Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) has had the best possible start to his Formula BMW Europe season with a convincing win in race one in Spain. He was joined on the podium by Timmy Hansen (SE/Mücke Motorsport) and third placed Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational), with the local BMW Junior driver also taking top Rookie honours.
Harvey got the best possible start and showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels, while Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing), who was alongside him on the front row of the grid, did not move immediately and was sixth on lap one. However, Hansen, from fifth on the grid, made a good start and took second, but was battling with Javier Tarancon (FR/DAMS) until he finally secured this position on lap four and stayed there until the end of the 13 lap race.
Sainz had an even bigger job from ninth on the grid. However, he was up to fourth at the end of lap one and then set off in pursuit of Tarancon in third. At the end of lap four he was 0.1secs behind him crossing the line, and then made his move into the first corner. Although Tarancon battled hard, the Rookie was able to keep in front and then gradually pull away.
It was not a good race for Fahmi Ilyas (MY/DAMS) who had a collision on lap one and retired. Frijns also had a collision on lap two and went off and into the barriers. Michael Lewis (US/Eurointernational) had a great start form 11th and was up to seventh, but after a collision on lap four he spun, got going again but came in 14th and the last of the finishers.
1st Round 1: Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports): “It was a great race. I had a fantastic car which meant I could drive a hundred per cent without making any mistakes. It is a massive thank you to the team for giving me a race winning car. It is always difficult in conditions like this morning after rain, as certain parts of the track were still wet and being the first one round is always exciting. It is a challenge as well. It was a hard race as I knew if I made a mistake then the pack behind would catch me up straight away.“
2nd Round 1: Timmy Hansen (SE/Mücke Motorsport): “From my point of view my race was calm. I made a good start from fifth after a bad qualifying yesterday. From there I was up to second but Javier overtook me after a couple of laps. I was able to take the position back, but I could not catch Jack who was in front and no one could catch me from behind. I could just focus on setting my good lap times. It was very difficult in those conditions, especially at the start. It was completely wet on the start/finish straight so I was quite nervous for the start, but it went well in the end as I made a good one. "
3rd Round 1: Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational): “After a really good start I was able to make up five positions, although I didn’t expect this at all. I did most of the race in fourth, trying to keep my pace, but suddenly I saw I was catching Javier with five laps to go. I pushed like hell just to make the podium on my first race, which I thought would be a good result. Finally I overtook him. I made a mistake and he made it back in front, then I took him again. It was a really exciting race and I am really happy to finish third."
Provisional Results Race 1.
1. Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) 24:45.898
2. Timmy Hansen (SE/Mücke Motorsport) 24:51.001
3. Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational) 24:54.894
4. Javier Tarancon (ES/DAMS) 24:57.744
5. George Katsinis (GR/Fortec Motorsports) 25:02.040
6. Christof von Grünigen (CH/Fortec Motorsports) 25:02.965*
7. Facu Regalia (AR/Eifelland Racing) 25:03.403
8. Marc Coleselli (AT/Eifelland Raicng) R 25:05.980
9. Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational) R 25:09.952
10. Hannes Van Asseldonk (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) R 25:11.328
11. Petri Suvanto (FI/Josef Kaufmann Racing) R 25:12.510
12. Maciej Bernacik (PL/Mücke Motorsport) R 25:19.006
13. Côme Ledogar (FR/Eifelland Racing) 25:25.139
14. Michael Lewis (US/Eurointernational) 25:40.137
Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) 1 lap
Fahmi Ilyas (MY/DAMS) 0 laps
Fastest Lap: Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) 1:53.371 (147.815 kph) on lap 9
R=Rookie
* A drop of ten places on the grid for Race 2 for causing an avoidable accident.
Results remain provisional pending the outcome of technical checks.
