Haryanto grabs victory in Round 6.

Sepang, Malaysia – Rio Haryanto (INA/16/Questnet Team Qi-Meritus) grabbed victory in Round 6 of Formula BMW Pacific today, capping off a successful four-race weekend for the series. Finishing second was pole-sitter Fahmi Ilyas (MAS/17/E-Rain Racing), also taking the Rookie Cup win, while rounding out the podium was Axcil Jefferies (ZIM/15/Eurasia Motorsport).

Gary Thompson (IRL/16/E-Rain Racing) was classified fourth, although he had actually passed Jefferies heading into final lap. The chequered flag was brought out a lap early in the 10-lap race, and regulations state that in such circumstances, the final positions are taken from the end of previous lap. Akhil Khushlani (IND/19/E-Rain Racing) rounded out the top five.

With five podium finishes in six races, Thompson leads both the Rookie Cup and Drivers Classification with 83 points. Jefferies is second with 72 points and eight points behind him is Haryanto. Formula BMW Junior Chris Wootton (AUS/20/Eurasia Motorsport) ended a disappointing weekend on a high note, finishing sixth in the race after starting near the back of the grid.

For Haryanto, who recorded his second series win today, it was a successful weekend: “The weekend has gone pretty well,” he said. “On Friday and Saturday I was suffering, but finally I was able to find the pace. All weekend I’ve been trying hard to increase my pace.” Ilyas described his weekend as up and down: “The beginning of the weekend was very good,” said the Malaysian, who qualified fifth and fourth for Rounds 3 and 4. “But since qualifying my pace came down and the other guys were faster than me. I crashed in Round 3 and so I wasn’t able to start Round 5 from a strong position. I’m happy with Rounds 4 and 6, though.” From the start, Ilyas felt the pressure from the other drivers. He later said a small error cost him about half a second, allowing the others to gain further ground.

In the early laps of the race, Haryanto, who started third on the grid, overtook Thompson and moved into second position. On Lap 7, Haryanto successfully made his move on Ilyas. With Haryanto in the lead, Ilyas was then forced tocontend with Jefferies who had, by this point, passed Thompson to move from fourth into third. On the first lap, Wootton gained two positions from his 10th place starting position, and then moved up to 7th before battling with Dustin Sofyan for sixth (INA/Meritus), getting by on lap 7.

Having raced the first six rounds at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit, the series now travels to Indonesia for Rounds 7 – 10 at the Sentul International Circuit. Haryanto and Sofyan said they were both looking towards racing in their home country: “I am really looking forward to Sentul because it’s a home race for me,” Sofyan said. “I feel that because all the other teams have been testing at Sepang, we’ll have an advantage because we have been testing at Sentul.”