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 Team
BRM Signed a world Karting competitor in an effort to find success
in the Asian Formula 3 championship, and proved that given the right
circumstances the team has the ability to succeed on the Asian scene.
Continuing
team BRM’s trend of selecting youngsters to drive their cars,
16 year old Indonesian Zahir Ali was signed to drive the team’s
Dallara F301 Speiss Opel for the sixth round of the Asian Formula
3 championship at the Sentul Circuit in Indonesia.
It
was Ali’s first look at both the Sentul Circuit and a Formula
3 racecar, and despite his inexperience the young driver performed
well over the course of the weekend showing the kind of potential
needed to be a star of the future.
Niggling
fuel pressure problems hindered the team’s build up to the
weekend, as the team found the car lost close to 2,000 RPM in each
gear, slowing it dramatically. With the problem fixed, Ali’s
qualifying session was interrupted with a spin, and times mysteriously
two seconds slower than what the team achieved during the Thursday
testing sessions.
The lack of pace disappeared overnight, as the Ali set impressive
times in the morning warm-up that gave the team confidence of a
Top 5 result going into the first race.
Race
one saw the 16 year old Indonesian cut his way through the field
early on, running a strong sixth before spinning on lap 7. Ali recovered
into a credible 9th place at the end of the race.
Race
two was a better show for Ali, despite struggling off the line and
dropping to second last at the end of the first lap. After that,
Zahir made up 6 positions in the remaining 11 laps to finish a strong
9th place.
Team
BRM engineer Craig Rundle was pleased with the weekend.
“For
a weekend of Firsts for both Zahir & BRM, we are extremely happy
with the performance of Zahir and the car,” Said Rundle. “Zahir
showed that with more seat time and experience in cars he will have
a long career in Motorsport.” He said.
The
car’s performance also impressed the team.
“We
were also extremely happy with the performance of the Spiess Opel
engine, against current spec TOM’s the Spiess proved its equal
in straight line speed and showed that engines other than Toyota
can compete in Asia.”
Team
BRM’s next shot at success in the Asian Formula 3 series will
be held at the Batangas Circuit in the Philippines. The team is
without a driver, but is confident of filling the seat.
Team
BRM Briefs..
As
a testament to the team’s desire for success in the Asian Series,
the team has purchased a 40-foot shipping container to ease the
team’s logistics, ease transportation issues and also to add
to the team’s professionalism.
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