MERITUS.GP
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
on F1,” he states. “The big difference for Asian families pursuing a lucrative sporting career for their child, is that these steps, in Asia, are at least 30 percent cheaper than similar European ladders.” Firhat Yuri Mokhzani – himself a former race driver – liked Thompson’s business plan and reputation for excellence and they soon became partners to form Meritus Racing, which has since evolved into Meritus Grand Prix. It was the start of a successful partnership that has seen the Malaysian team conquer Asia, with 36 international motorsport titles – and counting – since they began.
team to bring professionalism to the sport in Asia. We needed to make a big change, in order to develop sponsorship and secure the brand’s long-term future.” That wasn’t the only change required to make a successful future possible. In the 1990s there were only five licensed Asian racetracks: J-Circuit (Johor Bahru), Batu Tiga (Shah Alam), Sentul (Indonesia) and Bira, near Pattaya in Thailand. Prior to the fifth circuit being built in Zhuhai, there was a Zhuhai street race. Then, of course, there was the jewel in the crown – the Macau Ghia–track – with its heritage going back almost 60 years at the time and still growing.
Renault title, on his way to F1 in 2002, also with Jordan. Taku is now a winner and regular frontrunner in the IndyCar series. Since moving to Malaysia in 1995, victories, trophies, titles and championships have been won by the ‘School of Meritus’. The team’s cars have won the Formula BMW Asia Series, the Formula BMW Pacific Series seven times and Formula V6 Asia twice. The team are also GP2 Asia Series race winners and the GP2 Asia 2010 vice-champions. A very good pedigree – as are the champions it produced. That, though, wasn’t enough. The Meritus
“It is my business, my sport, my hobby,
my passion and my life” Peter Thompson - Founder & Co-Owner, Meritus.GP
Within a year of moving to Asia, the Meritus team’s first Asian win was with future team racer Rio Haryanto’s older brother Roy. But it was Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan who won the 1996 Formula Asia title for the team – the first Indian and the first Asian to win an International series. Narain later went on to race in F1, in 2005, for Jordan Grand Prix. In 1999, Meritus driver Takuma Sato won the Macau Formula
motto, Wan Li Dah was given by the Chinese, and it translates as: “To win, even if you have to travel 100,000 miles”, which means Peter Thompson’s longterm vision still had a way to go to be achieved. “Our race-winning successes resulted in an invitation to enter the first Asian team in the GP2 Asia Series, from F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone,” says Thompson. “We repaid his confidence in introducing
Arjun Maini (India) One in a million
Firhat Mokhzani (Malaysia) Co-owner & co-visionary
Aidain Wright (Australia) Formula Masters Champion & Audi R8 LMS Cup racer
Now 16, Maini is literally ‘One in a Million’ – having won a competition set up by the Force India Formula 1 team, to find the fastest Indian driver in karting. Tens of thousands of people took part in the competition. Having won, he had full support for the British karting championship for the whole of 2012. He joined the AsiaCup Series as he graduated from karting. “Peter Thompson and I got on really well in 2013 and we are still very good friends, now that I am racing in Europe. He still follows me and congratulates me. He invited me to try the AsiaCup Series after karting. It was thanks to him that I did it. We had just come back from karting races in Italy. We decided just to do one race, just to see, as an experience. I hardly did any testing and I managed to be quick straight away. I got a podium in my first race, two podiums out of the first three races of the championship. I stayed, had a couple more wins and it has been a really good choice to do the AsiaCup. It’s because of that, that I’m going well right now. I am really thankful to Peter for introducing me to it. Everything has been positive so far, and I’m working hard now to make it to Formula 1.”
While studying law in England, Firhat - a former racer - was at Silverstone in 1995, for the British GP. A friend of his was racing for Peter Thompson’s team in one of the support races and that’s where he met his future business partner. “When Peter set up the karting mall in Hong Kong, he wanted to concentrate on that, so he needed a partner to come in and run the racing side of the business. So I came in, my background was actually law in England. So we went into business together in 1999, in Formula Asia - as it was called then - became Asian Formula 3000. We started small. Then Formula BMW happened. We started with three cars and here we are today. It’s been a great journey. Never a boring moment… “For me the AsiaCup Series is definitely the future of junior motorsport. Because the ‘One’ concept that we have – make, track, team – really is the only way to bring the costs down. “Personally - Peter and I - we really want to make another category of maybe 200250bhp. We are trying to put together all the elements for that to happen and I think hopefully in the next couple of years we will. This is a concept that can be scaled up.”
An Australian State karting champion, Aidan represented his country in the Under 18 championships in Europe. He joined Meritus.GP for the JK Racing Series (formerly known as Formula BMW Asia), and then moved up with the team to Formula Masters China for 2013, which he won. “At the end of 2011 while I was karting, Peter contacted me about coming to do the JK Racing Series, which had been Formula BMW. We went over to Malaysia and did a lot of pre-season testing with him over in Sepang. I knew that was the right direction, because Asia was - it still is - booming with motorsport. In my rookie season, I came fourth with the Meritus team and got to race some really great circuits, in Europe and India.That was great. We decided to stay with Meritus, because they were a professional outfit, to race the inaugural Formula Masters China series throughout Asia. Peter and the team were incredible. They had hired ex-F1 engineer Ramiro Garcia. I learned a lot from him and I ended up winning the Masters China series. This year I’m racing as part of the Audi China outfit in the Audi R8 LMS Cup and that Masters experience has helped me for that.”
“I think back of those early years in Asia, when we were carrying the Marlboro brand,” he remembers. “While today such tobacco brands are not allowed, during the 1980s and ’90s to have an association with Marlboro meant you were on your way to Formula 1!” Formula 1 at that time was a long way off though, as there were more important things to attend to first. Thompson again: “It’s true that Meritus was the first
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