PAC: Series Sepang round 5 report

Kvyat fends off pressure for Round 5 victory.

Kuala Lumpur - Daniil Kvyat (RUS/16/Eurointernational) won his second Formula BMW Pacific race in as many days, with a lights-to-flag victory in Round 5 at the Sepang International Circuit.

Kvyat came under pressure from his teammate Michael Lewis (USA/19) for the duration of the race, with the American ultimately finishing second, just 0.439 seconds behind. Third was Calvin Wong (MAS/18/PETRONAS Mofaz Racing), whose first podium of the 2010 season came on his home circuit.

Wong scores full points for Round 5, as both Kvyat and Lewis are guest drivers. Richard Bradley (SIN/18/Eurasia Motorsport), 4th overall and top rookie in Round 5, strengthened his lead in both the Drivers Classification and Rookie Cup and now has a 21-point margin over Wong.

After a brilliant race, which saw Oscar Tunjo (COL/Meritus) work his way up from 19th on the grid into 6th overall, the young Colombian is third in the Drivers Classification and second in the Rookie Cup. Nabil Jeffri (MAS/16/Eurasia Motorsport) is just three points off Tunjo in the Rookie Cup standings.

Rounding out the top five was a determined Kotaro Sakurai (JPN/15/Eurasia Motorsport), the Formula BMW Pacific Junior working his way through the field after starting from 15th.

With Round 5 the third of four races this weekend, Kvyat started off the second half of his weekend from pole position. Though forced to fight off pressure from a resolute Lewis, particularly in the closing laps, the Russian held firm. Behind the two Eurointernational teammates was Wong, who kept up the pace for the first few laps, before easing off and concentrating on keeping his podium position and maximum points haul.

However, Bradley had worked his way from 18th to fifth by the end of the second lap, setting up a battle between himself and Eurasia Motorsport teammate Jeffri, with Sakurai close behind. Bradley and Sakurai both got past Jeffri, who finished eighth overall, behind Tunjo and Carlos Sainz Junior (ESP/15/Eurointernational). Bradley was then on a charge to catch Wong, but simply ran out of laps.

Formula BMW Pacific Junior Jordan Oon (AUS/20/E-Rain Racing) finished 13th, while fellow Junior Jessie Dixon (AUS/17/Atlantic Racing Team) failed to finish after sustaining damage in a racing incident.

Formula BMW Pacific Driver Quotes:

Daniil Kvyat, Winner, Round 5: "It wasn't an easy win. A victory is never easy, but it was tough today because my teammate [Michael Lewis] was really close to me, so I tried to make as few mistakes as possible. It's important to see if I can stave off the pressure and I did. I was under pressure the entire race."

Michael Lewis, 2nd, Round 5: "This race was really very close. Daniil and I both got good starts and for the first three or four laps I just tried to put on as much pressure as possible and at the same time had to defend a couple of times from the guys behind me. But after four or five laps, the car behind me had lost a bit of pace so I caught up quickly with Daniil and tried to find the best place to pass. We were equal in most corners and I tried a couple of times to pass. It didn't work out but I did my best."

Calvin Wong, 3rd, Round 5: "On the first few laps I did have the pace to keep up, but then I fell back a bit and made a mistake. Still, I needed to keep on pushing because I had Richard Bradley behind me and he was on the pace. I'm happy for this podium, but I do expect to be here as it's my second year in Formula BMW Pacific."

Richard Bradley, Rookie Cup Winner, Round 5: "It's a bit annoying really. I had slight understeer and a little bit of an off, but it's a great haul of points. I drove well yesterday, but got hit. I would have wanted another five laps!"

Kotaro Sakurai, top Formula BMW Pacific Junior, Round 5: "I'm really happy as I overtook 10 cars in 10 laps! In qualifying I was 2nd fastest, so had the speed, but I just had to spend more time getting by everyone."

Oscar Tunjo: "It was really nice and I just concentrated on keeping the car good. It's harder to be coming from the back. Carlos (Sainz Jr.) was the hardest to overtake as we had the same pace, but he made a mistake."

-source: fbmw pacific