Free Practise:
In the free practise for the rounds 5 and 6 of this year´s Formula
BMW Europe Season 2008, which had been held on the traditional
British Circuit of Silverstone, the Kaufmann Drivers Gutiérrez and
Wittmann showed a strong performance from the beginning on. At the
end of practise Gutiérrez was 3rd and Wittmann 6th. Slightly
strugelling was Kazeem Manzur on P 24.
Qualifying:
In the Qualifying Esteban Gutiérrez showed a very strong performance
with taking both Pole Positions. Marco Wittmann qualified himself on
P 5 and P 4. After the qualifying session both drivers had been
punished with a penalty by the Stewards of the Meeting for "leaving
the track" at turn 1. The penalty of taking away the fastest
qualifying lap was quite hard for both drivers, specially because
both hadn´t had any advantage of their mistake when leaving the
track. In the end Gutiérrez was on P 2 for both races and Wittmann
on P 7 and P 9. Kazeem Manzur improved his performance from free
parctise a lot and qualified on P 14 and P 11.
Race 1:
Esteban Gutiérrez was able to take the lead in the first lap of the
race. Afterwards the young Mexican dominated the race. Lap after lap
he opened the gap to the following. After 13 laps Gutiérrez won his
thrid race of the season with an advance of over 8 secondes. Marco
Wittmann also showed a strong race. Strating P 7 he overtook some
drivers in front and was on P 4 in the final lap. A little mistake
in the Abbey Chikane caused a loss of one position and he finally
finished 5th. Kazeem Manzur showed the best race of this year so
far. After a good opening lap and some very good overtaking action
he made his way up to 10th position.
Race 2:
On Sunday Morning the race was started under difficult wet
conditions. Esteban Gutiérrez, like the day before, was able to
catch the lead of the fiel in the opening lap of the race. Later on,
he once again dominated the race. With constant race laps which had
been 1 second faster than the rest of the field he took his 4th win
in a row with over ten seconds advantage over the second placed
driver. Starting from P 9 Marco Wittmann also had a strong race.
Like his teammate, beeing very fast under wet conditions, he made
his up to a strong 5th position. In the end he was running out of
time to catch any more driver and finally he finished on 5th
position. Kazeem Manzur as well had a strong race. Beeing 9th after
the opening lap he was pushed of the track by another driver and
dropped back to 15th. With smart driving and good overtaking action
he was able finally finish on 11th. |