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Thai newcomer and Malaysian ace take win apiece
in China.
Thai newcomer Jack Lemvard took his first ever
single seater victory in Round 15 of Formula BMW
Asia, while Malaysian team mate Jazeman Jaafar
notched up his second win of the weekend and 7th
of the season so far in the second race.
Newcomer Lemvard joined Formula BMW Asia this
weekend for his first ever taste of formula
racing having taken part in a two-day
introductory test at Sentul in July. Introduced
to the series by his friend Grunwell, Lemvard
was born in Pattaya, Thailand to a Danish father
and Thai mother. He started karting at 13, and
has more recently competed in touring cars in
his native country. With backing from the Ocean
1 Tower development, he will contest the rest of
the 2007 Formula BMW Asia season.
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Jazeman was second in the first race, followed
by BMW Junior and another team mate Ross Jamison
(17/HKG), who took the Rookie Cup win. In the
second race, it was Lemvard’s turn to finish
runner-up to Jazeman, while Zahir Ali of
Indonesia (20/Team TARADTM) took the final
podium place. Jamison once again took the Rookie
Cup win finishing behind James Grunwell (18/THA/CIMB
Team Q-Meritus) in 5th overall.
Jaafar’s performance means he regains the lead
of the Driver Classification with a 44 point
lead over 2nd placed Ali, with Grunwell now
relegated to 3rd, 61 points behind the leader.
With six rounds still to go Jamison’s
consistency is paying off and he now has a 64
point lead over Mitchell to top the Rookie Cup
classification.
It was a real test of both man and machine on
the brand-new 3.376km Chengdu Goldenport Circuit
in China which is both technically and
physically demanding, with the first race run in
wet conditions and the second on a drying track.
For the first race of the day, run in the wet,
Ali had another bad start from pole but was
ahead going in to the first turn. However, a
brush with Jazeman was followed shortly
thereafter by a spin which put him back down the
field. He eventually finished 7th. The opening
stages of the race were hectic, with Grunwell
and BMW Junior Kyle Mitchell (16/RSA/Eurasia
Motorsport) both put back down the running order
after incidents. At the front of the chasing
pack Jazeman had inherited the lead from Ali,
with Jamison and Lemvard in hot pursuit.
BMW Junior Khushlani (17/IND/Eurasia Motorsport)
had got away well and was up to 4th from 11th on
the grid by the second lap, followed by fellow
BMW Junior and local hero Zhu.
Lemvard got the better of Jamison on lap 3 to go
second. The Safety Car was called out on lap 6,
closing up the field and when the race resumed
Grunwell had climbed back up to 7th before
crashing out on the next lap. Mitchell was given
a drive-through penalty, which put pay to any
chance of a recovery. Meanwhile newcomer Lemvard,
in just his third ever single seater race, was
keeping team mate Jazeman firmly in his sights,
and made a decisive move on the penultimate lap
to snatch victory. Jamison was relieved to have
stayed out of trouble to collect third place
points and take the Rookie Cup win.
Said Lemvard, who set the fastest lap of the
race: “I’m extremely happy to have won. I got a
good start, but the first few laps were really
hectic. I like racing in the wet, so was in my
element!”. Team mate Jazeman was frustrated to
have missed out on the win and valuable
championship points, and admitted he had made a
mistake in the closing stages which allowed
Lemvard to get by.
On a drying track, round 16 saw pole-sitter
Lemvard get away well followed by Jazeman, with
Khushlani getting past Jamison on the opening
lap to go 3rd. Mitchell had charged through the
field from the back of the grid and up to 5th,
while Ali had made up a place to 6th. In a race
which saw a high rate of attrition, the opening
seconds of the race saw BMW Junior David Zhu
(17/CHN/CIMB Team Qi-Meritus), Johan Adzmi
(17/MAS/Team Holzer PFX) and team mate Melvin
Moh (19/MAS) all come to grief. At turn one
Imran Shaharom (19/MAS/Team Holzer PFX) spun
and, taking evasive action, both Zhu and Moh
went off.
The Safety Car was called out and at the
re-start on lap 6, Jazeman grabbed the lead from
Lemvard, Khushlani held on to 3rd, and both
Mitchell and Ali passed Jamison. Disaster struck
when Mitchell came together with Khushlani,
putting them both out of the race.
That promoted Ali to 3rd, which he held to the
flag, followed by Huzair Harun Rasip (19/MAS/CIMB
Team Qi-Meritus) and Grunwell, who got by
Jamison to go 5th. The Safety Car was called out
for a second time when Huzair went off, and this
time the race did not resume and was flagged at
15 laps.
Indian racer Cchiranjeev R. BEDI (17/Engstler
Bollywood Racing) has shown steady improvement
throughout the season and his 6th place finish
in the race was testament to this. He said:
“Without doubt this is a very good result for
me, and very good experience. I had a fight with
Shohei in the later stages of the race and I had
to defend my position. Luckily for me, the
Safety Car came out!”
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