Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) won the second round of Formula BMW Europe in Barcelona and was part of a race long battle with second placed Timmy Hansen (SE/Mücke Motorsport) and third placed Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports). Meanwhile local driver, Carlos Sainz (Eurointernational), was the quickest Rookie again, but had to settle for sixth even though he was only a few seconds behind the leader.
After a bad start on a wet track on Saturday, Frijns made sure he was off the grid with no hesitation and battling polesitter, Harvey, for the lead into the first corner. It was Frijns who came out ahead and stayed there to the end of the 13 lap race. Harvey followed him closely reducing the first lap gap of 1.2secs to 0.4secs by the end of lap six. However, he had his mirrors full of Hansen’s car and on lap seven the Swede got by. Even though the Brit got second back in the first corner, it was not long before Hansen overtook him again.
The racing for the top ten places was so fierce that there was never more than ten seconds separating Frijns in first and Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational) in tenth. Marc Coleselli (AT/Eifelland Racing) had to make his way up from the back of the grid again after not being able to take part in qualifying, but unfortunately a moment when his car ‘flew’ a few centimeters off the ground stopped his progress with a lap to go. Fahmi Ilyas (MY/DAMS) was an early retirement spinning off on lap six.
1st Round 2: Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing): “It was my hardest race ever. I was not the quickest of the top three as I was only quick in the third sector. In the main straight I always had a gap before it, but overall in all the other corners I had to close the door everywhere. I was looking in my mirrors all over the place. It is nice to be back again. It is too bad I missed out in the first race because of a crash and missed some points, but now I have to finish every race on the podium. That is the goal and hopefully then I can win the championship.
2nd Round 2: Timmy Hansen (SE/Mücke Motorsport): “It was really exciting and a great fight between me Robin and Jack. In the end I didn’t manage to get to the first place but I always enjoy a good fight. It is the difficult part to close the door for the guys behind the same time as you are trying to be aggressive. I struggled a little bit before the overtaking places so that is why I never got up to the gearbox of Robin to push him as hard as I wanted. We have got some good points again with two second places this weekend so I am happy. "
3rd Round 2: Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports): “You could always be better unless you have won both races, but I have had a good weekend and hope to keep that momentum going until the next race. I think I just bogged down a little bit at the start, perhaps pulled the clutch up too fast and didn’t have enough revs as the ratio was a little bit wrong. After that I still had a good race. We have things to work on, which is always important to have. I think it was in the last turn Robin ran wide, Timmy kind of got level with him but could not make the move stick, and I ended up being right behind Timmy as we came across the finish line. It was a close race all around.“
6th and Top Rookie Round 2: Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational): “I had a very good start again, and also the first two laps were good as I went from tenth to sixth. I was thinking third was possible again as I was very near the front. However, after three or four laps it seemed the car was sliding a lot in the rear, and I didn’t have top speed at all with a very long sixth gear. I enjoyed it a lot, but not as much as yesterday as I was faster then. I am quite happy about the weekend as it was my first race of the championship and I have been the best Rookie ."
Provisional Results Race 2
1. Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) 24:41.315
2. Timmy Hansen (SE/Mücke Motorsport) 24:42.237
3. Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) 24:42.298
4. Facu Regalia (AR/Eifelland Racing) 24:42.624
5. Javier Tarancon (ES/DAMS) 24:43.059
6. Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational) 24:44.206
7. George Katsinis (GR/Fortec Motorsports) 24:45.629
8. Michael Lewis (US/Eurointernational) 24:49.349
9. Côme Ledogar (FR/Eifelland Racing) 24:50.313
10. Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational) R 24:50.511
11. Hannes Van Asseldonk (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) R 24:51.953
12. Petri Suvanto (FI/Josef Kaufmann Racing) R 24:53.894
13. Maciej Bernacik (PL/Mücke Motorsport) R 24:19.57.516
14. Christof von Grünigen (CH/Fortec Motorsports) 24:58.232
Not classified
Marc Coleselli (AT/Eifelland Raicng) R 11 laps
Fahmi Ilyas (MY/DAMS) 5 laps
Fastest Lap: Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) 1:52.770 (148.603 kph) on lap 4
R=Rookie
Standings after Race 2:
Drivers: 1. Jack Harvey 52, 2. Timmy Hansen 48, 3. Carlos Sainz R 34, 4. Javier Tarancon 34, 5. Robin Frijns 30, 6. Facu Regalia 30, 7. George Katsinis 28, 8. Christof von Grünigen 16, 9. Daniil Kvyat 14, 10. Michael Lewis 12. 11. Côme Ledogar 11, 12. Hannes Van Asseldonk R 11, 13 Marc Coleselli 10, 14. Petri Suvanto R 9, 15. Maciej Bernancik R 7.
Teams: 1. Fortec Motorsports 94 , 2. Eurointernational 60, 3. Mücke Motorsport 55, 4. Eifelland Racing 51, 5. Josef Kaufmann Racing 50, 6. DAMS 34.
