Ericsson sailed away from the pack to take two dominate victories in two very different races, providing himself with the perfect 17th birthday present!
Round 17 provided something new when a power cut caused the drivers to be called out of their cars on the grid for a briefing before the race commenced with only flag signals and no timing screens. After Championship contender Henry Arundel (Fortec Motorsport) barrel-rolled down the hill out of turn one, a brief safety-car period took away Ericsson’s lead, but he withstood the challenge from Henry Surtees (Carlin Motorsport) on the restart and pulled out a 6.9 second lead by the chequered flag, breaking the lap record with a time of 51.124 seconds. With Arundel no longer a threat, Josef Kral (Double R Racing) remained Ericsson’s sole challenger but he only finished fourth in the damp conditions, so things were set up perfectly for Ericsson as he headed into the final race of the season.
On a dry track he made his best start of the year in Round 18 and never looked under pressure as he cruised to victory, becoming the top 2007 race winner, and added the Championship title to his Rookie Cup honours.
“It was an amazing feeling, the whole weekend has been perfect, the team has done a brilliant job and I’m very happy,” said Ericsson. “I felt pressure as even though I was leading all the time I couldn’t make a mistake so I was concentrating 100 per cent all the time and I made it. Before the season we were looking to be top of the Rookie standings but then at the first weekend I won a race so we had to change what we were looking for but I was pushing really hard because I knew I had the pace to win it. I’m just so happy!”
With six wins to his name, Kral made Ericsson fight to the very final race of the year but didn’t quite have the pace to challenge him in Scotland, finishing fourth and third respectively.
“I think we’ve done a good job in both mine and the team’s first year,” Kral said, “It’s been a good year but very hard so second in the Championship is good, it’s just a shame I lost a lot of points on both visits to Brands Hatch!”
After crashing out Round 17 and finishing ninth in Round 18 Arundel dropped down the table but his consistent performance at the front means he still finishes the year third in the Championship.
Jonathan Legris (Motaworld Racing) and Jordan Williams (Team Loctite) avoided incidents and put in mature drives in a tricky race to join Ericsson on the podium for Round 17. Surtees made up for finishing ninth in Round 17 by pushing to the very end to join Ericsson and Kral on the final podium, finishing second in Round 18. “It was close at the start but Marcus got a gap and there was nothing I could do about it,” Surtees commented. “Next year will be my year!”
After a thrilling year of action in 2007, the Formula BMW UK Championship finally comes to an end after four fantastic seasons of racing. Formula BMW Europe kicks off in 2008 giving new drivers an even bigger platform to start their careers on.
This year’s youngsters all now head out on their various motorsport paths, but one name certain to become familiar is that of young Swede, Marcus Ericsson.
Results – Round 17 – 25 Laps = 31.78 miles.
Pos Driver Nat Team Time
1. Marcus Ericsson SWE (Fortec Motorsport) R 24:12.483
2. Jonathan Legris GB (Motaworld Racing) 24:19.278
3. Jordan Williams GB (Team Loctite) 24:19.921
4. Josef Kral CZ (Double R Racing) 24:20.580
5. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GB (Fortec Motorsport) R 24:22.028
6. Daniel McKenzie GB (Fortec Motorsport) 24:24.957
7. Sam Abay AUS (Team Loctite) 24:25.374
8. Kimiya Sato J (Nexa Racing) 24:28.474
9. Oliver Webb GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 24:31.665
10. Matt Bell GB (Motaworld Racing) R 24:35.750
11. Tom Gladdis GB (Master Motorsport) R 24:38.143
12. Valle Makela SF (Nexa Racing) 24:41.944
13. Henry Surtees GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 24:42.229
14. Michael Moyers GB (Hyperion Motorsport) 24:46.117
15. Adam Butler GB (Team BRD) R 24:53.492
Not classified:
Rupert Svendsen-Cook GB (Team Loctite) R 24 Laps
Anthony Comas F (Victory Engineering) 14 Laps
Carlos Huertas COL (Double R Racing) R 14 Laps
Doru Sechelariu ROM (Double R Racing) 12 Laps
Henry Arundel GB (Fortec Motorsport) 6 Laps
Fastest Lap:
Marcus Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) 51.124s, 89.51mph, 144.06kph
Pole Position – Marcus Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) 50.948s
Results – Round 18 – 22 Laps = 27.94 miles.
Pos Driver Nat Team Time
1. Marcus Ericsson SWE (Fortec Motorsport) R 18:58.408
2. Henry Surtees GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 19:03.921
3. Josef Kral CZ (Double R Racing) 19:05.977
4. Oliver Webb GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 19:13.281
5. Valle Makela SF (Nexa Racing) 19:16.418
6. Kimiya Sato J (Nexa Racing) 19:16.873
7. Jonathan Legris GB (Motaworld Racing) 19:19.107
8. Jordan Williams GB (Team Loctite) 19:22.830
9. Henry Arundel GB (Fortec Motorsport) 19:26.994
10. Anthony Comas F (Victory Engineering) 19:30.978
11. Matt Bell GB (Motaworld Racing) R 19:31.020
12. Sam Abay AUS (Team Loctite) 19:32.211
13. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GB (Fortec Motorsport) R 19:32.787
14. Daniel McKenzie GB (Fortec Motorsport) 19:33.613
15. Michael Moyers GB (Hyperion Motorsport) 19:35.196
16. Rupert Svendsen-Cook GB (Team Loctite) R 19:35.739
17. Doru Sechelariu ROM (Fortec Motorsport) 19:36.275
18. Carlos Huertas COL (Double R Racing) R 19:36.927
19. Tom Gladdis GB (Master Motorsport) R 19:45.658
20. Adam Butler GB (Team BRD) R 19:19.513
Fastest Lap:
Marcus Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) 51.206s, 89.37mph, 143.83kph
Pole Position – Marcus Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) 51.019s
R indicates driver eligible for Rookie Cup
Championship Points Tables*
Drivers
1. Ericsson (7 wins) 676, 2. Kral (6 wins) 636, 3. Arundel 595 (1 win), 4. Makela (1 win) 511, 5. Sato (1 win) 510, 6. Legris 480 (1 win), 7. Surtees 477 (1 win), 8. Abay 429, 9. Webb 408, 10. Quaife-Hobbs 405.
Rookies
1. Ericsson 676, 2. Surtees 477, 3. Webb 408, 4. Quaife-Hobbs 405, 5. Huertas 338, 6. Gladdis 266, 7. Svendsen-Cook 168, 8. Butler 104, 9. Bell 94, 10. Holland 90.
Teams
1. Fortec Motorsport 1361, 2. Nexa Racing 1033, 3. Double R Racing 977, 4. Carlin Motorsport 884, 5. Team Loctite 789, 6. Motaworld Racing 634, 7. Victory Engineering 202, 8. Team BRD 180, 9. Hyperion Motorsport 58, 10. Master Motorsport 42.
*results provisional pending final MSA appeal findings |
