Hamad Al Fardan took a second win of the season in round two of the 2007-08 Asian F3 Series at Sepang on Sunday, following another close battle with his international opposition.
In front of the crowds attending the A1GP event at Sepang, Al Fardan just took the chequered flag in front of Frederic Vervisch after a thrilling race-long dice. Matt Howson was third from Rafael Suzuki and Arturo Gonzales.
Hamad again made a flying start to hold off Team Goddard's Vervisch into turn one, whilst team-mate Suzuki was hung out to dry and fell from third to fifth. Aran Racing's Gonzales took up the chase from Howson, going through the ultra-fast turn six side-by-side before Howson took third place in turn seven.
Meanwhile, Al Fardan and Vervisch had already opened up a gap on the field, but were to spend the rest of the race only metres apart. The Bahraini found his rival alongside him on the run to turn one on lap five, but was just able to hold the Belgian off. Vervisch almost made it past on lap seven at turn 14, but fell back in the process. He was soon back on the leader's tail, however but, try as he might, he could not find a way past, leaving Al Fardan to take another accomplished win after driving an almost faultless race under great pressure.
Behind them, Suzuki forced his way past Gonzales for fourth place at turn one on the third lap, and spent the rest of the race trying to chase Howson down, only failing to catch him by less than one second at the flag. Howson was happy to finish third, whilst Suzuki felt he was too cautious on the first lap.
Team Goddard's David Julian was the Promotions Class winner.
