My Qi-Meritus.Mahara hopeful for points in race two

Race One: Earl Bamber (19) - 11th; Marco Bonanomi (18) DNF

Earl finished 11th after an exciting start while his teammate stalled on the grid and was pushed to the pit lane to restart putting him down in 23rd. He fought hard to come back and was the fastest driver for 80 per cent of the race, clocking two fast laps however on the last lap his engine failed, causing him to retire.

Earl Bamber commented, "My start allowed me to make up a few positions. I established a reasonable pace and improved a lot. I feel I lost a bit in the pit stop on lap 14 and I rejoined in 14th place instead of 12th or higher. The car was good in the second half, though I had some trouble with brakes towards the end: sometimes I was sliding sideways  and they were smoking. Overall, I am pleased with my times and am feeling more confident for the second race."

Marco Bonanomi commented, "I am so disappointed to have been one of the cars stalling on the grid. This cost me a good race as I had to start from the pits. The car was very fast after the pit stop and overall it felt good and well balanced during the whole race. I had a pretty lonely race, but had good pace which is at least encouraging for race two."

Peter Thompson, team founder commented, "It's a pity that Marco had a problem at the start as he set a pace that otherwise would have gotten him on the podium. Of course, I am disappointed that neither of our two drivers finished in the points today. Now we must investigate what happened with Marco's engine and plan for a stronger second race. With Earl we are on the right track and will work on a strong strategy to come into the points tomorrow."

Raad S. Abduljawad, team chairman, My Qi-Meritus.Mahara commented, "Small mistakes cost us a lot today. But the potential is there and we should have a better result for tomorrow's second race."