Marina Bay, Singapore – Doru Sechelariu (15/Meritus) completed a perfect weekend on the Marina Bay street circuit as the young Romanian won Round 13.  He added a second trophy to his collection after taking victory in Round 12 yesterday, winning both races from start to flag.
Ross Jamison (18/HKG/Meritus) finished second, while Gabby Chaves (15/COL/Atlantic Racing Team) rebounded from a disappointing Round 12 with a third-place finish in Round 13.
Round 13 Results.
Sechelariu caps perfect weekend with second win.

Marina Bay, Singapore – Doru Sechelariu (15/Meritus) completed a perfect weekend on the Marina Bay street circuit as the young Romanian won Round 13. He added a second trophy to his collection after taking victory in Round 12 yesterday, winning both races from start to flag.
Ross Jamison (18/HKG/Meritus) finished second, while Gabby Chaves (15/COL/Atlantic Racing Team) rebounded from a disappointing Round 12 with a third-place finish in Round 13.
Rookie Dominic Ang (18/MAS/Team Holzer PFX) had his best finish of the season in fifth, while Marlon Stöckinger (17/PHI/Eurasia Motorsport) was the top Formula BMW Junior, finishing in seventh.
As a guest driver, Sechelariu is not eligible to score points and therefore Jamison took the full 20 points plus an addition one for pole, extending his lead in the drivers’ championship to 56 points. Sean McDonagh (19/USA/Team E-Rain) finished the race in sixth position, and remains second in the drivers’ classification. Jamison now requires eight points to clinch this year’s Driver Classification.
In the Rookie Cup, Simon Moss (17/RSA/Mahara) leads Chris Wootton (19/AUS/Meritus) by 12 points after 13 of the 16 round 2008 season.
Guest driver Ollie Millroy (18/GBR/Motaworld) started third on the grid, but fell away early and Chaves, who qualified fifth, moved up to third. Wootton hit the curb and spun and, like Millroy, was out of the race in the first lap. Once again, the Safety Car was brought out.
At the re-start on Lap 3, Sechelariu got away well and Jamison was unable to find a way past. However, Sechelariu, Jamison and Chaves would remain in their positions for the remainder of the race.
“It’s very important to take the experience from here for next year’s championship in Europe,” said Sechelariu, who intends to compete in another season Formula BMW Europe. “I really did not expect my weekend to be like this, so I’m very happy.”
Chaves, on the podium for the second time this season, was thrilled with his finish.
“Round 12 wasn’t so good, but I left it in the past and looked forward to today,” Chaves said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to race here and not many kids my age and not that many people in general get to do this.”
Stöckinger, who started ninth, was able to move up two places, a particularly special feat as the Swiss-Filipino driver continued to battle a bout of food poisoning. To him, even just racing was an achievement.
“I was tired from the get-go, but towards the end it was hard to even hold the steering wheel and I was just happy to finish and really pleased to be in seventh,” said Stöckinger, who had to be rehydrated yesterday at the hotel.
Ang, who started tenth, impressively worked his way up on the grid and after colliding with teammate Melvin Moh (20/MAS/Team Holzer PFX) in Round 12, the fifth-place finish in Round 13 was a redemption of sorts.
“It’s better,” Ang said. “The incident in Round 12 should not have happened and today, we were a bit more careful and we knew not to take anyone out. It’s definitely better today and the result sort of makes up for yesterday’s race.”
McDonagh, as a series’ driver, said that after his disappointing weekend, the championship was possible, but he was also looking to maintain second-place in the series.
“I tried to get as close as I could to Ross, but today wasn’t the day, it wasn’t all there,” said McDonagh, who was still feeling some of the physical effects of having hit the wall during Saturday’s Round 12.
The weekend was a memorable one, with the first cars ever to take to the Marina Bay circuit those of Formula BMW Pacific. As the Lion City embraced its first experience of international motorsport, the series was at the forefront of the new face of motor racing.
The drivers and teams were unanimous in their praise of both the circuit and the event organisation.
Formula BMW Pacific moves to Shanghai in October where the series is a support event to the FIA Formula One World Championship for the third time this season. There the field will include the series newcomers, and Sechelariu is already looking forward to driving in China for the first time. “I will be in Shanghai for sure,” Sechelariu said.


*Scholarship driver
•Rookie Cup
#Non-Series Registered
Pole Position: Doru SECHELARIU/Meritus
Fastest Lap: Doru SECHELARIU/Meritus
Championship Points Tables after Round 13.

