Aaron Lim demonstrated he is going to be a force to be reckoned with this year by qualifying second for round three of the Formula BMW Asia Series. A truly dramatic day saw a long stoppage due to track damage which resulted in the chassis of Jonathan Chan being written off.
Aaron Lim was on pole position half through qualifying for round three on the North Track of the Sepang International Circuit when a cover for the hole in which the Armco posts are placed when the full circuit is in use came lose hitting the bottom of the cars of Jonathan Chan and an Ao’s Racing Team Driver. The unfortunate Chan reported the cover was sucked up when he went over it and ripped the bottom out of the chassis causing terminal damage. The event was delayed by over two hours whilst a track repair was made.
Qualifying for round four was then held and Aaron Lim qualified 5th, three tenths from pole and one tenth from second on the grid. Dejan de Zoysa was tenth whilst Jonathan Chan was unable to start.
At the end of the day the final half of round three qualifying took place, the driver’s best time of both parts counting. Salman Khalifa repeated his round three qualifying effort by taking fastest time whilst Aaron Lim set second fastest time. Dejan de Zoysa qualified 11th, one place behind Jonathan Chan who ran with a replacement chassis borrowed from Tyson Sy.
“Lim is really demonstrating his potential, to qualify second and fifth in his first ever car racing event says it all” commented Mark Goddard of Minardi Team Asia “The data shows he is already capable of times quicker than the pole laps but we have to remember this will be his first ever car race and his first standing start, karts use rolling starts. If he finishes in the top six it will be a great result, anything better will be a bonus. He has already demonstrated he is a star of tomorrow and with the support of corporate Malaysia and his Country he really does a have chance of going all the way to Formula One”.
“Dejan and Jonathan do not have the top level karting experience of Aaron so they are going to take longer to get up to speed but they are demonstrating a lot of potential and they now have Aaron’s data to help them” said Goddard.
Tomorrows races are likely to be extremely entertaining, the short Sepang Circuit lending itself well to close racing as demonstrated by the qualifying time.
Round Three
1. Khalifa 1m 07.764
2. Lim 1m 07.922
3. Boughey 1m 07.953
4. Fardan 1m 07.986
5. Patrizi 1m 08.012
6. Charlie 1m 08.237
10. Chan 1m 09.213
11. de Zoysa 1m 09.277
Round Four
1. Khalifa 1m 07.679
2. Boughey 1m 07.819
3. Fardan 1m 07.913
4. Ebrahim 1m 07.953
5. Lim 1m 07.960
6. Patrizi 1m 07.963
10. de Zoysa 1m 09.253
