Kyle Mitchell finished second overall, top rookie in the first race of the final F.BMW Asia event held at the Zhuhai Circuit in China. Team mate, Akhil Khushlani, ended his race in a gravel trap after contact with another competitor.
An exciting qualifying session saw Mitchell just .149 of a second slower than pole position man, Ross Jamison, but only sixth on the grid! F.BMW Asia is nothing if not competitive. Khushlani was a disappointed 12th fastest feeling he had not got the best out of his new tyres.
The start saw Columbian ,Saavedra, take the lead from Jamison with Mitchell in sixth and Khushlani up to 8th after a brilliant start. Championship leader, Jazeman, found a way past Kyle on lap two and the Malaysian then proceeded to push Zahir Ali for fifth place with Kyle in tow. Jazeman passed Ali into turn nine and Mitchell followed him through at the next turn.
The dueling threesome then closed in on James Grunwell which was when the firworks really started. Jazeman dived up the inside of Grunwell at turn ten, the pair banged wheels spinning the Malaysian into retirement. Mitchell was now through to fifth place with Ali in hot pursuit. Lemvard who was in third place attempted a pass on Ross Jamison at turn 11 which went wrong with Lemvard spinning and in the confusion both Kyle and Ali slipped past. This was how they finished with Saavedra in first, Jamison second and Mitchell third.
However Jamison had been way out of his box at the start and was given a 30 second penalty for jumping the start, demoting him to 8th place.
Akhil had settled into a good eighth and he held onto the place until lap 7 when Harun found a way past. However they made contact into turn four and Akhil was off into the gravel.
The second race of the weekend is later today and more fireworks are expected. The Rookie championship is now quite close between Kyle and Ross Jamison and Mitchell has high hopes as he will start from second on the grid. Akhil will be at the back so he is hoping for another good start.
