Raj Bharath qualifies third at Ordos Circuit in China

Ordos (China) 5 July 2013: Having clinched his first win of the season at Shanghai International Circuit in May, Indian youngster Raj Bharath qualified third at round three of Formula Masters China at Ordos International Circuit.

Backed by Bangalore-based real estate developer Embassy Group and driving for Indian outfit Meco Motorsport, Raj will start from the second row of the grid for two out of three races of the weekend, a Meco Motorsports release said.

At the start of the weekend, the 3.7-kilometre layout was extremely dusty as expected but given the large number of races scheduled for the weekend, the track gripped up in no time.

Throughout the free practice sessions, Raj was continuously in the top five and the team managed to make a step forward for qualifying, even though the session didn’t go smoothly due to yellow flags.

“There was a yellow flag at the first corner due to some incident and it happened so that I got my fastest first sector on that lap. I backed off but next time around the yellow was still there and I posted my fastest lap on that lap”, clarified Raj.

Six other drivers went through the same routine and had their fastest qualifying laps cancelled as a result. Luckily though, Raj’s consistency paid off as his second fastest-qualifying time was just one-tenth off his best time and he didn’t lose any grid positions as a result.

“The grid is so tight, if I had been three-tenths or so slower on my second best lap, I would’ve lost at least three positions. So from where we are now, we can still hope to get on to the podium and even win”, he surmised.

Race one and two are scheduled for Saturday with race three on Sunday.

ABOUT RAJ BHARATH:

Born November 20, 1994 in Bangalore, Raj took his first steps in motorsport with karting in 2008 – like all aspiring F1 drivers. Then aged 14, he immediately showed glimpses of his potential in his debut year, winning the trophy for the ‘Most promising rookie of the year’ in the National Karting championship.

He eventually won the title in 2010 and progressed to Formula BMW Asia in 2011 followed by the Ferrari Academy supported Formula Pilota in 2012.

For 2013, Raj aims to participate in the Formula Masters China and win the championship before moving to Europe in 2014, and getting closer to his aim of making it to Formula 1. He posted his first victory of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit in May.

Career highlights:

Zhuhai (China)                  10-12 May
Shanghai (China)             24-26 May
Ordos (China)                    05-07 July
Inje (Korea)                        2-4 August
Sepang (Malaysia)          13-15 Sep
Shanghai (China)             25-27 Oct
Macau Grand Prix             8-10 Nov

ends