Pettit pacey in the Philippines.

As Ananda Mikola took the round win and Christian Jones the series title, team BRM's John Pettit made an impact by being the fastest man on track and storming through the field in both races of the final round of the Asian Formula 3 championship.

Unlike his name, Pettit created a massive impact in the Philippines and his lap time whilst he stormed through the field at the Batangas circuit beat the previous lap record by over a second.

It didn't start so well. After struggling for balance early in the weekend and missing out on valuable testing miles due to a typhoon passing over the race track, the team BRM squad focussed on finding a good race set-up for the 21 year old New South Wales based driver, who eventually qualified ninth on the technical 3.4km Batangas layout.

After dropping as low as 12th during the opening lap of the first race due to a tardy start, Pettit proved that the work in the qualifying session had paid off as he cut a swathe through the field to storm into the top five by race end.

Pettit's progress was one of the main points of interest in the race, which saw him set the fastest lap, and earn the race broadcaster's "Driver of the Race" award - an impressive achievement for a series' debutant.

Starting from fifth in race two, Pettit gained two places after the start due to the controversial incident between the leaders - giving him an even better opportunity to do chase. And chase he did - moving into second before homing in on the race leader, who had established a substantial lead.

The team BRM Dallara closed at over half a second a lap, taking a second out of the track record in the process. However, after challenging for the lead Pettit ran off the circuit at the notorious 180kph "Brian's Corner" after hitting a bump, prematurely ending what had been an incredible display.

"It was great that we were able to put a top young Aussie in the car to show how strong we really are," enthused team BRM Asia engineer Craig Rundle. "We just couldn't get the car right in qualifying - we couldn't get the gearing and balance right because we lost so much track time with the typhoons. But we knew we had a great race set-up.

"But John's racing ability and willingness to have a go really impressed the entire Asian Formula 3 fraternity. They are certainly keen to get him back next season, and so are we," he said.