FRESH from his debut in the F1600 class and podium finish, overseas-based Guyanese Calvin Ming says that he is relaxed and confident ahead of his Formula 4 debut this weekend in Mexico City.The F4 driver spoke with Chronicle Sport yesterday from Mexico before his first official practice session in which he came in fourth place.
He continued, “Once I apply the concepts and techniques that I would have learnt over the last year in the (United) States at team Pelfrey, I can prevail. I feel pretty confident I can apply them on the track.”
“We were supposed to do the (mandatory) track walk Thursday at 4, but we didn’t get to do it until 5, so we finished at like 7 o’ clock at night but I’m pretty excited,” added Ming.
Ming earlier had sessions at several tracks in the United States before he got to Mexico.
He also told Chronicle Sport that he had long researched the track and had done some simulation on the facility.
On Tuesday, Calvin joined the rest of the teams, testing and setting up at a track in Puebla, where the elevation is 7 000 ft. above sea level like Mexico City.
On his first run Tuesday afternoon, the team had issues with the engine temperature and operating parameters but they were resolved late in the afternoon.
He then went out and did 10 laps, three of which were the fastest for the F4 cars, since testing started a few weeks ago.
His fastest time was 1 min 24.88 secs while the 4th fastest time which was set by the Mexican National Junior Champion was 1 min 25 23 secs.
The crew team are very optimistic that he can finish in the top three in tomorrow’s F4 race which is scheduled to start at 10:00hrs.
This weekend’s race will act as a precursor to the Formula 1 Grand Prix and will feature the FIA’s F4 concept for the first time this weekend as a new Mexican series is introduced.
The exhibition-style race for Mexican F4 will be held on the revamped Mexico City circuit, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez tomorrow morning ahead of the country’s first Grand Prix since 1992.
A full 2015-16 season will then begin at the Puebla circuit November 28-29.
Officially named the F4 NACAM Championship after the body of FIA members in North America and Central America, it will use the same combination of Mygale chassis and Ford engine as its British equivalent MSA Formula, but run on Pirelli tyres.
Ferrari F1 reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez lends his initials and acts as adviser to the MartigaEG team, headed up by former Champ Car and A1 Grand Prix racer David Martinez.
Mario Dominguez, another ex-Champ Car driver, will be involved in the championship as a coach.
FIA F4 championships have run in Britain, Germany, Italy, Northern Europe, Australia, Japan and China this year, while others have recently been announced in the United States, Benelux and Spain for 2016.
Following the F4 race in Mexico, Ming will bring one of his two cars down to Guyana for an exhibition run at the upcoming Caribbean Motor Racing Championships Final leg on November 14-15
By Stephan Sookram
