Dominic Storey travels to Thailand for the Formula BMW Asia event at the Bira Circuit, Pattaya, on September 2/3rd with renewed confidence of scoring his first car race win. The previous event in Indonesia had been an unmitigated disaster, courtesy of some dodgy cooking at his hotel close to the Sentul International Circuit.
Both Storey and team mate, Daniel Ricciardo, had spaghetti bolognaise the night before first practice and both were struck down with food poisoning. Whilst Daniel’s was a mild attack, Dominic suffered full on Montezuma’s revenge and after bravely attempting to complete a practice session was forced to retire to his hotel room to recover.
The result was the still shaky driver was forced to qualify and learn the circuit at the same time and he did a great job to qualify close to the pace but still several rows from the front. Back in the pack he was taken out by an errant competitor in one race, and had his front wing removed by the same driver in another. All in all a character building weekend.
“Dominic showed great determination to drive the car when he was really in no physical state to be driving round a car park let alone a race track.” remarked Mark Goddard of Dominic’s team, Eurasia Motorsport “I am sure that determination will serve him well at the Bira circuit. It’s a track that requires ultimate commitment from the driver and we know that will fall in Dominic’s favour.”
Storey has impressed with his progress in the most competitive year for the Formula BMW Asia Series. He is the quickest of the real car racing rookie drivers and his team are confident it’s only a matter of time before he scores his first win. “Formula BMW is now widely regarded as the first step on the motor sports ladder to the top, after karting, and it is producing the stars of tomorrow, from Formula One to V8 Supercars. Our hope is that Dominic will become a regular podium visitor from now on and then return to win the championship next year” reported Goddard. “He has already shown he has a great future in motor sport and as long as he stays away from questionable spaghetti bolognaise I am sure he will do very well in Bira”.
