Formula BMW Asia - Round 6 - Bira - Race

Marchy Lee strengthens championship lead.

Bira. Marchy Lee (Team Meritus) strengthened his position at the top of the
championship leaderboard today by winning Round 6 of Formula BMW Asia at Bira
Circuit in Thailand. Second was pole man Hanss Lin (Belgravia Motorsport),
finally breaking his recent run of bad luck, with talented Rookie Mehdi Benani
(Team Meritus) in third.

Starting from second on the grid, Lee had to call on every ounce of his
considerable experience to get by Lin who was on a charge off the grid. With
oil on the track at the start, both drivers were a little cautious, but on lap
3, Lee tried a daring overtaking manoeuvre which paid off. "I took a chance and
braked late going in to the corner," said Lee. I managed to get by Hanss and
then pulled away to try and put a gap between us."

Lin was disappointed not to have converted his pole position into a win. "I
got a good start," he said. "Because of the oil, I delayed my braking and went
into a wheel spin out of the right-hander. It gave Marchy a great opportunity
to overtake me, but when he did I had to slow down for the next corner and
Mehdi overtook me." Having dropped to third, Lin then displayed both his skill
and maturity to close the gap between him and Benani, and finally claimed
second position at the penultimate corner of the 2.4km circuit. "I was looking
for a chance to take him, but it took a long time!" he said.

You Kyong-Ouk (BMW Korea E-Rain) missed out on a podium finish, crossing the
line in fourth ahead of Salman Al Khalifa (Belgravia Motorsport). Mohammed Al
Baharna (Belgravia Motorsport) and Hamed Al Fardan, both of Bahrain, made up
for the earlier disappointment of not finishing Round 5 to cross the line in
seventh and eighth place respectively.

China's Han Han (Team E-Rain) finished in ninth place, top of this season's new
Formula BMW Junior drivers, and a career best for the 21-year-old best-selling
author. The two Thai drivers, Formula BMW Junior Robert Boughey (Minardi Team
Asia) and Maekkasit Weraporasu (Autosport with Arto), finished 10th and 12th
respectively.

Lee now tops the Driver Classification after six rounds with 120 points, with
You second on 79. Benani is third in the overall Classification as well as
leading the Rookie Cup Classification with 100 points from Boughey's 76.

Formula BMW Asia next moves to Beijing's 3.3km Goldenport Circuit for Rounds 7
and 8 on August 14 and 15, as it approaches the half-way point in the 2004
season.

More information about Formula BMW Asia at www.press.bmw.com.

Round 6 Results
POS No Driver/Nat Entrant Time
1. 38 Marchy LEE Ying-Kin (HKG) Team Meritus 20.59.835
2. 88 Hanss LIN Po-Heng (TPE) Belgravia Motorsport 21.04.081
3. 24 ?Mehdi BENANI (MAR) Team Meritus 21.07.737
4. 61 *YOU Kyoung-Ouk (KOR) BMW Korea E-Rain 21.11.795
5. 21 Salman ALKHALIFA (BRN) Belgravia Motorsport 21.15.115
6. 5 #Moreno SOEPRAPTO (INA) Minardi Team Asia 21.18.347
7. 22 Moh. AL BAHRANA (BRN) Belgravia Motorsport 21.27.294
8. 23 ?Hamed AL FARDAN (BRN) Belgravia Motorsport 21.35.868
9. 6 ?*Han HAN (CHN) Team E-Rain 21.36.245
10. 4 ?*Robert T BOUGHEY (THA) Minardi Team Asia 21.37.951
11. 3 Tyson SY (PHI) Minardi Team Asia 21.41.170
12. 19 M. WERAPORASU (THA) Autosport with Arto 21.47.896
13. 33 #Mike POTENCIANO San Miguel MP Turbo 21.51.176
14. 11 ?*Nik Iruwan NIK IZANI (MAS) Team Meritus 19 laps
15. 12 ?*Gaby Dela MERCED (PHI) Team E-Rain 19 laps
16. 2 Dado PENA (PHI) Minardi Team Asia 17 laps
*Scholarship driver
? Rookie Cup
# Non-Series Registered

Championship points after 6 of 14 races:
1. Marchy Lee (HKG) 120 points, 2. Kyong-Ouk You (KOR) 79, 3. Mehdi Benani
(MAR) 57, 4. Hanss Lin (TPE) 43, 5. Tyson Sy (PHI) 41, 6. Dado Pena (PHI) 37,
7. Sheikk Salman Bin Rashid Al Khalifa (BRN) 27, 8. Moreno Soeprapto (INA) 26,
9. Hamed Al Fardan (BRN) 15, 10. Han Han (CHN) 11, 11. Robert T. Boughey (THA)
10, 12. Mohammed Al Baharna (BRN) 8, 13. Maekkasit Weraporasu (THA) 8, 14.
Tohru Jitsukawa (JPN) 3, 15. Nik Iruwan (MAL) 1.

Rookies: 1. Mehdi Benani (MAR) 100 points, 2. Robert T. Boughey (THA) 74, 3.
Maekkasit Weraporasu (THA) 60, 4. Hamed Al Fardan (BRN) 58, 5. Han Han (CHN)
58, 6. Nik Iruwan Nik Izani (MAL) 50, 7. Gaby Dela Merced (PHI) 34.

Background
The ultra-modern Formula BMW which allows 15-year-olds to enter the world of
motor racing has been lining up on the grid since the 2002 season. It sets
standards above all on the safety technology front. The single-seater, driven
by a 140 bhp BMW motorcycle engine that takes it up to 230 km/h, features a
carbon-fibre chassis, fulfils the safety requirements of the much
higher-performance Formula 3 cars, and even matches certain Formula One
standards.

Formula BMW Asia, now in its second season, runs as part of the Asian Festival
of Speed (AFOS) organised by Motorsport Asia Limited. This year the series is
run over 14 rounds at seven venues in Bahrain, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, China
and Japan. It will culminate in a second Formula One Grand Prix support race
at Shanghai in September.

In 2004, Formula BMW will be staged in four different series held in Germany,
the UK, Asia and the USA. Formula BMW events will be part of the Formula One
support programme on five occasions around the world. All the series go
hand-in-hand with a comprehensive education and coaching programme, as well as
substantial financial backing for promising young talent. The most
distinguished graduate of this "talent hothouse" is Ralf Schumacher. The star
of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team made his racing debut in the junior class in 1992.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen: "Our junior talent promotion scheme is
an intensive basic education for successful kart drivers who want to move up
into Formula racing. Our priorities are to create a level playing field through
technically identical vehicles and scrupulously defined regulations, and to
ensure maximum safety."

Ends.

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