News

23 Aug 09

Valencia Formula BMW : Jim Pla enters the victory circle !

Gravity driver Jim Pla kept the momentum going in the Spanish Grand Prix Formula BMW support series this weekend. After securing a place on the front row of Saturday’s grid, the young Frenchman held his own and brought home a double victory treat, achieving his maiden victory in the junior category !

It wasn’t only the temperatures that were hot in rounds 11 and 12 of the Formula BMW series, but it was also the competition on the track with drivers swapping places at the front and all the way down the field. On Saturday, poleman Michael Christensen led the pack at the end of the first lap but the Dane was not eligible for classification as he was competing under appeal after a technical infringement was found on his car. Christensen, Pla, Nasr and Frijns battled with rage and on several occasions the gap between  the leading cars as they came over the start/finish line was 0.0 seconds !

I made a good start but on the first lap I tried to overtake Michael Christensen and I went a little off the track. After that it was very difficult to keep in front as he was very fast. He overtook me in the middle of the race. After that I just pushed and pushed and am very happy with the result. The track was a bit dirty so it was difficult to keep the car on the line. On the last lap when my team manager told me I could win I tried to push and then when I saw Felipe Nasr make a mistake the pressure was off me as I was alone on the track."

The victorious teenager repeated his remarkable feat on Sunday, defeating Juncadella for a double treat victory which has clearly set the DAMS driver on a roll.

“As I said yesterday, in Hungary there was a breakthrough and I capitalized on that by finally performing well in qualifying. In this series, you can only achieve success if you start at the front of the grid. Both races were hard work but they were also great fun. We clearly turned the corner here and I’m now looking forward to Spa next weekend for another good result !

Jim Pla’s  performance didn’t go unnoticed with the F1 audience in Valencia and Dr. Mario Theissen, BMW’s Motorsport manager, was full of praise for the 16 year-old’s display of talent: “Jim raced today with great spirit and maturity. He is obviously a bright talent with a potential that can certainly take him way up the motor racing ladder !”