Hamad Al Fardan took an accomplished first race win in round one of the Asian Formula Three Series held at the A1GP Sepang event. It was also a first race win for Team GFH Bahrain. Frederic Vervisch was second after contact with Al Fardan on the first lap saw him spin to the tail of the field whilst fellow Team Goddard driver, Rafael Suzuki was third. Matt Howson was third on the road in his PTRS car but was given a 30 second penalty for a false start.

Hamad made a fantastic start and burst through front row starters, Vervisch and Suzuki, to take the lead. Vervisch and Hamad went wheel to wheel through the first three corners before they made contact in turn four, the Belgian spinning down to the tail of the field. Hamad was never headed again whilst behind Howson, Arturo Gonzales of Aran Racing and Rafael Suzuki disputed second place. It all came to a head on lap three when Howson and Gonzales made contact under braking for turn nine. Howson continued unabated whilst Gonzales spin backwards across the grass and came to halt in the track causing Suzuki to also come to a standstill. A fast recovering Vervisch took the opportunity to blast by into third place.

Gonzales got up to speed before Suzuki but lost out to the Brazilian under braking for the final turn. Vervisch was soon on the tail of Howson and swept past into turn one. He then proceeded to hunt down Hamad, taking fastest lap in the process, finishing just over a second behind at the flag. Once free of Gonzales, Suzuki then closed on Howson and despite getting alongside at the last turn on the final lap he just failed to grab third place. However Howson was given a thirty second penalty for a false start, he was outside his starting box, dropping him to fifth behind Gonzales.

David Julian and Paul Ip had a spirited race with Julian taking Promotion Class honours. Race two will be held on Sunday morning.