Suriya joins ART merry-go-round

Singaporean single seater rising start Suriya Bala will race for Asia Racing Team (ART Motorsports) in the first race of the 2009 Asian Formula Renault Championship season at the Shanghai international Circuit.

The 16 years old from Singapore is not a strange to the team as he has been testing the Macanese team’s Formula BMW in Zhuhai International Circuit since the beginning of the year.

Last year, Suriya participated in 14 races, namely the 2008 Asian Karting Open Championship (AKOC), the Rotax Max Challenge Asia and Malaysia, and the ROK Cup International Final in Italy.

Team Manager Philippe Descombes said of the new partnership “It will be the very first race for Suriya but he is not a stranger to the team. The focuses of the weekend is on getting experience on a brand new circuit, and try to finish the two races. We did a couple of days of testing in Formula BMW but it will also be his first time at the wheel of a Formula Renault 2.0 car. He is going to use the weekend to learn as much as possible. We look forward to working with him and developing him into a front-running driver.”

Suriya is also looking forward to working with Asia Racing Team adding “Our primary focus has been Formula BMW. My expectations for this race are simple, it’s just to complete the whole weekend without any problems on or off track. It’s going to be my first event on a single seater. I’m just going to treat it like any other race weekend that I have done and I’m going to do. Of course I’d love to finish on the high! Maybe a top 5 finish is good enough to boost my confidence level. But anything may happen so it all comes down to the weekend to see how well things will go about“.

The Singaporean teenager, who is supported by the family, will take to the track for the opening two races of the Asian Formula Renault Championship on the 23rd and 24th of May.