Abu Dhabi: AirAsia and its heirarchy believes in the future potential of Asia, and rightly so.
Two years after the take-over of Team Lotus by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, the outfit has started enjoying some memorable moments bringing with it much worth. "The future of this sport lies in Asia," Riad Asmat, Group CEO of Team Lotus and Team Principal of GP2 Caterham Team Air Asia told Gulf News as he watched one of his drivers, Brazilian Luiz Razia take a podium finish in the first GP2 race here on Saturday.
"Motorsport is actually a global sport, but in Asia we lack the accessibility and we hope that by establishing our own Asian teams like this one we will be able to give access to future drivers and future stars," he added.
With Fernandes as the team principal, the new Team Lotus made its entry in Formula One racing in 2010. One year later, this was followed by a team in the demanding GP2 feeder series. With the Formula One car constantly improving its performance, the stable of GP2 drivers in the set-up - particularly Razia, has gone on to meet the goals and aspirations of the team.
"Asia is a growing area in totality. I come from Asia so I obviously I will have a bias to push Asian motorsport to grow. But this is very much the focus for us at the moment. Our teams are based in the UK, but it does not mean that no one has access to that. It is a global sport and it is just a matter of time when this sport will have due access to all of Asia," Asmat opted.
Lotus Racing has been very much involved in the push of younger drivers into the heady mix of Formula One racing. Fairuz Fauzy was a test driver followed by 16-year-old Malaysian Nabil Jeffri, who was part of the team's young driver development.
And technical director Mike Gascoyne has always been pushing towards a joint entity between the two breeds of racing, namely Formula One and GP2, as it would help the team share resources. In fact, the GP2 drivers have been constantly used as test and reserve drivers for the Team Lotus F1 team.
Earlier this year, the Malaysian team signed seven more drivers to its driver development programme including Formula Renault 3.5 star Alexander Rossi, who in fact was on the team for this weekend's no points round here at the Yas Marina Circuit.
"These are our up and coming Asian drivers, but at the moment they are at the cutting level. We hope to introduce them into the series here, but we first want to have the accessibility and the control," Asmat said.
The Group CEO has no doubt of their commitment in either of the forms of motorsport, not at least in the near future as it seeks to make its mark. "The GP2 is very much a part of the family as we started off with having a step-ladder programme all the way into our F1 team. So when we had this opportunity to establish the GP2 team we took it. This has been a great first year and finishing off on the podium is another plus point," he pointed out.
"The team is growing of course and we have matured over the past one year. I think this will be the case in more years to come. And this in turn will continue to help with our surge in F1. We have a programme over five years from the beginning till the end. We are reaching most of our objectives after the second year itself," Asmat added.
"It's not just about the team but about the entire set-up and operation, the entire back end and the support staff that we ensure will take us through towards our goal."
Who is Riad Asmat?
Riad Asmat is the son of Perodua chairman Tan Sri Datuk Asmat Kamaludin. Led by Team Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes and fellow share-holders Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin, Asmat was earlier this year promoted Group CEO of Team Lotus, Caterham Cars, Caterham Team AirAsia, merchandising engineering and all related interests.
Asmat, who is just 38 years old, was formerly working as general manager in the managing director's office of Proton Holdings Berhad.
In 2006, Asmat was tasked by Proton Holdings Berhad with the development of its motorsport programme, that also included the R3 and Proton Axle Team. At the same time, he managed to company's involvement in the now defunct A1 Team Malaysia.
