Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 28th June 2007: The second event in the 2007 AFOS was held on the 5.9km Sepang F1 circuit on the 23/24th June supporting the Japanese Super GT’s. Two of the AFOS championships were present with Formula BMW Asia and Formula V6 Championships. Meritus came first and second in all four of the Formula BMW Asia races over the weekend, qualifying 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th and our 2006 Formula BMW Asia champion Earl Bamber qualified on pole for his first FV-6 race, ahead of Marchy Lee and his team mates James Winslow and Satrio Hermanto.
Rounds 1-4 of the Formula BMW Asia Championship were held on the Sepang short track in May and the Meritus drivers Jazeman Jaafar and James Grunwell won three of the four races with Indonesian driver from TARADTM won Round 2. Over last weekend AFOS was supporting the Japanese Super GT’s and Rounds 5-8 of the Formula BMW Asia Championship were featured over a very long, action-packed weekend. The Meritus drivers made their mark by setting the pace during the official testing on Wednesday, going on to qualify 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th with Zahir Ali qualifying 5th out of the 15-car field. James Grunwell was quickest on the newly resurfaced 5.43 GP circuit with a time of 2.11.538 followed by Jazeman Jaafar on a 2.11.712. The quickest of the BMW rookies were led by Meritus drivers Ross Jamison (3rd), David Zhu (4th) and Huzair Harun Rasip (6th).
Race 1 of four: James Grunwell was confused by the lights and had a poor start, allowing Jazeman to lead into the first corner, but James fought back from 6th position to take P3 by lap 5 behind his team mates who were leading the race, and set the fastest lap on his time attack (2.11.817). Jazeman Jaafar won Round 5 on Friday afternoon, with his team mates Ross Jamison coming in 2nd and James Grunwell holding on to his 3rd place. Although Jazeman is only 14 he is not counted as a rookie due to the fact that he competed in Formula Renault last year. However, Ross Jamison, Meritus’ Hong Kong driver took the trophy for 2nd place and the winning Rookie trophy and Meritus second Rookie and scholarship driver finished 8th after a poor start from P4 on the grid.
Race 2 of four: Meritus drivers went on to finish 1st 2nd and 3rd in round 6 but this time James Grunwell got the lights right and led home for the ten laps from team mates Jazeman Jaafar and Ross Jamison, Jamison taking the Rookie trophy again. Meritus Chinese Rookie finished 5th and Huzair had a poor run to 13th.
Race 3 of four: Meritus drivers Jazeman finished 1st and James Grunwell finished 2nd, Ross Jamison had a poor start and losing ground to South African Rookie Kyle Mitchel who finished 3rd. Ross recovered from an of-line excursion to finish 8th and David Zhu had a DNF due to black flag as a result of a false start.
Race 4 of four: James had another good start but over cooked his tyres and lost some pace for the first three laps allowing team mate Jazeman Jaafar to pull out a strong lead. James recovered his pace and when his tyre cleaned up he worked back to P2 and set a blistering new lap record of 2.10.637 of his way to catch Jazeman but in the end it was Jazeman who took the top slot on the podium followed by James Grunwell and SA Rookie Kyle Mitchel was 3rd also taking his second championship Rookie award.
Meritus drivers have now come 1st seven times from eight starts with Jazeman earning five win and James Grunwell two. James has to admit that he lost two chances to win due to a startline error in round 5 and not using his tyres correctly in round 8. Jazeman now leads the Drvers Championship and James has pulled himself back from fourth to 2nd place.
In addition to leading the 2007 Formula BMW Asia Driver series Meritus also leads the Team, Rookie and Nations Cup for Malaysia.
The next event takes place on the 23/24th July on the Sentul Circuit near Jakarta Indonesia.
Championship Stats:
Championship Points Tables after Round 8.
Driver Classification
1.Jazeman Jaafar (MAS/Team Meritus) 339 points; 2. James Grunwell (THA/Team Meritus) 274 points; 3. (tied) Ross Jamison (HKG/Team Meritus) and Kyle Mitchell (RSA/Eurasia Motorsport) 237 points; 5. Akhil Khushlani (IND/Eurasia Motorsport) 220 points; 6. Zahir Ali (INA/TARADTM) 205 points; 7. Sean McDonagh (USA/Team E-Rain) 178 points; 8. Johan Adzmi (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 165 points; 9. Imran Shaharom (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 162 points; 10. David Zhu (CHN/Team Meritus) 147 points; 11. Shohei Shiromoto (JPN/Team E-Rain) 140 points; 12. Melvin Moh (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 138; 13. Dennis Vollmair (GER/Engstler Racing) 126 points; 14. Cchiranjeev R. Bedi (IND/Engstler Bollywood racing) 92 points; 15. Huzair Harun (MAS/Team Meritus) 38 points.
