June 2007

CIRCUIT GILLES VILLENEUVE – ROUND 3 – RACE

Great Battle for the Lead Between Gutierrez and Morad, Major Obtains Best Finish Yet.

Montreal, Canada – June 9, 2007… Canadian Daniel Morad (Eurointernational) extended his overall points lead in the 2007 Formula BMW USA Championship with a win today in Round 3 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. Starting from the third spot on the grid the BMW Junior driver from Toronto finished 1.372 seconds ahead of polesitter Esteban Gutierrez (Autotecnica), of Monterrey, Mexico, in the 14-lap race.

Philip Major (Autotecnica), of Ottawa, finished fourth for his career-best finish to make it two Canadians in the top-five in their “home” race. American Robert Thorne (Team Apex Racing USA) finished fifth.
The race began under warm and sunny skies with Gutierrez holding the early lead after a well-executed standing start. Morad took over the lead on lap 3 and held it until the young Mexican re-passed in the last turn of lap eight. Morad passed him a final time in turn 2 and led for the last five laps of 2.709-mile circuit in front of a cheering Canadian Grand Prix crowd.

In the final laps Saavedra closed on Gutierrez, but ultimately had to settle for third. As Major consolidated his hold on fourth, farther back in the field Thorne got by Yannick Hofman (Eurointernational) for fifth.

The top-finishing Rookies were Gutierrez (P1), Eric Morrow (P8), Timothy Hollowell (P10), Jeffrey Petriello (P11) and Michael Vincec (P15).

“This is probably the biggest win of my career,” said a delighted Morad. “The top-three got a great start so I focused on catching Esteban. I built up a big lead the first time I passed him, but traffic allowed him to get by me. After I passed him the second time there was no one ahead of me and my car was working perfectly so I knew he would not catch me."
Gutierrez said, “Morad drove quite hard after he got by me. I was able to catch him, but he got back by me again. Everyone always wants to win, but I still had a lot of fun today. I am really learning with every lap and am becoming more consistent. Hopefully, the good results will continue to come.”

The Round 4 race is scheduled to start at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow.

Round 3 – Results (14 laps)

1 Daniel Morad EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:19.613 2 Esteban Gutierrez (R) Team Autotecnica 25:20.985 3 Sebastian Saavedra EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:22.839 4 Philip Major Team Autotecnica 25:34.946 5 Robert Thorne Team Apex Racing USA 25:42.843 6 Yannick Hofman EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:44.323 7 Jordan Dick JD Racing 25:51.269 8 Eric Morrow (R) Hearn Motorsports 25:53.543 9 Mike Hill Team KMA Racing 25:56.699 10 Timothy Hollowell (R) Team KMA Racing 25:58.504 11 Jeffrey Petriello (R) Team KMA Racing 25:58.690 12 Lindsey Adams Team Apex Racing USA 27:11.391* 13 Alexander Rossi Hearn Motorsports 5 Laps 14 Maxime Pelletier HBR Motorsports Team USA 7 Laps 15 Michael Vincec (R) Jensen Motorsport 11 Laps 16 Julia Landauer Team KMA Racing 14 Laps 17 Steven Guerrero HBR Motorsport Team USA 14 Laps 18 Ricardo Favoretto (R) HBR Motorsport Team USA DNS * Car 27 penalized 20 seconds for violation of 2007 IMSA code 5.6 (avoidable contact)

Championship points after 3 of 14 races:

1. Daniel Morad (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 130), 2. Esteban Gutierrez (Team Autotecnica, 122), 3. Jeffrey Petriello (Team KMA Racing, 90), 4. Robert Thorne (Team Apex Racing USA, 88), 5. Alexander Rossi (Hearn Motorsports, 87), 6. Sebastian Saavedra (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 77), 7. Yannick Hofman (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 70), 8. Ricardo Favoretto (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 64) 9. Steven Guerrero (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 63), 10. Philip Major (Team Autotecnica, 58), 11. Lindsey Adams (Team Apex Racing USA, 50), 11. Timothy Hollowell (Team KMA Racing, 50), 11. Eric Morrow (Hearn Motorsports, 50), 12. Jordan Dick (JD Racing, 48), 13. Maxime Pelletier (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 46), 14. Mike Hill (Team KMA Racing, 42), 15. Felipe Polehtto (Team Apex Racing, 28), 16. Matt Ferris (Gelles Racing, 26), 17. Keenan Schmitke (Gelles Racing, 24), 18. Julia Landauer (Team KMA Racing, 4)

Rookies: 1. Esteban Gutierrez (122), 2. Jeffrey Petriello (90), 3. Ricardo Favoretto (64) 4. Tim Hollowell (50), 4. Eric Morrow (50) 5. Keenan Schmitke (24)

Courtesy of formulabmwusa.com