The F.BMW Pacific Series re-starts after the summer break at the Guangdong International Circuit on September 5th. Four events in three months, ending at Macau in November, will bring the championship to a close. Formula BMW Pacific has been a huge success story and it will continue to produce the stars of tomorrow in 2011 under a new name.
“Formula BMW was designed to give drivers the experience required to determine if they had the skill and desire to become a professional race driver” states Eurasia’s Mark Goddard. “Formula BMW Pacific, formerly F.BMW Asia, has been a tremendous success. Graduates include Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull F1 Third driver, Renault World Series championship front runner and reigning British F3 Champion, Ho Pin Tung who is currently in GP2, Rio Haryanto a race winner in GP3, Marlon Stockinger, race winner in British F. Renault, Mehdi Bennani in World Touring cars, March Lee professional GT racer, Jazeman Jaafar British F3 driver. Add in guys like Earl Bamber who has shone in A1GP and GP2 Asia, Zahir Ali A1GP driver, Aditya Patel race winner in the Scirroco Cup, Sam Abay who competed in British F3, Dominic Storey who also raced in Europe as did Salman Al Khalifa. Dado Pena and Tyson Sy were race winners in Asian F3 – the list goes on and on.”
“I am sure there have never been more drivers from the Asian region competing successfully at the highest levels in Europe and they are able to do so because of the training and experience they received in F.BMW Pacific. The top teams in the series offer drivers world class engineers, driver coaching and data training. All at a relatively cost effective price. Current budgets are around Euro 145,000 which is a lot of money but still less expensive than equivalent series in Europe. Learning in our series also allows drivers to live at home and continue their education in their home Country rather than move to Europe with all the upheaval that would entail.”
“Motorsport has changed rapidly, as has just about everything else in this World, in the past decade and the Formula BMW Pacific teams have kept pace with these changes. The fact that the best drivers and teams from Europe have been beaten in Asia demonstrates that the Asian series is truly on par with the European Series. Some say the Asian series should become a man and his van and trailer type of championship. Firstly there is not the market for that in this part of the World, the guys who can afford to race anything are not going to get their hands dirty and secondly, even if this happened, it would produce drivers ill equipped to compete on the World stage. The reason why so many Asian based drivers are successfully furthering their careers is because of the grounding they have received in F.BMW. The teams struggle to get by in Asia because they are giving the driver at least as good if not a better service than their European counterparts but that service does not come cheap. Bottom line is motorsport is about money and a driver who does not have access to sufficient funds is unlikely to succeed. The investment the driver makes in F.BMW can assist them to attract the funding to succeed. Daniel Ricciardo is a testament to that.”
“Formula BMW has been a great success story and under its new name, rumoured to be Formula Pacific, it will continue to produce the stars of tomorrow. As with any series only a few go on to become professional race drivers. A junior championship’s role is also to allow drivers, and often their fathers, to discover if they really do have the talent and/or the dedication required to become a professional race driver. Formula BMW Pacific allows drivers to compete in a truly competitive championship. Win and you are probably good enough. Win in a less competitive series and you can be deceived about your level of talent. It could take much longer and probably cost a lot more before you know if you really have what it takes. Over the years we have seen drivers with the talent to succeed but not the desire. We have seen drivers who believe they have the talent, or often its their father with the belief, only to discover they are not competitive. We have seen drivers who are extremely talented but who don’t have that little bit extra required to get to the very top. Once they have understood this they have changed their focus to Touring Cars or GT racing where they can forge a lucrative and successful career. Many drivers who have discovered they don’t have what it takes have gone away with a great life experience from competing in F.BMW which will hold them in good stead for the rest of their lives.”
“We look forward to the new series in 2011 which will continue to provide cost effective World Class racing to young aspiring drivers.”
