Lacroix Wins Round 3 to Extend Championship Points Lead
16 year-old BMW Junior and Rookie driver Kevin Lacroix (AIM Autosport) took his second win of the 2005 Formula BMW USA Championship season in Round 3 today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Taking the lead on the second lap he finished 1.988 seconds ahead of James Davison (HBR Motorsport Team USA) in the 15-lap contest to extend his points lead in both the Overall and Rookie Championship standings. Davison came from the seventh starting position for his best finish of the year. Maxime Soulet (Gelles Racing), continuing his podium-finishing streak, took third.
Polesitter Philippe and second place starter Edoardo Piscopo both jumped the start and were forced to serve stop and go penalties. Philippe charged back to tenth place setting fast lap of the race. Reed Stevens and Rob Bunker also had great drives today, moving from 13th to sixth and 14th to eighth respectively.
The top-finishing Rookies were Lacroix (P1), Davison (P2) and John Zartarian (P4).
"I started at four and got the third place at the start", said Lacroix. "I tried to get the second place, but Piscopo was blocking me a bit. I got second and after I saw that Philippe had come in the pits. I had some problems with my radio so I didn't know anything. I was really confused, I braked, I didn't know what to do and everybody behind me was almost crashing. But then I saw that everybody was running at the track and I won the race after that."
Davison said, "I made a very good start, passed one in turn one and passed another one in turn two and I was up to the fifth position. Then the safety car came out for three laps and the race stopped. And then there was a bit confusion because of the black flag so I was able to go from fifth to second. And then I was concentrated on not overdriving like I had in qualifying and it really rewarded me. Kevin drove away, but I thought maybe I could put a bit pressure on him but I was not really close enough. With Maxime not right behind me, I had a bit breathing space, I could relax a little bit."
Soulet added, "I am satisfied. I had a bad start and lost one position already at the start. I had a different setup than I had in the qualifying and it worked out okay, but we still have to do some modifications for tomorrow. I think I probably will win tomorrow."
The Round 4 race is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Round 3 - Results (15 laps)
1 Kevin Lacroix AIM Autosport 24:32.4142 James Davison HBR Motorsport Team USA 24:34.4023 Maxime Soulet Gelles Racing 24:35.2754 John Zartarian Jensen MotorSport 24:35.3855 Daniel Herrington Jensen MotorSport 24:38.2196 Reed Stevens HBR Motorsport Team USA 24:39.4957 Robert Wickens Team Apex Racing USA 24:41.4908 Tom Sutherland HBR Motorsport Team USA 24:45.3649 Rob Bunker AIM Autosport 24:45.85910 Richard Philippe Team Autotecnica 24:47.54211 Race Johnson HBR Motorsport Team USA 24:48.27612 Matthew Lee Twintooth/BRM Motorsport 24:48.66313 Adrien Herberts Atlantic Racing Team 24:48.86514 Justin Moon Gelles Racing 24:49.13915 Doug Boyer Jensen MotorSport 24:49.97616 Edoardo Piscopo EuroInternational 25:02.04117 Ryan Campbell Gelles Racing 25:05.39118 Darin Marcus Gelles Racing 25:13.56619 Derek Burseth Burseth Racing 25:19.65120 Jules Duc Jensen MotorSport 25:49.92321 Scott Harnell SHD3 with Cinema Concepts Mechanical22 Nathan DePagter DRE Autosport Accident
Championship points after 3 of 14 races:
1. Kevin Lacroix (AIM Autosport, 52), 2. Maxime Soulet (Gelles Racing, 39), 3. James Davison (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 31), 4. Reed Stevens (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 24), 5. Richard Philippe (Team Autotecnica, 21), 6. Robert Wickens (Team Apex Racing USA, 20), 7. John Zartarian (Jensen MotorSport, 20), 8. Rob Bunker (AIM Autosport, 10), 9. Daniel Herrington (Jensen MotorSport, 8), 10. Justin Moon (Gelles Racing, 6), 11. Matthew Lee (Twintooth/BRM Motorsport, 5), 12. Tom Sutherland (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 5), 13. Race Johnson (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 2), 14. Doug Boyer (Jensen MotorSport, 0), 15. Derek Burseth (Burseth Racing, 0), 16. Ryan Campbell (Gelles Racing, 0), 17. Nathan DePagter (DRE Autosport, 0), 18. Jules Duc (Jensen MotorSport, 0), 19. Scott Harnell (SDH3 with Cinema Concepts, 0), 20. Adrien Herberts (Atlantic Racing Team, 0), 18. 21. Darin Marcus (Gelles Racing, 0), 22. Ryan Phinny (Gelles Racing, 0), 23. Edoardo Piscopo (EuroInternational, 0)
