Friday, 30th November 2007

Briton robbed of chance to take decent result from final.

Daniel McKenzie's chances of securing a top ten finish in the Formula BMW World Finals were ended by an unknown assailant and a suspension-damaging trip into the barriers at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo, but the Briton remained in upbeat mood after the event.

The Fortec driver was among the most consistent in the three heats, posting two eighths and a seventh to net 14th on the grid for the 22-lap main event, but lasted only five tours of the Spanish circuit before the close nature of the racing proved his undoing.

Advertisement

"The final didn't quite go plan as I ended up getting hit," he told Crash.net resignedly, "I don't know who it was - he came, hit me and I didn't get a chance to look! I went off and hit the barrier at quite a speed - I'd say 85-90mph, which is quite a hefty crash."

McKenzie had already begun to make up places in his Nortel Networks-backed car, and was confident of ending the international event in the top third of the field, but, with substantial damage to the right front corner, had no option but to watch the remainder of the race from the sidelines.

"It was going well up until then," he sighed, "I think I was twelfth, having started 14th, and was trying for a top ten, which is where I think I could have finished. But we can't always plan for these sort of things. That's racing. We had top tens [in the heats] and, while it could have been better in each of them, we're always looking to do better and better."

His consistency in the qualifying races - which proved the undoing of many pre-event favourites - may have contributed to McKenzie admitting a liking for the format, but he was well aware of the cost of the slightest problem.

"You only need to have one DNF or some sort of incident - just a little knock can lose quite a few places - and it's detrimental to where you start for the final," he acknowledged, "For example, my team-mate was doing okay, tenth and tenth or something like that, but he didn't make it to the next grid and he ended up starting 26th in the final.

Related Images

[Top of Article]