Dubai: For the moment, this team has a truly Asian flavour - much in keeping with the spirit of the rules laid down for the inaugural year of the Asia GP2 Series that concluded with the fifth and final round in Dubai last weekend.
"We were born in Malaysia, we are based in Malaysia and we will continue our operations from Malaysia," insists Peter Thompson, president and founder of Qi-Meritus.Mahara. Thompson now co-owns the team with Firhat Mokhzani, while long-term friend Raad Abdul Jawad of Saudi Arabia is the chairman of the team.
They even have a Saudi Arabian driver starting with a two-year apprenticeship at the team's base in Malaysia this week.
"We are all about being in Asia, living here and getting everything done right here," Thompson says.
After not being taken as seriously as they should have been, Qi-Meritus.Mahara set up their credentials about their intent by some impressive performances during the opening round of the GP2 Asia Series held at the end of January this year. "People started taking notice that we have the intention of being serious competitors," Thompson reflects.
The team entered the GP2 Asia Series with strong credentials after coming through as the most successful set-up in Asian single-seater racing.
Unknown quantity
They entered as somewhat of an unknown quantity in the Series with talented drivers such as Japanese Hiroki Yoshimoto and Italian Luca Filippi coming together for the second time in their careers after spending a year together with BCN in 2006.
The start was more than satisfying for the Malaysia-based team. They launched at the Dubai Media City with much fanfare announcing their arrival on the brand-new GP2 Asia Series and headed off into a successful opening race at the opening round on January 25-26.
That opening race saw Yoshimoto come in fifth place to set the tone of things to come. "One thing was sure...other teams knew that we meant business and they in fact, started following us by way of being more professional in approach leading up to the race weekend," Thompson admits.
And if the first round in Dubai gave the team a bit of bragging rights, on-track performances in the next three rounds were far from pleasing with bad luck plaguing both the drivers.
Initial mistakes
However, that initial surge was followed by a string of bad finishes till the penultimate round in Sakhir, Bahrain where Yoshimoto came in fourth while Filippi stood 11th after a series of flops.
"We did make some mistakes initially, but that was acceptable as we are a new team with very little experience in this mode of racing," Thompson narrates.
But to their credit, the team pushed on, setting high standards and following a new path. That resonance even drew praise from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who was quick in sending a personal congratulatory message to the president and team founder.
"That message from Bernie was very encouraging for the team. It meant that we were in the radar of the big man himself, and also that everyone was taking serious notice of our presence," Thompson stated.
