After the impressive results from his last race, winning on the wet Sepang F-1 track in only his first Formula Renault event, Vinay was invited back to the Shangsai FRD GT Tires Team to race again.

End of last practice, Vinay had topped the time sheets by more than 0.7 sec over points leader and team mate Hideaki Nakao. The team decided to use the same set up for qualifying, except changing the tires for a fresh new set. This being only the second time in his life driving on new tires, Vinay in fact went 0.6 sec slower from the increased understeer, and still managed to qualify second!

Starting second on the grid, Vinay grabbed the lead from the start and never looked back winning Round 7 of the Asian Formula Renault Challenge with a comfortable lead. Finishing second was points leader Nakao.

For Round 8, Vinay started on Pole. When the Starting Lights switched off, Vinay took the lead once again, but had to settle for second, since he was stuck on the outside of Turn 1 with team mate Nakao inside.

Soon, Vinay was closing in on Nakao, Champion of the 50th Macau Formula Renault GP. After a couple of conservative attempts at passing Nakao, Vinay being a team player, decided to lay back and not risk taking out his own team mate, especially after his brakes had began to fade. Nakao took the checkered flag, with Vinay close behind; yet far ahead of his other team mate Jim Kato, who is aiming to be the first Chinese driver in Formula 1.

After competing in only half of the Asian Formula Renault Challenge races, Vinay is already one point away from 3rd place, and a couple wins away from second! Will this young American race again for the Shangsai FRD GT Tires Team in Asia? To find out more, visit http://vinmotorsports.com , and the team’s web site, http://frdsports.com.