Eurasia Motorsport’s Aditya Patel finished an impressive third place in the first round of the Formula BMW Pacific Series held at Sepang Circuit’s Malaysian F1 GP support race. Team Mate Marlon Stockinger was tenth in an atrociously wet race.
The heavens opened as the cars pulled away on the formation lap and the track was awash by the time the lights went out for the start. Patel made a great start from seventh on the grid to slot into fifth place. Ross Jamison took the lead and was never headed whilst those behind struggled for visibility in the blinding spray. Patel was quickly up to fourth but spun under braking for the final turn attempting to pass Sean McDonagh. He was quickly under way again and was soon back in a battle for second place after McDonagh and Simon Moss also both suffered off course excursions.
Patel was past McDonagh into third place a couple of laps later and then hounded Moss to the line, just not quite able to find a way past. It was a great drive in just about the worse conditions seen in a F.BMW race in the region. Stockinger in his first ever car race was at one point up to seventh place but faded to tenth after a spin. “I couldn’t believe how little you can see in these conditions” remarked Stockinger.
Race two is tomorrow morning prior to the F1 Grand Prix.
