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NEWS Formula BMW - 2008

     

01.06.2008 Formula BMW Europe - Races 3 + 4 - Zolder

     

Double Victory for Esteban Gutiérrez in Zolder - 2nd and 3rd Place for Marco Wittmann - Kazeem Manzur with bad luck

     

Official Test: On Friday Morning in Zolder an official 3-hours free practise had taken place during the rounds 3 and 4 of this year´s Formula BMW Europe Championship. At the beginning of the practise the track was very wet and all drivers were out on wet tires. At that point all 3 Kaufmann Drivers had been within the Top 5 at all time. At the end of the session the track was completly dry and all drivers had been on track with slicks. Kazeem Manzur had a little moment and went off the track and damaged his car slighlty what forced him to stop in the pits. Esteban Gutiérrez and Marco Wittmann also showed a very strong performance on the dry track. With very fast laptimes both Kaufmann Drivers set the pace beeing 1st (Gutiérrez) and 2nd (Wittmann) at the end of the session.

 

Free Practise: In the free practise the things didn´t change much. Gutiérrez again set the fastest lap, Teammate Wittmann was 3rd fastet and young Kazeem Manzur again made a little mistake and had to stop at the pits, but still was 10th fastest.

 

Qualifying: In the Qualifying the Kaufmann Drivers could again repeat their performance of the free practise. Esteban Gutiérrez qualifyied on P2 and P3, Marco Wittmann in the other way beeing on P3 and P2. Kazeem Manzur unfortunately only qualified two times on P15.

 

Race 1: At the start for the first race Esteban Gutiérrez performed very well and was able to take over the lead in the second corner. After that the young 16 year old Mexican showed an incredible performance. Beeing more than half a second per lap quicker than the rest of the field he just pulled away in the front of the field. In the end he won his first race with an advance of more than 9 seconds. Teammate Marco Wittmann first dropped back one position at the start. After that he was able to gain back his third position and catching up to the second placed driver. In the end he wasn´t able to start an overtaking manouver and finished on the podium beeing 3rd. Kazeem Manzur had very bad luck. In the opening lap he was touched from a driver behind and was forced to pit. After a little repairing stopp he could join the race again but finished without any chance on P24.

 

Race 2: With a good start Esteban Gutiérrez overtook his Teammate Marco Wittmann. In the following lap both Kaufmann Drivers took over the lead of the field. Like in the first race both drivers could pull away at the front on the field. Gutiérrez and Wittmann had a very strong and fair race. With identical laptimes they both had a race without any mistakes and in the end they won with an advance of over 7 seconds, securing a Kaufmann Double Victory. Kazeem Manzur againg wasn´t very lucky. After a battle for positions he went a little off line and dropped back to a disappointing P23.

     
     
Pictures from Zolder