Rookie Cup
1. (tied) Jamison and Mitchell 237; 3. Khushlani 220; 4. McDonagh 178; 5. Adzmi 165; 6. Shaharom 162; 7. Zhu 147; 8. Shiromoto 140; 9. Moh 138; 10. Vollmair 126; 11. R. Bedi 92; 12. Harun 38.
Nations Cup
1. Malaysia, 76; 2. Thailand, 59; 3. South Africa, 49; 4. Hong Kong, 47; 5. India, 42; 6. Indonesia, 40; 7. USA, 31; 8. China, 28; 9. Japan, 21; 10. Germany, 19.
Team Classification
1. Team Meritus 666; 2. Eurasia Motorsport, 457; 3. Team Holzer PFX, 383; 4. Team E-Rain, 318; 5. Team TARADTM, 202; 6. Engstler Motorsport, 166; 7. Engstler Bollywood Motorsport, 52.
Statistics:
Winners 2007: Jazeman Jaafar (5); James Grunwell (2); Zahir Ali (1)
Pole Positions: Jazeman Jaafar (5); Zahir Ali (3); James Grunwell (1)
Podiums: Jazeman Jaafar (7); James Grunwell (6); Zahir Ali (2); Kyle Mitchell (4); David Zhu (1); Ross Jamison (3); Johan Adzmi (1)
Rookie Cup Winners: Jamison (4); Mitchell (4)
THE MERITUS TEAM BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Meritus was originally created in 1980 and successfully operated teams in Europe in GT’s, Formula Vauxhall Lotus, Formula Opel Lotus, F3 and F3000, assisting the career development of European champions such as Anthony Reid (BTCC champion), Vincenzo Sospiri (European F3000 champion) and giving current F1 driver David Coulthard his first ‘slicks and wings’ experience in a formula car. It is now a wholly-owned Malaysian motorsport franchise, headed up by Firhat Yuri bin Dato Mokhzani and Peter Thompson. The Meritus team have operated in Asia since 1995 where we have won 23 motorsport titles to date including the 2003, 04, 05 and 06 Formula BMW Asia championships.
We have helped four of our Asian drivers achieve their career goals of driving an F1 car, including our 1996 champion Narain Karthikeyan (F1 Jordan and current Williams F1 test driver) and our 1999 champion Takuma Sato (F1 Jordan, BAR Honda and current Aguri Suzuka F1 driver).
Meritus operates teams in Formula BMW Asia, Formula V6 Asia and Formula Toyota New Zealand. The 2007 F.BMW/Asia championship has already signed-up 17 drivers (with a possible grid of up to 20 drivers participating in the series). Meritus driver line-ups are as follows:
1) Meritus Formula BMW Asia:
Name Car No Nationally More info at weblink
a) Jazeman Jaafar 33 Malaysian http://meritusracing.com/english/meritus/driver-details.php?DID=25&SID=26
b) James Grunwell 38 Thailand http://meritusracing.com/english/meritus/driver-details.php?DID=23&SID=26
c) Ross Jamison 88 Hong Kong http://meritusracing.com/english/meritus/driver-details.php?DID=24&SID=26d)
d) Huzair Haran 58 Malaysian http://meritusracing.com/english/meritus/driver-details.php?DID=26&SID=26
e) David Zhu 68 Chinese http://meritusracing.com/english/meritus/driver-details.php?DID=27&SID=26
f) Camilo Echevinarria78 Argentine
More information on the team and its drivers can be found on our website: www.meritusracing.com
Meritus Media contacts:
Peter Thompson - Team Principal +60 12 3027434 peter@meritusracing.com
Firhat Mokhzani - Team Manager +60 12 2953365 firhat@meritusracing.com
Karim Al Wadi - China Manager +86 13910119592 karim@meritusracing.com
Bernard Chin - Malaysian PR +60 12 2770000 yan@pc.jaring.my
Agnes Carlier - International PR +41 79 4554422 acarlier@capp.ch
Nikki Kemp - Asia Regional PR +852 90146109 nikkikemp@prplus.com.hk
FORMULA BMW ASIA BACKGROUND AND INFORMATION
Formula BMW is the world’s leading entry-level championship into Formula racing. In 2007 the series will be held in Germany, the UK, Asia and the USA. More than 80 up-and-coming drivers, some as young as 15-years old, will compete worldwide. Racing five times in support of the Formula One World Championship, Formula BMW offers a worldwide stage, training through a multifaceted Education and Coaching Programme, and BMW’s longstanding Junior Scholarship for deserving drivers.