Drivers
1.Ross Jamison (HKG/Meritus) 192 points; 2. Sean McDonagh (KOR/Team E-Rain) 136 points; 3. Ryuichi Nara (JPN/Team E-Rain) 95 points; 4.Simon Moss (RSA/Mahara) 92 points; 5. Melvin Moh (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 86 points; 6. Gabriel Chaves (COL/Atlantic Racing Team) 85 points; 7. Chris Wootton (AUS/Meritus) 80 points; 8. Marlon Stöckinger (PHI/Eurasia Motorsport) 67 points; 9. Imran Shaharom (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 54 points; 10. Aditya Patel (IND/Eurasia Motorsport) 50 points; 11. Dominic Ang (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 48 points; 12. Arvin Roslan (MAS/Meritus) 40 points; 13. Tasmin Pepper (RSA/Meritus) 22 points; 14. Huzair Harun Rasip (MAS/Mahara) 7 points; 15. Omer Younas (PAK/Team E-Rain) 1 point.

Rookie Cup
1.Moss; 2. Wootton; 3. Stöckinger; 4. Patel; 5.Ang; 6.Roslan; 7. Younas.

Teams
1.Meritus, 331 points; 2. Team E-Rain, 225 points; 3. Team Holzer PFX, 187 points; 4. Eurasia Motorsport, 117 points; 5. Mahara, 97 points; 6. Atlantic Racing Team, 85 points

Statistics:
Winners 2008: Jamison (4); Moss (2); Nara (2); McDonagh (2); Moh (1); Sechelariu (2)
Pole Positions: Moss (2); McDonagh (6); Nara (1); Moh (1); Jamison (1); Sechelariu (2)
Podiums: Jamison (10); Moss (4); Patel (1); McDonagh (6); Moh (4); Chaves (2); Nara (3); Manzur (1); Stöckinger (1); Wootton (4); Sechelariu (2); Millroy (1)
Rookie Cup Winners: Moss (5); Stöckinger (3); Roslan (1); Wootton (3); Ang (1)

Background:
Formula BMW is the world’s leading entry-level series in formula racing. In 2008 the three Formula BMW series – Formula BMW Europe, Formula BMW Pacific and Formula BMW Americas – will be held in the key motor sport markets of Europe, pan-Asia and North and South America. The end of the year will see the Formula BMW World Final staged for the fourth time, this time at Mexico City’s “Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez” from the 5th to the 7th December. The winner will be granted the opportunity of a test drive with the BMW Sauber F1 Team.
Formula BMW will be held on the undercard of Formula One on 12 occasions. The series gives young racing talents the chance to enter professional motor sport in a safe racing car – the Formula BMW FB02.
The FB02 has been in use since season 2002. It is powered by a 140 hp BMW engine that takes it to a top speed of up to 230 km/h. It ranks among the safest vehicles in its category and exceeds the FIA safety regulations that govern this class of car. Innovations such as the FORS (Formula Rescue Seat) were developed by BMW Motorsport specifically for Formula BMW. Following Formula One, Formula BMW was the first single-seater series outside the US in which the HANS system was made mandatory.
Formula BMW drivers have the opportunity to take part in an Education and Coaching Programme that runs parallel with the racing season. The programme includes driver coaching at the races by professional race drivers, attending a Formula One test, fitness courses, tuition in driving technique and strategy, as well as seminars on sponsoring and sport management.
Among the 20 team drivers in this season’s Formula One, there are now four Formula BMW graduates: Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil, Sebastian Vettel and Timo Glock. The test and reserve drivers add three more to the tally, namely Christian Klien, Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Hülkenberg.
In the words of BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen: “With our worldwide Formula BMW concept, we offer drivers and teams a platform which, in this format, is unprecedented in a junior series and which allows them to benefit from our Formula One involvement. Through Formula BMW the drivers are equipped with the tools they need to assert themselves successfully in the world of professional motor racing.”
Note to editors:
Information and copyright free Formula BMW images for press purposes will be available at the BMW Motorsport Press Club at www.press.bmw-motorsport.com (no registration is required).

Tags: Formula BMW Pacific, 18/GBR/Motaworld, FIA Formula One , Marina Bay, Singapore, Formula BMW Europe, BMW Motorsport Press , BMW Sauber F1 Team, Meritus, Shanghai