Said Ebrahim, who has been tipped for a test with India's A1GP Team and who has aspirations to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Narain Karthikeyan: "I never thought I'd win this quickly. I've been getting more experience and have learned from the first three races. Today I put my head down and am much more confident. You can expect more from me, but I have to thank BMW for giving me this opportunity and JK Tyres my primary sponsors for having faith in me." Not only did Ebrahim credit the comprehensive Formula BMW Education and Coaching Programme with his extraordinary progress, but also some well-chosen words of advice from father Akbar, who was India's first ever Formula 3 driver.
In the race, Al Khalifa was slow off the start and lost his pole position advantage immediately, with fellow countryman Hamed Al Fardan (Team Meritus), starting from third, seizing the lead almost immediately. Ebrahim was up to second by the end of lap one ahead of Boughey, and began to close the gap on Al Fardan. Mid-way through the race, the Indian made a valiant effort to take the lead, but just couldn't quite pull it off.
Al Khalifa was on a charge to make up the places he lost off the start, setting the fastest lap of the race, and there was almost nothing between the top four. Ebrahim finally managed to grab the race lead on lap 16, while behind him Al Fardan was coming under pressure from a determined Boughey. The two battled it out over the next three laps until disaster struck for Al Fardan on the final lap of the race when the two came together taking him out of the contention and denying him a precious podium finish. That handed third to Al Khalifa, a position he later declared rightfully belonged to an inconsolable Al Fardan.

Aaron Lim (MAS/Minardi Team Asia) was the second Rookie finisher and a tremendous 4th overall in his second ever motor race, followed by fellow Malaysian Charlez. Ebrahim's win puts him on an equal 67 points with Charlez in the Rookie Cup standings, followed by An on 40.

Round 4 Results.

POS NO Driver/Nat Entrant Time Gap
1 17 *Armaan EBRAHIM + (IND) Team E-Rain 22:55.594
2 68 *Robert BOUGHEY (THA) Team Meritus 02.442
3 7 Salman Rashid AL KHALIFA (BAH) Team E-Rain 00.472
4 2 Aaron LIM + (MAS) Minardi Team 04.805
5 88 Charlie-Ro CHARLEZ + (MAS) Team Meritus 03.719
6 61 *AN Suk-Won + (KOR) Team E-Rain 03.881
7 29 *Michael Tony + PATRIZI (AUS) Team Meritus 10.052
8 4 Dejan de ZOYSA + (SRI) Minardi Team Asia 02.293
9 22 Jonathan CHAN (HKG) Minardi Team Asia 09.691
10 58 Mitsunobu ENDO (JPN) Team Meritus 02.458
11 9 *WANG Jian-Wei + (CHN) Ao's Racing Team 05.056
12 99 #SONG Ge (CHN) Ao's Racing Team 07.592
13 38 Hamed AL FARDAN (BAH) Team Meritus 1 lap
DNS 20 #CHIA On (HKG) Ao's Racing Team

* Scholarship driver
+ Rookie Cup
# Non-Series Registered

Fastest Lap: Salman Al Khalifa 01:07.730 143.51kph
Pole Position: Salman Al Khalifa 01:07.679 143.62kph

Formula BMW Asia Rookie Cup Results:
1. Ebrahim IND/Team E-Rain
2. Lim MAS/Minardi Team Asia
3. Charlez MAS Team Meritus
4. An KOR/Team E-Rain
5. Patrizi AUS/Team Meritus
6. de Zoysa SRI/Minardi Team Asia
7. Wang CHN/Ao's Racing Team
Formula BMW Asia Points Standings after Round 4: 1. Salman Al Khalifa 67
2. Armaan Ebrahim 50
3. Charlie-Ro Charlez 45
4. Robert Boughey 42
5. Hamed Al Fardan 26
6. Michael Patrizi 22
7. An Suk-Won 22
8. Aaron Lim 18
9. Wang Jian-Wei 11
10. Mitsunobu Endo 8
11. Dejan de Zoysa 8
12. Jonathan Chan 5


Rookie Cup Standings after Round 4:
1. Armaan Ebrahim 67
2. Charlie-Ro Charlez 67
3. An Suk-Won 50
4. Michael Patrizi 33
5. Wang Jian-Wei 28
6. Aaron Lim 27
7. Dejan de Zoysa 20

pprplue/bmw.asia

-www.press.bmw.com