THREE podium finishes for Hafiz Koh at Formula V6 Asia made it a spectacular 2008 season which ended in Shanghai last month.

Koh's next stop? Europe for the FIA Formula Two Championship next year.

If Koh wins, he will get to do a test drive with the AT&T Williams F1 team which will evaluate his potential as a Formula One driver.

Like all race drivers, Koh dreams of driving a F1 car one day.

At 24, Koh is the Republic's youngest professional race driver, featuring in Singapore's only Formula racing team, TaraDTM, formed by his businessman father Helmi last year.

Just three days after his podium finishes in Shanghai last month, Koh flew back to Singapore and immediately started raising funds for his next race.

For his F2 campaign, Koh hopes to raise 300,000 euros ($580,000) by March in order to participate in Europe in May.

Koh said: "It's very competitive to race in Europe. They have the oldest motor sports culture.

And I will have a chance to race with some of the world's top drivers in the same category.

"Also with the current financial situation, F2 is a relatively affordable platform for racing and still maintains the high level of competition, as compared to Formula Three or GP2 which could cost more than a million dollars."

But is he ready for F2?

"Yes," Koh replied.

"I am a lot more confident now. I'm more competitive and taking part in more races gives me the depth in motor racing."

Jonathan Cheng, who has known Koh for a decade and has been helping him in his racing campaign, said: "Hafiz is very focused. Of course we want him to win in F2, but we won't pressure him."

Cheng runs the business development for Wee Hur Holdings, which specialises in construction projects and was one of Koh's sponsors in the Aston Martin Asia Cup which kicked off the Singapore SingTel Grand Prix in September.

Like most F1 drivers who start karting at a young age, Koh was eight when his parents, who are both Singaporeans, enrolled him in a karting club in Kuala Lumpur - where they were staying then.

Koh's father is Chinese and his mother is Indian. Both were actively involved in the Singapore Rally Cross in the 1980s.

At 14, Koh was talent-spotted by a Japanese business mogul, Hatori of Nikko Toys, who offered to sponsor his training in Japan for Formula Nippon, one of the more prestigious racing event in Japan.

Koh's parents declined the offer as they wanted him to focus on his studies instead.

Koh recalled his performance in the race which impressed Hatori: "It was the Asia Kart Prix held in Malaysia. Despite being young, I had to race in the open class with the more professional drivers because of my heavy weight. I remember starting last in line and after just four laps, I was leading the race.

"A technical fault later saw me lose control of the car which spun out of the track."

Last month, Koh claimed two podium finishes despite fierce competition at Rounds 9 and 10 of the Formula V6 Asia 2008 season which ended its 12th Round at the Shanghai International Circuit.

He had earlier finished third in Round 8 in Okayama, Japan.

Confident

Koh said: "After the Japan race, I was confident in wet conditions and used that experience for the race in Shanghai.

In Shanghai, temperatures dropped to 2-deg Celsius and the track surface was slippery due to heavy rain.

In Round 9, Koh started in fifth position. He managed a good start and moved up to fourth position quickly.

Koh kept his pace and pressured Macau driver Michael Ho who eventually spun at a turn. Koh moved up to take Ho's position and managed to catch up with American driver Kevin Chen on lap 10.

Unfortunately, Koh lost control when he tried to overtake Chen. Koh eventually finished third, behind James Grunwell (Thailand) and Chen.

Koh went on to the next round and clinched another commendable podium finish, finishing second in Round 10 of the Formula V6 Asia 2008.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Dec 3, 2008.