Formula BMW UK - Knockhill - Rounds 17&18 - Race

Ericsson is Champion.
Knockhill, 02 September, 2007. Marcus Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) became the
Formula BMW UK Champion 2007 by converting two poles into strong victories to
take his win tally to seven in the final races of the season at Knockhill.
Ericsson sailed away from the pack to take two dominate victories in two very
different races, providing himself with the perfect 17th birthday present!
Round 17 provided something new when a power cut caused the drivers to be
called out of their cars on the grid for a briefing before the race commenced
with only flag signals and no timing screens. After Championship contender
Henry Arundel (Fortec Motorsport) barrel-rolled down the hill out of turn one,
a brief safety-car period took away Ericsson's lead, but he withstood the
challenge from Henry Surtees (Carlin Motorsport) on the restart and pulled out
a 6.9 second lead by the chequered flag, breaking the lap record with a time of
51.124 seconds. With Arundel no longer a threat, Josef Kral (Double R Racing)
remained Ericsson's sole challenger but he only finished fourth in the damp
conditions, so things were set up perfectly for Ericsson as he headed into the
final race of the season.
On a dry track he made his best start of the year in Round 18 and never looked
under pressure as he cruised to victory, becoming the top 2007 race winner, and
added the Championship title to his Rookie Cup honours.
"It was an amazing feeling, the whole weekend has been perfect, the team has
done a brilliant job and I'm very happy," said Ericsson. "I felt pressure as
even though I was leading all the time I couldn't make a mistake so I was
concentrating 100 per cent all the time and I made it. Before the season we
were looking to be top of the Rookie standings but then at the first weekend I
won a race so we had to change what we were looking for but I was pushing
really hard because I knew I had the pace to win it. I'm just so happy!"
With six wins to his name, Kral made Ericsson fight to the very final race of
the year but didn't quite have the pace to challenge him in Scotland, finishing
fourth and third respectively.
"I think we've done a good job in both mine and the team's first year," Kral
said, "It's been a good year but very hard so second in the Championship is
good, it's just a shame I lost a lot of points on both visits to Brands Hatch!"
After crashing out Round 17 and finishing ninth in Round 18 Arundel dropped
down the table but his consistent performance at the front means he still
finishes the year third in the Championship.
Jonathan Legris (Motaworld Racing) and Jordan Williams (Team Loctite) avoided
incidents and put in mature drives in a tricky race to join Ericsson on the
podium for Round 17. Surtees made up for finishing ninth in Round 17 by pushing
to the very end to join Ericsson and Kral on the final podium, finishing second
in Round 18. "It was close at the start but Marcus got a gap and there was
nothing I could do about it," Surtees commented. "Next year will be my year!"
After a thrilling year of action in 2007, the Formula BMW UK Championship
finally comes to an end after four fantastic seasons of racing. Formula BMW
Europe kicks off in 2008 giving new drivers an even bigger platform to start
their careers on.
This year's youngsters all now head out on their various motorsport paths, but
one name certain to become familiar is that of young Swede, Marcus Ericsson.