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Azman hoping to match up to his teammates during rookie campaign
For his first season of Formula 3, Nazim Azman believes his teammates will be a better measure of his performances than the number of points that he ends up with, labelling 2022 as a “development,” year.
Azman had initially hoped to step up to F3 as early as 2021, but after struggling to find the right team, he opted to wait it out for another season and instead took a drive in Euroformula Open.
And after finishing fourth with one win and seven podiums, the 20-year-old Malaysian was able to secure a seat with race-winners Hitech Grand Prix.
“I am sure that Hitech will give me a great car,” he said. “I am really grateful to the team for giving me an opportunity and want to thank all of my sponsors for making it happen.
“I think this year will be hard. It will be a learning year, but I am quite excited. The field will be competitive, but I think with the right package, we can do quite well. I would say it’s a development year.
“I would like to score some points, but my closest competitors will be my teammates, so I will see where I end up compared to them. I have not driven a Hitech car before, so this season will be interesting.”
Completing a gruelling 201 laps during three days of pre-season testing, Azman focused on long-runs over speed in Sakhir, ahead of racing at the Bahrain International Circuit for the first time since 2017.
The Malaysian’s only prior experience at the circuit in Sakhir was in MRF Challenge five years ago, in a vastly different car.
“There was no deg at all,” said Azman of his prior experience in Bahrain. “That was a different car with different tyres, but it is a track that I enjoy driving. It’s big, fast and there are many opportunities to overtake.
“This will be a high deg track in the F3 car, so the three days of pre-season testing were really important. Working on race runs was really important because I think the last 10 laps of the race will be the hardest ones.”