Philipp Eng proved once and for all that he was the form man at the third Formula
BMW World Finals, taking a comfortable victory and earning himself a run-out in one of BMW Sauber’s
Formula One cars.
The Austrian had been quickest in qualifying and Superpole, and won two of his three heats, only missing out on a perfect score after being beaten off the line by Daniel Morad second time out. The final had the same two drivers lining up in the same grid slots but, this time, Eng made no mistake in his getaway.
The top four headed for the first corner as one, with Eng and Morad neck-and-neck and Josef Kral – second in each of his three outings – diving to the inside to prevent Jonathan Legris, the best of the British drivers, from gaining a place.
Despite 34 cars heading into the quick left-hander for the first time all weekend, all emerged unscathed, with Eng having established the slightest of advantages over his rivals. Kral continued to hold third, despite the attentions of Legris, while Marco Wittman had maintained his fifth place off the line.
The calm lasted until turn six, when chaos broke out in the midfield, delaying the otherwise impressive Esteban Gutierrez and reducing FBMW USA’s contingent by two as both Maxime Pelletier and Alexander Rossi fell by the wayside.
Tiago Geronimi was next to fall, retiring after one lap, but the biggest exit was reserved for Morad, who slowed on the backstretch on only the third lap. The Canadian had been keeping Eng honest in second, but succumbed to electrical failure on the leading Eurointernational entry, removing the leader’s only real opposition.
Kral and Legris duly moved up a place, but the Czech driver continued to struggle with understeer, having never got his Mucke Motorsport car working as well as team-mate Eng’s. Legris, meanwhile, had dropped away from his erstwhile UK series rival, and was being reeled in, not only by Wittmann, but also by the flying Jens Klingmann.
![Philipp Eng - Mucke Motorsport [pic credit: BMW Motorsport]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/399002.jpg)
