Place: Spa-Francorchamps
Dates: 5th - 7th September 2008
Track length: 7.0km
Race 1 Grid Position: 6 Result: 4
Race 2 Grid Position: 13 Result: 12
Spa-Francorchamps, one of the last real natural circuits, is, with moxie curves such as Eau Rouge and Blanchimont, a genuine driver circuit. It was exactly there that in the first race Philipp could show why he is, and not without reason, the incumbent winner of the Formula BMW World Finals.
"I had already smelt the champagne," he said. Taking off from start position six, he had already moved up to fifth place on entering the first curve, later he overtook another opponent and also passed Adrien Tambay. During his pursuit of the second placed Phillip was already imagining himself on the way to a champagne shower, but his front man started to defend his second place so vehemently that they both lost a lot of ground in the ensuing struggle. Through this Tambay was able to close up from behind and reclaim the third place from Phillip.
But for Phillip, fourth place on his third comeback weekend in the Formula BMW Europe is quite alright. "We have shown that the car is fast and the team has produced good work," said Phillip. "It has fitted well."
He also identified the qualifying result, with the start positions 6 and 13, as better than in the last race. With a little more luck on the drying out circuit he could have gained a better start position, also for the second race, in the qualifying. But whilst some other drivers could put in another circuit on the ever faster track during the closing phase, Phillip came a tad too late over the line to be able to drive another timed round.
"In the second race I lost a couple of placings at the start because I decided to go for the inner line," he reported from the Sunday race. After a safety-car phase he came back into the race relatively well and was in eighth place as he was hit from behind. All the same, in the final spurt he was still able to secure the twelfth position.
About Philipp Eng...
Eng has been driving competitively since the tender age of nine. He started off in go-karting and took a string of Austrian titles in various categories - Division IV Cadets 80cc (2000), Division V Bambinis 60cc (2001) and the ICA Junior Class (2002).
In 2003, he embarked on a year's training in Italy. In the 2004 European championships, he was fastest in qualifying, and in the Italian Open, he took the overall victory.
In 2005, he once again returned to karting in Italy before finally making the switch to Formula BMW. The pinnacle of his career was third place overall in the 2007 season and winner of the Formula BMW World Final in Valencia. And his reward for this achievement was a Formula One test drive with the BMW Sauber F1 Team.
www.philipp-eng.com
- Stephan Heublein-
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