Bradley rounds off perfect weekend with second victory. 05.04.2010: Formula BMW Pacific. Richard Bradley (18/SIN/Eurasia Motorsport) rounded off a perfect Formula BMW Pacific debut weekend today taking a second pole-to-flag victory at the Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian

Formula BMW Pacific.

Richard Bradley (18/SIN/Eurasia Motorsport) rounded off a perfect Formula BMW Pacific debut weekend today taking a second pole-to-flag victory at the Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix. The rookie crossed the line with an impressive margin of almost four seconds, and set the fastest lap of the race on the way.

Colombian teenager Oscar Tunjo (Meritus) put in a superb performance during what was a thrilling 10-lap race, getting by Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr (15/Eurointernational) on lap 9 to claim 2nd.

Behind him though, an epic, last-lap battle for 3rd was taking place between Formula BMW Pacific Junior and Bradley’s Eurasia Motorsport team mate Kotaro Sakurai (15/PHI), and Sainz Jr, with the Japanese racer diving past the Red Bull Junior on the final turn before the flag.

With a perfect score of two pole positions and two victories, Bradley, now dubbed ‘The Dominator’ by his team, tops the Driver Classification and Rookie Cup leaderboards with a margin of 12 points over Tunjo.  Zimbabwean Axcil Jefferies (15/Motaworld Racing) is third in the Driver Classification, and Sakurai lies 3rd in the Rookie Cup standings. A superb weekend for Eurasia Motorsport sees them strengthen their lead at the top of the Team Classification with a 14 point advantage over Meritus.

Bradley got away well from pole, but this time Sainz was keeping him firmly in his sights. However, a hard-charging Tunjo, who had been penalized five grid positions for the start of Round 1 after an incident in qualifying, was out to make amends. Likewise, Sakurai, who had made a beginners error in Round 1 while running 3rd, was right up with the front runners.

By lap 4, Bradley was pulling out a margin from Sainz, who had Tunjo in his mirrors. The Spaniard held his line and kept the determined Meritus youngster at bay for several laps. Further down the field, James Birch (17/GBR), who had been running 8th ahead of Malaysian Calvin Wong (19/Petronas Mofaz Racing) and Motaworld Racing team mate Jefferies, spun, rejoined, and then parked his FB02 out of danger on Lap 8. Jefferies continued his race-long attempts to get by Wong, but to no avail, crossing the line in 9th.

The penultimate lap saw Tunjo make a successful move on Sainz Jr to go 2nd, with Sakurai pulling alongside the Spaniard before backing off.

But the drama was far from over, with Sakurai diving past Sainz Jr and the Eurointernational driver reclaiming his podium finish. A furious chase ensued, with Sakurai making a final and successful lunge for the position at the last turn before the flag. 

Behind the pair, Sainz Jr’s team mate, Daniil Kvyat (15/RUS), had a big moment on the final lap, running wide but rejoining the track to cross the line 5th ahead of Michael Lewis (19/USA/Eurointernational) and Fahmi Ilyas (18/MAS/E-Rain Racing).

An opening lap incident involving several cars saw the early retirement of Nabil Jeffri (16/MAS/Eurasia Motorsport) and Afiq Yazid (18/MAS/Meritus).

Formula BMW Pacific returns to the Malaysia next month for four rounds as part of the Asia Festival of Speed weekend from May 13-16.

Formula BMW Pacific Driver Quotes:

Richard Bradley: “After the overnight rain, the track had lost grip. I knew I had the pace, but spent the first two or three laps finding my limits so that I would know I would have the pace to regain my position in case I was overtaken. After a couple of laps, I just gunned it and pulled out a gap. I controlled the race again. There was a lot left in the bag but I didn’t need it. The track wasn’t grippy enough for my ‘secret’ start, so it wasn’t quite as good (as yesterday).”

Oscar Tunjo: “I had a good start then pushed all the way to Carlos. I was giving him pressure to make him make a mistake, and when he did I caught him and made a clean overtaking move. I was a little nervous when I had Kotaro on my back when I passed Carlos. It’s a really good day for me, and I hope we can go faster for the next rounds.”

