With a Victory and a second place finish, Gabby Chaves takes the points lead again

07/18/2009

Lime Rock, CT - Gabby Chaves won the day’s first event in dramatic fashion, as he swiped the lead from Team Autotecnica’s Gianmarco Raimondo on a late restart, then held off a fierce last-corner charge from the Canadian to win by 0.032 seconds. Raimondo got a great run coming off the final corner of the 1.53-mile Lime Rock track, drafted right to the gearbox of Chaves’ EuroInternational machine before coming up half a car-length short in the drag race to the checkered flag.

“I caught a gap on the restart and was able to get inside and take the lead, then was able to build it a little,” Chaves recalled. “Gianmarco came at me hard at the end, but I was able to hold him off. This was a great weekend for me, as we moved another step closer to our goal of winning the Formula BMW Americas championship!”

Raimondo settled for his second runner-up finish of the year, while Kovacic showed a glimpse of things to come by snaring the third spot ahead of a season-best fourth-place run by Dominican Daniel Vela. The win for Chaves, coupled with an eighth-place finish by EuroInternational’s Giancarlo Vilarinho, moved Chaves into the points lead.

The second race was a fierce battle, run under sunny skies and the hottest temperatures of the weekend. Alex Ellis controlled the race from the pole for the first 13 laps, while Kovacic steadily made his way through the field. The Aussie moved to fourth on lap five, was third by lap seven, and dashed by Chaves for second after just one more orbit of the Lime Rock Park circuit. He then set his sights on Ellis, chasing him for nearly three full laps, before an Ellis spin promoted Kovacic to the lead. Kovacic held off strong challenges from Chaves and Raimondo over the next two laps, but was equal to the task, stretching his lead to a full second before a Robert Garcia crash brought out the yellow flag under which the race would eventually end.

“I can’t even explain how happy I am about getting my first win,” grinned Kovacic. “I don’t know what our Team Apex guys did to this car but it was really fast. I tried to keep out of trouble, find good spots to make my passes and drive hard.”

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