Formula BMW

EU: Series Monza preview

Formula BMW Europe Series Finale in Monza. Munich. The Formula BMW Europe season comes to an end in Italy on one of the sports' classic circuits, Monza, with a record entry of 30 cars.. At this Italian track, that has hosted more world ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:18 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Formula BMW Europe Series Finale in Monza.

Munich. The Formula BMW Europe season comes to an end in Italy on one of the sports' classic circuits, Monza, with a record entry of 30 cars.. At this Italian track, that has hosted more world championship Formula One races than any other, the curtain will come down on a season that has seen some amazingly competitive racing.

After 14 races Felipe Nasr (BR/Eurointernational), Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Daniel Juncadella (ES/Eurointernational) are at the top of the drivers' championship table, while Eurointernational leads the way in the teams' battle. There have been five different winners with Michael Christensen (DK/Mucke Motorsport), Jim Pla (FR/DAMS) and Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsport) as well as the leading pair in the championship having the honour of standing on the top step of the podium. Frijns, who turns 18 on Monday, has been dominant in the Rookie battle with Harvey second and Timmy Hansen (SE/Mucke Motorsport) third.

Monza is the sort of place that enjoys a reputation as being a fantastic track to race on and it has many fans in the Formula BMW Europe paddock. Among them are Ollie Millroy (GB/Ra ikkonen Robertson Racing), William Buller (GB/Fortec Motorsport) and Hansen. Millroy's comments include: "It is a great circuit and obviously I enjoyed it when we tested there as I was quickest. It is all about straight line speed and braking. I imagine most of the teams, if not all of them, will be running very low downforce settings on the cars to try and get the maximum top speed." For Buller race tracks are very familar places as his father owns Rockingham in the UK. "It is a fantastic high speed circuit with really good braking, so you have the best of both worlds and great overtaking opportunities. In qualifying it is really important to get a tow for a good slipstream. It also usually provides some really good racing, and last year, though I went off in the wet while in fifth and had to climb back through the field, I set the fastest lap," was his comment about Monza.

Unlike Buller and Millroy, Hansen has yet to race at Monza, but he has already shown he is quick there as he was the fastest Rookie at the two day test before the start of the season. His thoughts ahead of the race were: "It is a nice track I think there will be a lot of fighting there because of the long straights, the low wing settings and the slip streaming. I did well in the test, but that was early in the season and since then everyone has improved so we shall see how it goes."

Formula BMW Europe will have its biggest grid of the year with the addition of seven Guest drivers. Fahmi Ilyas (MY/Motaworld Racing Europe Ltd) is back after making an appearance at Valencia, while fellow Formula BMW Pacific regular, Steel Guiliana (AU), will also be racing with Motaworld Racing Europe Ltd, There is a new team with Daltec Racing entering three cars for 18-year-old Christof von Gru nigen (CH), Sven Ackermann (CH), who turns 20 tomorrow, and Kevin Giovesi (IT), who will be the youngest driver as he is still 15 and does not turn 16 until November. Meanwhile Coloni Motorsport has entered three cars for Kevin Gilardoni (IT), who has already raced in the series, and Guest drivers Kevin Friesacher (DE) and Rio Haryanto (ID).

The Monza circuit is 5.793 kilometres long and is in a walled park on the outskirts of the town of the same name, which is 15 kilometres north- northeast of Milan. This year the track will be hosting its 59th Grand Prix, and has the distinction of having held more Formula One races than any other circuit since the launch of the official World Championship in 1950. The track has been modified many times over the years since it was built in 1922. In the early years it had very steep banking, which is still there, although not part of the current track.

As usual free practice is on Friday from 08.50 to 09.15 and qualifying from 12.50 to 13.15. Race one will return to its the regular time slot of 17.30 on Saturday, while the second of the two 12 lap races will be on Sunday morning at 09.15.

-credit: fbmw eu

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article AMER: Gianmarco Raimondo Mosport event summary

Next article EU: Series Valencia race two summary

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

1 h

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

1 h

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

2 h

Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts