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Wednesday, 26 July 2006 |
Australian teenager Sam Abay displayed incredible character during rounds 9, 10 & 11 of the Formula BMW Asia series at Sentul in Indonesia, under the shadow of severe food poisoning. Early in the week the youngster once again showed his ability to learn circuits quickly, topping two of the three test sessions on Thursday, and the first of two practice sessions on Friday before becoming violently ill. Despite been considerably off colour, a determined Abay put in a fantastic performance in qualifying on Saturday morning, missing out on pole position by a mere nine-hundredths of a second, to claim second spot on the grid.
RACE 1 (15 Laps)
A poor start saw Abay drop to third at the beginning of the race behind pole sitter Earl Bamber and Daniel Ricciardo. Abay stayed glued to the back of Ricciardo for the next four laps, before making a decisive move to claim second place as they raced into turn one. It was in that order the three combatants would stay, with Abay claiming his 9th Formula BMW podium finish from 9 race starts. "Under the circumstances, I'm delighted with the result." said Abay. "Given how ill I've been, I'm happy I've been able to race. At the same time I know I'm certainly not the only one out there suffering, as Daniel (Ricciardo), Dominic (Storey) and Aaron (Lim) have also been affected."
RACE 2 (15 Laps)
Race two saw Abay make a solid launch from second on the grid, tucking in behind Bamber for the first turn. Bamber and Abay then showed their pace pulling out a convincing gap over the rest of the field. At the finish line it was Bamber over 3 seconds ahead of the Abay with a further 7 seconds back to third placed Briton James Grunwell. "We were able to make a good start this time and both Earl and I had good pace, so we were able to stretch a margin over the pack. It's another solid result, and hopefully we can fight for the win in race 3."
RACE 3 (15 Laps)
A carbon copy of the race two start saw Abay slot in behind Bamber at turn one in the final race of the weekend. For the next 6 laps Abay shadowed the New Zealander until Bamber made an error into a chicane. Abay was quick to capitalise, passing Bamber on the outside of the following turn. With Bamber heading to pits a lap later with a mechanical problem, Abay was left to fend off James Grunwell to the line - Abay taking the chequered flag and extending his championship lead.
"We've had everything turned upside down this weekend, with my engineer Patrick getting sick, as well as two of our mechanics and myself, but my E-Rain team are just the most amazing bunch of guys and there was no way we were going to give any less than 110%." stated the Australian. "Given the set-backs, in many ways this weekend's results are every bit as satisfying as our 3 wins in Goldenport."
Abay has now extended his championship lead to 33 points as the series heads to Thailand on September 1 - 3.
Following the tragedy of the recent Tsunami in Indonesia, Formula BMW Asia announced that the drivers had decided to donate all prize money from the weekend to charities involved in assisting those affected. BMW Indonesia is also contributing to the fund on behalf of the series.
"We were all saddened by the tragedy that happened in Indonesia earlier this week and all of us were really keen to do what we could to help." said Abay.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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