Cebu Pacific Air by KCMG capped off a dominant race weekend in Formula Masters China Series (FMCS) season by winning the 2015 Team and overall Driver’s title with Martin Rump at Zhuhai International Circuit. The Estonian driver had one hand on the crown after scoring a hat-trick in the first race (Race 13) by qualifying in pole position, winning the race and setting the fastest lap. Rump displayed a peerless drive on Sunday to finish Rounds 13 and 14 in second place, enough for him to secure the title with three races to spare. Rump’s overall win further solidifies the fact that the Cebu Pacific Air by KCMG is the team to beat in the series after winning the same title last year with James Munro.
Australian driver Nicholas Rowe had a solid points scoring weekend with a sixth place finish on Saturday followed up with a pair of fifth place finishes on Sunday in Rounds 14 and 15. Rowe’s strong and consistent placing has earned him a strong chance of finishing second overall in the standings. The highlight for Star Racing Academy driver Yuan Bo was a podium finish in Round 14 wherein the young Chinese driver finished in third place, one place behind series champion Martin Rump. This also enabled Bo to grab the best Chinese driver award for the weekend following a string of consistent finishes ahead of the other Chinese drivers in the series completing a very strong weekend for the team.
Jeffrey Ye and Sean Zheng also showed flashes of good form as they were both able to fight with some of the series regulars in all three races. Zheng in particular had an excellent Qualifying 2 session where he placed third.
Martin Rump: “I’m very happy for the championship and I felt great for the performance today. I managed to get decent points and everything went according to plan. It’s a little bit sad that I couldn’t contest Alessio – in some places I was close, but of course I take the points and I take the championship!"Nicholas Rowe: “Although it was a tough race weekend for me, I managed to finish consistently in the top six. I was able to score valuable points which will be vital for me to finish my season hopefully in third overall and at the same time help the team secure the Team title.”Yuan Bo: “I had a good race in Race 14 and it feels fantastic to be back on the podium. Yesterday I struggled with some understeer, but today we changed the set up and the car felt quite good. I really enjoyed Race 14, where I had a good fight with some drivers to fight for position.”
Jeffrey Ye: “Credit goes to the team and my race engineer who guided and helped me improve a lot this race weekend. I’m looking forward to replicating the feat in Shanghai."
Sean Zheng: “I was a bit unlucky in the races especially in the opening laps. Q2 definitely showed what I was capable of by qualifying in third place and I hope for better in Shanghai.”
John O’Hara, KCMG Deputy Managing Director: "It's been a great year once again for us in Formula Masters and a huge testament to every member of the team. To take driver and team championships for the second year in a row speaks very highly about our crew and we’re looking forward to more strong results in Shanghai."Formula Masters China Series travels back to the Hermann Tilke designed Shanghai International Circuit on October 16-18 to host the final three races of the season where Cebu Pacific Air by KCMG aims to have another strong race weekend.
