Summarize

London-based South African Raoul Hyman clinched the inaugural FIA Asian Formula 3 Championship when he drove to fifth in the season finale at Malaysia’s Sepang Grand Prix Circuit over the weekend. Former GP3 star Hyman was overjoyed with the result following a competitive season in the five-round fourteen-race series.

“I have no words!” Raoul admitted after taking the title with a well-judged fifth in Sunday’s Sepang finale. “I feel really good — this whole year has been incredible and I have to first of all say a huge thanks to my team Dragon Hitech GP team. “My car was just sublime right through the year — we were the only team to commute from England every race and we hit the ground running every time, so huge thanks to them all.”

The series raced brand new Tatuus-Alfa Romeos this season and Hyman started strong with a couple of thirds and a second in the season-opener, also in Sepang to leave Malaysia second in the championship chase en route to Ningbo in China’s northeast Zhejiang province. Raoul was fifth in the opening race there before he won the second race to move into the championship. Third in the Ningbo finale saw Hyman take a 13-point championship lead to Shanghai’s round 3.

Shanghai did not start well for Hyman when a technical issue dropped him from second to ninth in the opening race, but Roaul bounced back to score a couple of seconds to minimise the damage enough that teammate Jake Hughes only took a 12-point championship lead back to Ningbo’s third round, where Hyman shadowed Hughes to second in both races.

Moving on to the Sepang finale, Hyman took a fifth and a third in the opening two races, meaning he had to finish fifth or higher to clinch the title and Raoul did not disappoint, taking the championship by two points with a measured drive to fifth in a rain-interrupted race. “I was quite happy that today wasn’t as nail-biting as it could have been in those wet conditions,” Raoul concluded.

“Most important is that I'm just so happy to come away with the championship!"