PAC: Series Guangdong round 10 race notes

Bradley rebounds with lights-to-flag victory.

Guangzhou, China - Richard Bradley (SIN/Eurasia Motorsport) won his third race of the weekend at the Guangdong International Circuit, when the 19-year old rebounded to take a lights-to-flag victory in Round 10.

Bradley was joined on the podium by Oscar Tunjo (COL/Meritus) and Calvin Wong (MAS/18/PETRONAS Mofaz Racing), who started from second last on the grid to finish third overall in the 18-lap race.

With five race wins this year, Bradley has strengthened his position in the Drivers Classification and Rookie Cup championships and now leads by 40 points. Formula BMW Pacific Junior Jordan Oon (AUS/20/E-Rain Racing) finished fifth overall and is second in both championships, with Tunjo in third.

With the finishing order of Round 8 determining the grid for Round 10, amendments to the race results affected the Round 10 starting order. Tunjo, Formula BMW Pacific Junior Jesse Dixon (AUS/18/Atlantic Racing Team) and Pasin Lathouras (MAS/16/Meritus) were each penalized 10 seconds in Round 8 for overtaking during yellow flags. The three therefore started from ninth, 10th and 11th position, respectively. Fellow Formula BMW Pacific Junior Kotaro Sakurai (JPN/16/Eurasia Motorsport) was penalized five grid positions as a result of having a racing incident under yellow flags. Sakurai started last on the grid, but worked his way up to finish eighth.

After Bradley's Round 9 ended prematurely due to engine problems, the Singapore-based Briton began Round 10 from pole. He got away cleanly off the start with Oon in hot pursuit. Afiq Ikhwan (MAS/19/Meritus), Nabil Jeffri (MAS/16/Eurasia Motorsport) and S.H. Tom Mun (KOR/20/E-Rain Racing) kept up with the race leaders, and on the Lap 2, Mun passed Jeffri to go fourth.

From the back of the grid, Wong picked his way through the field and by Lap 8 was up to sixth.

While Bradley held the lead to the flag, Oon dropped to fourth on Lap 12, with Tunjo and Wong moving into second and third. Tunjo then began to close up the gap to Bradley and, with two laps to go, the Colombian was just 0.173 seconds behind. However, his attempts to overtake were thwarted by Wong, who was working furiously to catch him.

On the final lap, Oon locked his brakes, and Mun got by to finish fifth.

The 2010 Formula BMW Pacific season will continue later this month in Singapore for Rounds 9&10 in support of the 2010 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX at the Marina Bay Circuit on September 24-26.

Formula BMW Pacific Driver Quotes:

Richard Bradley, winner and top Rookie, Round 10: "Today was an extremely frustrating day. I thought we had a very good chance at winning the first race today, but we had engine problems and the race was finished. When we went out again, the engine felt really good, but we were on the back pedal as we didn't have any dry laps out there. But I knew I was quicker, but as you can see, not as quick as I had hoped because it was an extremely hard drive. It was an extremely exhausting race, but it feels gratifying to have won."

Oscar Tunjo, 2nd, Round 10: "This was a really hard race from start to finish. I started from not such a good position so I just kept driving and concentrated on overtaking. The last two laps I was really close to Richard, but with other drivers behind me I decided to close the line and keep second place."

Calvin Wong, 3rd, Round 10: "It was a tiring race. I started from the back and took some opportunities at the start when some drivers made mistakes and others I overtook. Overtaking the other drivers was a challenge for me. Once I was in third place, I kept pushing. Even though there was a gap between myself and Richard and Oscar, I kept pushing and was able to close up on Oscar."

Jordan Oon, top Formula BMW Pacific Junior, Round 10: "I was stuck behind Bradley for a bit, but then everyone caught up. We were going down the main straight coming round Turn 2, someone passed me and I got a couple of wheels off the track and lost my momentum."

-source: bmw.asia