The FB02 race car is propelled by a 140 bhp BMW engine up to 230km/h. The design exceeds the FIA safety requirements for its class, with the BMW Motorsport developed FORS Formula Rescue Race Seat, and the mandatory HANS safety system.
At the end of each season BMW-Motorsport host the Formula BMW World Final. Young racing drivers from the four regional Formula BMW series will compete against each other with the winner receiving a test drive with the BMW Sauber F1 Team.
Formula BMW Asia 2007 Entry List.
No. Driver Nat. Entrant
2 Sean MC DONAGH• USA Team E-Rain
5 Imran Zaharias Bin SHAHAROM• MAS Team Holzer PFX
7 Shohei SHIROMOTO*• JPN Team E-Rain
8 Zahir ALI INA Team TARADTM
11 Melvin MOH Chun-Ho• MAS Team Holzer PFX
27 Akhil KHUSHLANI*• IND Eurasia Motorsport
28 Kyle MITCHELL*• KSA Eurasia Motorsport
33 Jazeman JAAFAR MAS Team Meritus
37 Cchiranjeev R. BEDI• IND Engstler Bollywood Racing
38 James Grunwell THA Team Meritus
58 Huzair HURAN• MAS Team Meritus
68 David ZHU*• CHN Team Meritus
77 Johan Bin ADZMI• MAS Team Holzer PFX
78 Omer YOUNAS• PAK Team Meritus
88 Ross JAMISON*• HKG Team Meritus
99 Dennis VOLLMAIR• GER Engstler Bollywood Racing
*Scholarship driver
•Rookie Cup
# Non-Series Registered
Championship Points Tables after Round 8.
Driver Classification
1.Jazeman Jaafar (MAS/Team Meritus) 339 points; 2. James Grunwell (THA/Team Meritus) 274 points; 3. (tied) Ross Jamison (HKG/Team Meritus) and Kyle Mitchell (RSA/Eurasia Motorsport) 237 points; 5. Akhil Khushlani (IND/Eurasia Motorsport) 220 points; 6. Zahir Ali (INA/TARADTM) 205 points; 7. Sean McDonagh (USA/Team E-Rain) 178 points; 8. Johan Adzmi (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 165 points; 9. Imran Shaharom (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 162 points; 10. David Zhu (CHN/Team Meritus) 147 points; 11. Shohei Shiromoto (JPN/Team E-Rain) 140 points; 12. Melvin Moh (MAS/Team Holzer PFX) 138; 13. Dennis Vollmair (GER/Engstler Racing) 126 points; 14. Cchiranjeev R. Bedi (IND/Engstler Bollywood racing) 92 points; 15. Huzair Harun (MAS/Team Meritus) 38 points.
Rookie Cup
1. (tied) Jamison and Mitchell 237; 3. Khushlani 220; 4. McDonagh 178; 5. Adzmi 165; 6. Shaharom 162; 7. Zhu 147; 8. Shiromoto 140; 9. Moh 138; 10. Vollmair 126; 11. R. Bedi 92; 12. Harun 38.
Nations Cup
1. Malaysia, 76; 2. Thailand, 59; 3. South Africa, 49; 4. Hong Kong, 47; 5. India, 42; 6. Indonesia, 40; 7. USA, 31; 8. China, 28; 9. Japan, 21; 10. Germany, 19.
Team Classification
1. Team Meritus 666; 2. Eurasia Motorsport, 457; 3. Team Holzer PFX, 383; 4. Team E-Rain, 318; 5. Team TARADTM, 202; 6. Engstler Motorsport, 166; 7. Engstler Bollywood Motorsport, 52.
Statistics:
Winners 2007: Jazeman Jaafar (5); James Grunwell (2); Zahir Ali (1)
Pole Positions: Jazeman Jaafar (5); Zahir Ali (3); James Grunwell (1)
Podiums: Jazeman Jaafar (7); James Grunwell (6); Zahir Ali (2); Kyle Mitchell (4); David Zhu (1); Ross Jamison (3); Johan Adzmi (1)
Rookie Cup Winners: Jamison (4); Mitchell (4)
