Team KMA drivers Jeffrey Petriello, Julia Landauer and Mike Hill put on a great show during the second round of the 2007 Formula BMW USA Championship at Miller Motorsports Park. Even though the outcome was less than what the team was looking for, all three team drivers showed that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Jeffrey Petriello, who started the event in third place on the grid, got off to a great start but after the 4th lap, he started to experience an understeer problem, which causes the car not to want to turn into the corners. A post race inspection of the car by the Team KMA crew determined that the cause was a leaking rubber valve stem. Formula BMW rules do not allow metal stems, therefore the front right tire began to loose pressure and Petriello came to the finish line in sixth place with only 4 lbs of pressure left.
Mike Hill and Julia Landauer drove an excellent race with both getting off to a good start. Hill gained 3 places right behind fellow team member Julia Landauer, who started in 9th. The two team members had a good battle going, but unfortunately Landauer spun and was unable to continue. On the second to the last turn on the last lap, Mike was working on taking over 7th position when another driver made a very unprofessional and dangerous move, which flipped Mike’s car over several times, leaving his car demolished with both being unable to continue.
“The second race showed that all 3 drivers are well on their way to success, ” stated Team co-owner and manager Ingo Strackerjan. “All of them showed a high degree of confidence, professional attitudes and, regardless of what had happened, total focus on the tasks ahead of them - the Montreal GP in three weeks time. Jeffrey did an outstanding job, nursing the car to 6th place with an almost flat tire. Julia showed her fighting spirit - unfortunately with Mike! As there are no team orders in our team, we let our drivers go for whatever they believe is safe and beneficial to them and the team. These things can happen but it was unfortunate that Julia could not continue after that incident.
“Mike did a heroic drive! If only the other driver, now in his second year of driving in the Formula BMW Series, would learn to make clean passes, ” Strackerjan continued. “Mike would have ended up in P8 and without a scary airborne incident and a wrecked car. But some drivers, like the one that hit Mike, just don’t learn that the Formula BMW series is a training ground of partnerships between all participating drivers and such moves will not be beneficial to their career, be it in the short or long term. “
The 3rd and 4th round of the 2007 Formula BMW USA Championship will take place at the Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as part of the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix on June 8-10.
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