Aditya Patel demonstrated much improved form at the Sentul Formula BMW Pacific event whilst Marlon Stockinger struggled suffering from a bad respiratory infection. Both drivers now look forward to the next event at the Singapore F1GP which hopefully will bring the results they deserve.
Qualifying was extremely close with the top ten all within a second of each other. Patel was in seventh position with Stockinger ninth, the latter looking extremely unwell and really struggling to perform.
The first race of the event, round 8 of the series, saw a disastrous start for the Eurasia drivers, both being held up by a first corner incident leaving Patel to end the first lap in 10th place with Stockinger in tenth. Patel got his head down and was able to finish 8th whilst Stockinger was forced off the road on lap 7 and dropped to last, eventually finishing 11th.
Race two was little better for Stockinger when he was hit on the pit straight at the end of the first lap and forced into a 160kph spin, just kissing the wall opposite the finish line. His race was run and he was consigned to start rounds 10 and 11 the following day at the back of the grid, the finishing positions of the first two races dictating the starting positions of the next two rounds.
Patel meanwhile was up to fifth at the end of lap one and was up to fourth place a lap later. He was able to hold off Sean McDonagh until lap ten when the American found a way past. Patel finished in fifth place, his lap times right on the pace and arguably his best drive of the year so far.
Round 11, race three on Sunday morning, saw Patel start 8th and Stockinger 11th. Both made good starts to complete the first lap in 5th and 9th places respectively. Patel dropped to seventh when he attempted to overtake Simon Moss, slowed and Shaharom took advantage to make a place. The safety car was out on lap two whilst the car of Sean McDonagh was recovered from the turn one gravel, and at the restart Stockinger was up to 7th and pushing his team mate hard. A quartet consisting of Shaharom, Ang, Patel and Stockinger were all squabbling over fifth place allowing the four ahead to draw away. It all came to head at turn three on lap 7 when Stockinger dived up the inside of Ang and they touched. Ang retired in the gravel whilst Stockinger recovered in 7th place. This left Patel and Stockinger racing for 6th place and they made it an entertaining battle with Stockinger finding a way past on lap 14 of the 15 lap race.
The final race had Patel 5th on the grid and Stockinger down in 13th. Patel ended the first lap in 5th whilst Stockinger made a storming start and was already up to 10th place. Patel was trying to take fourth place at turn four on lap two but was forced wide and in an instant lost two places. Having lost momentum he was again forced wide at the final turn and finished the lap in ninth position just in front of Stockinger. The latter then dropped to 11th after being forced off the road at turn nine. He was soon back on the gearbox of Patel, whose engine had overheated after the radiator ducts were filled with grass and was now struggling with a down on power engine, and they spent several corners side by side before Stockinger was able to pull away. Stockinger was now the fastest man on the track and on a mission, finally finishing in 7th place with a down on power Patel in tenth.
“Aditya is now almost right on the pace in the dry as he has adapted his driving style to suit the requirements of a Formula BMW car” reported Eurasia’s Mark Goddard. “We are sure he will be a factor in Singapore”
“Marlon was very sick and this really affected his driving although we saw what might have been on Sunday afternoon when he was beginning to feel much better” said Goddard “It was one of those weeks where not much seemed to go well. However I am sure one of our drivers will get that elusive first win very s
