Chris Wootton opened his season with a fine second place in round one of the Formula BMW Pacific Series held at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia whilst Axcil Jefferies took an impressive fourth place in his first car race. Wootton starts second for round two, which will be held before the F1 Grand Prix, whilst Jefferies will be fourth on the starting grid.
Wootton bogged down from second on the grid at the start and dropped to third place whilst Jefferies made up one place on the first lap to cross the line in fifth. A front wing damaged at turn three on lap one caused Wootton’s car to understeer and he dropped a place to fourth on lap two. However by lap four of the ten lap race he was up to second place with team mate Axcil Jefferies in fourth.
Despite the front wing damage, Wootton put as much pressure as possible on race winner, Gary Thompson, but eventually settled for a great second place whilst Axcil Jefferies finished hot on the heels of Rio Haryanto after a spirited drive saw him fend off the advances Sofyan before pulling away to a safe fourth place.
“Chris really impressed us as he quickly adapted his driving to cope with the front wing damage and bring the car home second. He demonstrated he has the pace to win and we are really looking forward to tomorrow’s race” reported Team Manager, Mark Goddard. “Axcil has now got his first race under his belt and will start two places further up the grid tomorrow and he knows he can finish on the podium.”
Round 1 Provisional Results.
Pos. No. Driver/Nat. Entrant Time
1 7 Gary THOMPSON• (IRL) E-Rain Racing 22:25.054
2 11 Chris WOOTTON* (AUS) Eurasia Motorsport +3.112
3 88 Rio HARYANTO (INA) Questnet Team Qi-Meritus +4.663
4 22 Axcil JEFFERIES•* (ZIM) Eurasia Motorsport +5.179
5 38 Dustin SOFYAN • (INA) Questnet Team Qi-Meritus +8.547
6 3 Calvin WONG• (MAS) Team Holzer PFX +10.205
7 17 Fahmi ILYAS• (MAS) E-Rain Racing +14.258
8 49 Akhil KHUSHLANI (IND) E-Rain Racing +14.393
9 6 Aditya PATEL (IND) Atlantic Racing Team +18.783
10 16 CAO Hong Wei (CHN) Ao’s Racing +19.318
11 2 Dominic ANG (MAS) Team Holzer PFX +19.907
12 28 ZHU Huan (CHN) Questnet Team Qi- Meritus +24.723
13 27 Fahad ALGOSAIBI (KSA)• E-Rain Racing +26.820
14 8 Steel GUILIANA*• (AUS) Motaworld Racing +31.874
DNF 4 Muhamad Alif JAFRI• (MAS) Team Holzer PFX –
*Scholarship driver
•Rookie Cup
#Non-Series Registered
Provisional Championship Points Tables after Round 1.
Drivers
1.Gary Thompson (IRL/E-Rain Racing) 21 points; 2. Chris Wootton (AUS/Eurasia Motorsport) 15 points); 3. Rio Haryanto (INA/Questnet Team Qi-Meritus) 12 points; 4. Axcil Jefferies (ZIM/Eurasia Motorsport) 10 points; 5. Dustin Sofyan (INA/Questnet Team Qi-Meritus) 8 points; 6. Calvin Wong (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 6 points; 7. Fahmi Ilyas (MAS/E-Rain Racing) 4 points; 8. Akhil Khushlani (IND/E-Rain Racing) 3 points; 9. Aditya Patel (IND/Atlantic Racing Team) 2 points; 10. Cao Hong Wei (CHN/Ao’s Racing) 1 point.
Rookie Cup
1. Thompson, 21 points; 2. Jefferies, 10 points; 3. Sofyan, 8 points; 4. Wong, 6 points; 5. Ilyas, 4 points.
Teams
Eurasia Motorsport, 30 points; 2. Questnet Team Qi-Meritus, 19 points; 3. E-Rain Racing, 17.25 points; 4. Atlantic Racing Team, 12 points; 5= Team Holzer PFX, 9 points; Ao’s Racing, 9 points.
