Harvey wins the race, but the title goes to Frijns.

Monza, 12 September 2010. Formula BMW Europe has ended with a flourish, crowning Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing) as its champion as Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports) won the series’ last ever race. This win has also assured Josef Kaufmann Racing of the Teams’ Trophy. After the excitement of race one, Frijns knew he had to finish in the top eight to be assured of the championship and in the end was third, while for Harvey the win was vital to keep his hopes of the title alive. They both drove exemplary races after a battle long season. It was also a memorable race for Rookie driver Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational) as he was second and on the podium for the first time.

All the action this weekend has been witnessed by BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen, who said after the race: “We have seen an exciting final race to the season with Jack Harvey as a strong winner and Robin Frijns a worthy champion. They were both on the podium so it was a very good outcome for the race. I think the weekend has been an extensive lesson on slip streaming, so they guys are ready now in this area as well. Overall it has been a very good championship. Again we have seen several drivers who will make it through the ranks of formula racing. We are all very proud of what our drivers have achieved in the past ten years. It was great to see more than 20 former Formula BMW drivers here at the Grand Prix weekend in Formula 1, GP2 and GP3 and we shall certainly follow their progress.”

Although Harvey didn’t get the perfect start, as he was headed off the grid by Luciano Bacheta (GB/ DAMS), he soon made up for that by taking the lead into the first chicane. He never lost this and gradually pulled away from the pack behind who had a race long frenetic battle with slip streaming seeing the positions changing on a regular basis.

Once the lights went out Carlos Sainz (ES/Eurointernational) was on the move from 11th on the grid to eighth at the end of lap one. However, Christof von Grünigen (CH/Fortec Motorsports) was soon in the wars and retired on this first lap after going off and hitting the barrier. As the battle at the front continued on lap five George Katsinis (GR/Fortec Motorsports) and Marc Coleselli (AT/Eifelland Racing) collided, with the Austrian making it back to the pits while the Greek remained stuck out on the track.

On lap eight Harvey was leading by 2.4secs with the gaps behind him from Kvyat to Bacheta to Sainz to Frijns being 0.1secs, 0.5secs and 0.3secs. However, on lap nine after a clash of wheels between Bacheta and Sainz with Frijns having to take to the gravel to avoid hitting the DAMS car saw Kvyat break away and build a gap of 3.2secs to Bacheta. The battle continued to the very end with Frijns finally moving up to third on the penultimate lap as he wanted to celebrate his title win on the podium.

1st Round 16: Jack Harvey (GB/Fortec Motorsports): “I was going to do everything to win today, as coming second wasn’t really an option. I needed to win to keep that title hope alive, as you never know what might happen. I had a great car and have been part of a fantastic team. Obviously I have had a great season with seven wins and eight poles. We had some things go against us that were out of our control, and obviously getting knocked off yesterday when I was in second didn’t help. I am gutted not to win the title but feel we did everything we had to do and I have been on the podium 13 times out of the 16 races. However, the results show how competitive BMW is.”

2nd Round 16 and Top Rookie: Daniil Kvyat (RU/Eurointernational): “It was a great race because that was my first podium this year and I am happy. I think I was quite smart with my strategy. I had a lot of fights because of the slip streaming. I was catching Jack on the last laps and was very fast. I really wanted this as I crashed in race one and didn’t give up but pushed and pushed.”

3rd Round 16: Robin Frijns (NL/Josef Kaufmann Racing): “I was really taking it easy, especially on the first few laps. Perhaps this was a bit too much as everyone else was faster than me. I had a big fight with Luciano and tried to overtake him, which didn’t quite work out. Then Daniil came round, and I let him past and tried to get a good slip stream, and pushed him on the straight to try and get past Luciano. That didn’t work out and then Carlos came round and I let him go. Then Carlos and Luciano touched in the second chicane and I had to go round the outside in the gravel trap. I was lucky I came out and by the end of the race I finally overtook him and finished on the podium again.

“As for the championship, I don’t know just yet how I feel. When I am home I shall be thinking about it and then will feel I am champion, but I don’t at the moment feel this. I can’t quite believe it, especially after yesterday when Jack crashed and I won. That was something I didn’t expect. If you look at the whole year I crashed once and he crashed once, so it is quite equal. Anyway it was quite unlucky for him that he crashed yesterday and let me back in the championship again.”