First win for Patrizi.

Taebaek, South Korea - Australian Michael Patrizi (Team Meritus), 21, scored his first Formula BMW Asia victory in Round 10 today after an eventful race. The BMW Junior took the chequered flag ahead of pole-sitter and team mate Charlie-Ro Charlez (MAS), 19, and karting ace Aaron Lim (MAS/Minardi Team Asia), who took his first podium on the season.

The win put to an end a frustrating series of misfortunes to hit Patrizi, who has been on the podium five times so far this season, but had yet to score a victory, and it has boosted his confidence considerably. For Charlez, it was slightly disappointing to have finished second again, having taken qualified top for both of the Korean rounds.

The results mean Charlez closes in on the joint leaders in the Driver Classification, shortening the gap to just nine points, while Patrizi replaces Ebrahim to go fourth after 10 rounds.

Patrizi was overjoyed to have bagged a win: "It was a good race. Now I want to win every race left of the season this year, and I'm confident we can do it!" he said.

The race itself was full of incidents - with no fewer than two red flags, and had a high rate of attrition with only six finishers. On a drying track, after the earlier torrential rain, pole-man Charlez got away clean however the red flag came out almost immediately after an incident involving several cars. At the re-start, Charlez again got away well with a spectacular battle between Lim and Ebrahim going on behind. Ebrahim broke clear and took the battle to the race leader, but Patrizi had roared into the first position when the red flag came out for the second time. This time the stoppage was caused when Endo Mitsunobu's car (JPN/Team Meritus) stopped at a critical point on the track.

At the second re-start, the order of the top three was Patrizi, Armaan and Charlez, and almost immediately the Safety Car pulled off, Charlez was up to second, with Lim closing in on Ebrahim fast. Patrizi held his lead and was followed home by Charlez, but it was Lim who took the final podium spot having got by Ebrahim but was unable to close the gap to the leaders by the chequered flag.

It was a miserable outing for the joint Driver Classification leaders going in to Round 10. Winner of Round 9, Hamed Al Fardan (BAH/Team Meritus), was disqualified for causing an avoidable accident at the first turn, bringing out the first red flag of the race, while fellow countryman Salman Al Khalifa (Team E-Rain) ended up in the gravel after the incident which stopped the race for the first time, gamely continued only to suffer a broken driveshaft.

Rounds 11 and 12 of Formula BMW Asia will be held at the Autopolis Circuit in Japan on September 3 and 4.

-bmw.asia-

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