia Racing Team turned their heads from AFR Series to the newly established single seater championship in the region - the "Formula Pilota China Series" - with an impressive four car line up: China’s Chi Cong Li and Naomi Zhang Ran will race alongside with Angola’s Luis Sá Silva and Thailand’s Tin Sritrai.
| ART Formula Pilota China | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Drivers | D.C. | T.C. | ||||||
| 2011 | Chi Cong Li | ||||||||
| Luis Sa Silva | |||||||||
| Tin Sritrai | |||||||||
| Naomi Zhang | |||||||||
| ART Formula Renault Drivers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Drivers | D.C. | T.C. | ||||||
| 2003 | Kazuki Nakajima† | D.N.F | |||||||
| Kamui Kobayashi† | D.N.F | ||||||||
| Motohiko Isozaki† | 11th | ||||||||
| 2004 | Rodolfo Ávila | 2nd | 2nd | ||||||
| Henry Lee Junior | 6th | ||||||||
| Kenneth Lau | 30th | ||||||||
| Michael Choi | 16th | ||||||||
| 2005 | Michael Ting | 8th | 3rd | ||||||
| Zhang Jin | 9th | ||||||||
| 2006 | Alexandre Imperatori | 2nd | 1st | ||||||
| Jazeman Jaafar | 3rd | ||||||||
| Henri Karjalainen | 4th | ||||||||
| Zhang Jin | 15th | ||||||||
| 2007 | Alexandre Imperatori | 2nd | 1st | ||||||
| Benjamin Rouget | 13th | ||||||||
| Mathias Beche | 5th | ||||||||
| Zhang Zhen Dong | 17th | ||||||||
| Sujino Hajime | 18th | ||||||||
| 2008 | Mathias Beche | 2nd | 2nd | ||||||
| Yoshitaka Kuroda | 5th | ||||||||
| Rio Haryanto | 3rd | ||||||||
| Ryan Booth | 7th | ||||||||
| 2009 | Rio Haryanto | 11th | 1st | ||||||
| Benjamin Rouget | 4th | ||||||||
| Luca Ferigutti | 7th | ||||||||
| Luis Sá Silva | 2nd | ||||||||
| Suriya Bala Kerisnan Thevar | 20th | ||||||||
| 2010 | Sandy Stuvik | 1st | 1st | ||||||
| Tin Sritrai | 2nd | ||||||||
| Suriya Bala Kerisnan Thevar | 6th | ||||||||
| Zhang Ran | 11th | ||||||||
| Chi Cong Li | 5th | ||||||||
D.C - Driver Classification, T.C - Team Classification, † - Only one race (Macau Grand Prix)
| ART Formula BMW Drivers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Drivers | D.C. | T.C. | ||||||
| 2008 | Alon Day† | D.N.F | |||||||
| Yuji Kunimoto† | 5th | ||||||||
| 2009 | Alon Day† | D.N.F | |||||||
| Suriya Bala Kerisnan Thevar†,†† | 7th | ||||||||
| 2010 | Suriya Bala Kerisnan Thevar | 18th | 9th | ||||||
| Paul Lau†† | 19th | ||||||||
† - Only one race (Macau Grand Prix)
†† - Only one race (Singapore Grand Prix)
The team, which has participated in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2009 winning two races, has been keeping an eye on Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2010. Following discussions with various drivers, the team has decided to re-enter in the most prestigious series of Southeast Asia as a technical service provider for car owners. Bringing with them a strong racing background as well as a surplus of enthusiasm and excitement, Holland's Marcel Tjia and Hong Kong's Dr Chi Min Ma joined up with Macanese driver Keith Vong to round out the three-car effort.
| ART Porsche Carerra Cup Drivers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Drivers | D.C. | T.C. | ||||||
| 2009 | Rodolfo Ávila | 4th | 4th | ||||||
| 2011 | Dr.Ma Chi Min | ||||||||
| Keith Wong | |||||||||
| Marcel Tjia | |||||||||
Asia Racing Team also expanded to GT series in Asia. The Macau born and Zhuhai based team is running two Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R in the GT3 class of the GT Asia Series for the Hong Kong racers Eddie Yau and Sasha Chu.
| ART GT Asia Drivers | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Drivers | D.C. | T.C. | ||||||
| 2011 | Eddie Yau | ||||||||
| Sasha Chu | |||||||||