Today’s interview is with Denis Lian, Asian LMS Team Avelon Formula driver. Denis Lian is Singapore’s most successful professional racing driver. In 2002, he was crowned Asian Formula 2000 Champion, becoming the first Singaporean to win an FIA international championship title. In 2002 to 2004, he was contracted to drive for TVR Malaysia and Lotus Cars Asia Pacific, competing in 12hr endurance events. In 2005, he then became the first Singaporean to compete in Europe when he raced in the Formula Palmer Audi Euro Series. In 2006, he established his own Formula V6 Asia race team to compete in the region’s premier series, finishing 5th overall as driver and owner. That same year, he also represented Singapore in the A1GP series.

1. We are glad to hear that you and your team will compete in CN Class at for the remaining 2014 Asian LMS season. Are you excited to compete in Asian Le Mans Series?

When I was 7 years old, I watched a movie that captured my imagination like no other. That movie was Le Mans, staring the mercurial Steven McQueen. Despite having less than 10 lines of dialogue, it painted such a romantic picture about the spirit of endurance racing, that I swore to myself, one day, I will partake in this legendary 24h race. Hailing from Singapore, a country with no race circuit or racing culture to speak of at the time, I had no idea how or when I would get there, but I would dedicate my life to getting there. So, here we are now, about to make our first step into the Le Mans series and hopefully to the 24h race itself. It’s a culmination of dreams, so to say I’m excited is to put it mildly.

2. How do you see motorsports in Asia right now? Do you think Asian Le Mans Series could help promote motorsports in Asia and help Asian drivers to improve?

Currently there are a lot of racing choices in Asia, mainly manufacturer backed one make series catering predominantly to gentleman drivers in the region. Asian LMS is an international championship, catering to both professional and gentleman drivers, who wish to compete with different classes of vehicles in a short endurance format. Together with the Le Mans title and credibility associated with the ACO, I’m certain it will attract more professional outfits and eventually launch the careers of Asian drivers into the world endurance series and 24h Le Mans. We just have to look at the likes of Ho Pin Tung and David Cheng to see this path already developing.
 
3. CN prototypes are a new racing class for the 2014 Asian LMS, what new opportunities to CN prototypes offer? How do you see the competition with other teams in CN class?

The incorporation of CN prototypes into Asian LMS is in my opinion a practical and wise move on the part of the ACO. Corporate sponsors in Asia are not as familiar about motorsports as their counterparts in Europe or America, therefore it’s harder to convince them to part with large sponsorship budgets. CN cars are roughly half the acquisition and running cost of LMP2 cars, but are only about 3 seconds per lap slower, so bang for the buck, they are great value, even comparing against slower GT cars. I believe, more teams and drivers will cotton  onto that fact, and we could see a pretty competitive CN class develop very soon. I for one am relishing the competition, it’s the reason we race, so that we can constantly push ourselves.

4. What plans do you and the team have for 2014?
We are adopting a simple race by race strategy. Our primary focus is to have a smooth debut at the coming Fuji round, then we’ll take stock of the situation from there.