Local racing prodigy Sandy Stuvik tested for the first time in a Formula 3 car at the end of last month at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia. The car was an F304 car, which last raced in the Asian F3 Championship in 2008. The testing is a vital step up for Sandy, as he prepares himself to compete against the best racers in the world.
He started the 2012 season with testing various touring cars in Thailand and following on from the Sepang F3 test, will be doing a series of tests in Europe with Formula 3, Formula Renault and hopefully GP3, in the build up to the Formula Renault season starting in April, where he will race in the Formula Renault NEC series.
Sandy Stuvik with his Formula 3 car.
Sandy is working hard to improve his physical and mental strengths, which are just as vital as in-car preparations at this level. The high altitude training camp he did in Austria in December has set the tone for a very rigorous and demanding training program, which has to be juggled between other racing activities, promotions and school. The coming season will indeed be demanding for the 16 year old Thai driver, but he remains fully committed to his racing ambitions.
At Sepang, Sandy started out with getting a feel for the F3 car and had a very good test program with his old racing coach, Philippe Descombes. It was considerably more physical to drive the F3 than any previous car he has driven and in Malaysia’s notoriously hot and humid conditions he had 2 tough days of testing. The track was both wet and dry, so Sepang offered a good variety of different racing scenarios.
Sandy was very pleased with his first F3 outing and looks forward to getting back into the car in Europe within the next few weeks.
Test driving at the Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia.
