World Final Bahrain

Lee to Represent America at Formula BMW World Final in Bahrain

SYOSSET, N.Y., Oct. 24 - Matt Lee of Syosset, N.Y. will be one of only three American drivers from the Formula BMW USA series at the Formula BMW World Final in Bahrain Dec. 13-16, and he's going as a member of a championship-winning team.

The Syosset High School junior will be the only driver from the Northeast at the World Final. He joins Reed Steven of Palo Alto, Calif. and Race Johnson of Portland, Ore. on the list of Americans from the Formula BMW USA series who are making the trip.

A total of 34 drivers from four regional series will go head-to-head at the first-annual, $60,000 event. The drivers competing at the World Final are culled from regional series conducted in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Asia. Fifteen nations will be represented in all.

In addition to prize money, the overall winner of the World Final will receive a test in a BMW Formula 1 car.

Four other Formula BMW USA drivers are also scheduled to participate, but they're from Canada, Australia and Italy. One other American (Jonathan Summerton of Kissimmee, Fla.) is also scheduled to be in Bahrain, but he's been competing in the German Formula BMW series this year.

Lee will represent his country as a member of the team that won the U.S. championship. After a successful test in Canada on Oct. 16, he has joined the Autotecnica Group for the World Final.
That team, headquartered in Toronto with a U.S. shop in Lake Park, Fla., guided Frenchman Richard Philippe of Key Bicayne, Fla. to the 2005 Formula BMW USA driver championship, winning three races and six poles in the 14-race series that concluded last month at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.

Autotecnica will field cars for both Lee and Robert Wickens of Etobicoke, Canada at the World Final. Lee's car will be sponsored in part by Credit Suisse.

His engineer will be Matthew Ferraro.

"Matt's driving is of the quality we're looking for to go to Bahrain and be competitive," said Enrico Diano, technical director, Autotecnica. "He did about 80 laps for us at Shannonville [a road course in Shannonville, Ontario, near Toronto] at the test. He did very well considering the cold weather. We weren't expecting to break any records, but looking at his driving style and aggressiveness, he's at a very good level to do well."

Diano said that Lee drove the championship-winning car at the test, but he'll drive his own Twin tooth Racing car in Bahrain. "We'll spend a week prepping his car before we go, and it'll be Autotecnica's preparation, set-up and at-track service at Bahrain," Diano noted.

Lee, 15, a champion go-kart driver who switched to formula car racing for the 2005 season, will turn 16 on Nov. 27.

"I'm very glad to have the opportunity to compete at the World Final in Bahrain, especially with a top team like Autotecnica," Lee said. "The Formula BMW USA series is extremely competitive, so I can only imagine the depth of the field when all the regions come together. I'll do my best to represent America in the best way possible, and I'll also do my best to represent myself and our team by learning as much as I can."

Lee Is Highest-Finishing American At Formula BMW World Final

SYOSSET, N.Y., Jan. 19 - Bahrain is more than 6,000 miles from Matt Lee's home in Syosset, N.Y., but the 16-year-old says that competing in the first annual Formula BMW World Final there recently was well worth the trip.

Lee was one of only three American drivers from the Formula BMW USA series and the only driver from the Northeast to compete in the World Final, which pitted drivers from 15 different countries in a head-to-head, $60,000 event. After advancing through a series of preliminary races Lee started 11th out of 35 drivers in the final race and finished 14th, the highest finish by an American.

With a test drive in a BMW Formula One car up for grabs the competition was a wild and wooly affair, and two crashes cost Lee a better position. One in the third heat sent him from fifth position to 17th. Then, in the final restart of the last race, he was struck from the rear and pushed back to 27th, but he still was able to work his way back up to 14th at the checkered.

The driver who crossed the finish line first in the final was later penalized and ended up third, and another driver in the top five lodged a protest about another matter, so the event was not without drama. Despite the rough action, Lee feels he is richer from the experience of competing against drivers from around the world.

"I picked up so much stuff that you can't pick up racing in America, because our rules are so tight," he said. "There were tons of crashes at the World Final. About eight people crashed out of the race; it was an accomplishment just to finish.

"The biggest difference was how the drivers from other countries block," he elaborated. "Passing is easier in America. But at the World Final you had to use your brain for every single move. Mistakes could really kill you."
It was a totally new environment both on and off the track. Although Lee didn't have much free time to sightsee, he said Bahrain is "pretty westernized."

He was especially impressed with the circuit, a new, state-of-the-art facility built to host Formula One events.

"It was the nicest racetrack I've ever seen," he said. "Everything was perfect. The maintenance, the layout, just everything about the facility was amazing."

Prior to going to Bahrain Lee had wondered if dust blowing across the desert would affect the track surface. "It was clean all race weekend, but two days later when we were testing there it was like driving in a sandstorm, so we were lucky it didn't affect the races," he said.

"BMW put on a good race," he concluded. "Everything was good. We could have used more fans, but this was the first year for the World Final, so hopefully it will build from here."

Now Lee will look forward to testing in preparation for the 2006 Formula BMW USA season opener. He and Twin tooth Racing teammate Robert Thorne of Sherman, Conn. will drive for the 2005 championship-winning team, the Autotecnica Group, this year.

The series' first official test is March 27-28 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. The series will consist of 14 races run as seven double-race weekends from May through September. The first two races will be held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio May 19-21. The highlights of the season are support races for both the United States Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix.

Source: Restart Communications, Inc.
(http://www.restartcommunications.com)