Kotaro Sakurai: (On overtaking Sainz) “Turn 2 is really small so I didn’t want to carry a big risk then and I backed off. I didn’t want to crash again – if I had, my mom would have killed me! (At the last turn, on the last lap) there was a huge gap but I thought, ‘this is my last chance’, so I jumped into the inside. He made a small mistake which made space. He hit me, I don’t know why. Yesterday, my team told me to finish on the podium so I did.”  

Results – Round 2 results


1 69 Richard BRADLEY (R) SIN Eurasia Motorsport 22:20.522
 
2 88 Oscar TUNJO (R) COL Meritus +3.770
 
3 55 Kotaro SAKURAI (S) (R) PHI Eurasia Motorsport +9.244
 
4 12 Carlos SAINZ Jr. (G) ESP Eurointernational +9.520
 
5 11 Daniil KVYAT (G) RUS Eurointernational +10.021
 
6 14 Michael LEWIS (G) USA Eurointernational +11.987
 
7 77 Fahmi ILYAS (G) MAS E-Rain Racing +14.871
 
8 16 Calvin WONG MAS PETRONAS Mofaz Racing +23.740
 
9 3 Axcil JEFFERIES ZIM Motaworld Racing +23.806
 
10 66 Jordan OON (S) (R) AUS E-Rain Racing +24.100

11 45 Duvashen PADAYACHEE (R) AUS Eurasia Motorsport +26.024
 
12 8 Dustin SOFYAN INA Meritus +28.339
 
13 10 Jesse DIXON (S) (R) AUS Atlantic Racing Team  +33.496
 
14 38 Pasin LATHOURAS (R) THA Meritus +33.674
 
15 9 S.H. Tom MUN KOR E-Rain Racing +34.141
 
16 5 Suriya BALAKERISNAN SIN Asia Racing Team +36.740
 
17 4 Dylan YOUNG (R) AUS Motaworld Racing +36.823
 
18 6 Hannes VAN ASSELDONK (G) NED Motaworld Racing +41.299
 
19 75 CHANG Mun Shien (R) MAS Mango Asia Racing +49.801
 
20 19 Amirrul KHIRUDIN (R) MAS PETRONAS Mofaz Racing +61.856
 
21 17 Ryan RITCHIE (R) MAS PETRONAS Mofaz Racing +69.572
 
22 18 Natasha SEATTER (R) MAS PETRONAS Mofaz Racing +77.222
 
NC 2 James BIRCH (R) GBR Motaworld Racing -
 
NC 7 Nabil JEFFRI (R) MAS Eurasia Motorsport -
 
NC 78 Afiq YAZID (R) MAS Meritus -
 

 (S) Scholarship driver, (R) Rookie Cup, (G)    Guest Driver
Fastest Lap: Richard Bradley/Eurasia Motorsport/2:12.998/Lap 8

Formula BMW Pacific points standings after Round 2.
 

Drivers
1.Richard Bradley (42); 2. Oscar Tunjo (30); 3. Axcil Jefferies (18); 4. Dustin Sofyan (15); 5. Kortaro Sakurai (12); 6. Calvin Wong (10); 7. Jordan Oon (10); 8. Afiq Yazid (8); 9. Nabil Jeffri (6); 10. Duvashen Padayachee (4); 11. Chang Mun Shien (3); 12. Jesse Dixon (3); 13. James Birch (2); 14. Pasin Lathouras (1).
 

Rookie Cup
1.Bradley (42); 2. Tunjo (30); 3. Sakurai (12); 4. Oon (10); 5. Yazid (8); 6. Jeffri (6); 7. Padayachee (4); 8. Chang (3); 9. Dixon (3); 10. Birch (2); 11. Lathouras (1).

 
Teams
1.Eurasia Motorsport (60); 2. Meritus (46); 3. Motaworld Racing (21); 4. E-Rain Racing (14); 5. Petronas Mofaz Racing Team (11); 6. Atlantic Racing Team (10); 7. Mango Asia (8); 8. Asia Racing Team (2)

 
- Nikki Kemp -  also photo