PAC: Atlantic Racing Team Macau summary

Macau GP is definitely the Crown Jewel of Asian racing -- for the third time Atlantic Racing Team competed there -- and this time for the last time in Formula BMW Pacific as the series ended but a new series is already in place. FBMW ended with biggest ever car count in the Series Macau GP history!

Ingo Strackerjan, team manager explains;

"We had three cars registered this time with Jesse Dixon, our FBMW Junior driver, Jimmy Antunes -- again coming all the way from Switzerland and a new driver, William Cheung from Hongkong. By the way -- one of the nicest drivers we have met so far!

The plan -- to be on the podium or at least close to it. As everybody knows Macau is not a forgiving track; we managed going through practice and qualifying without any damage; decent placing and entered the race with high hope for Jimmy who started in 8th position. Just after the warm-up lap he told us that he had clutch problems but all was too late and we selected to start him from pitlane -- in 29th position. A sad sight to see this 16 year old sitting there, giving virtually up a chance for being on the podium. A small judgment mistake on my part robbed him of this chance. But as a true fighter he carried on and ended in a respectable 12th place out of 28 drivers with much more experience!

Jesse fulfilled his promise to go for a good place, not bringing the car back on the hook! It was a hard season for this Australian Youngster -- virtually no testing, being on a constant search for sponsors -- with success -- and doing most of it with the help of his brother Jack. Thank's to both of you -- even in hard times you fulfilled your commitments to the team and your sponsors -- well done! All the best for 2011!

And then there was William -- never been in a FBMW -- and going to Macau with it -- incredible! William -- you are the man! Nice steady running, staying out of trouble -- we took many deep breaths when seeing you in the middle of a pile up -- but you stayed clear of it and made even more positions! Great having met you and your family -- come back anytime!

Macau GP will be a milestone for many of our drivers -- and it will never be forgotten. And so was FBMW Pacific, their organizers, technical people, the excellent support they gave the teams, the scruteneering -- fair and unbiased; what else is there to say? Our team certainly hopes that the new series will maintain this fabulous momentum, with the right people working in it!

We also like to thank our sponsor BRANSON for supporting the drivers and our efforts in 2010 and we have confirmation that they will continue to do so in 2011

Next for Atlantic Racing Team is testing new drivers for 2011 in Sepang, Malaysia and in southern Europe.

-source: atlanticracingteam.com