Munro charges to victory in FMCS opener at Zhuhai

Photo: KCMG

KCMG’s James Munro became the first winner of the 2014 Formula Masters China series season in race one at Zhuhai.

The 17-year-old New Zealander started from second on the grid, but got the jump on teammate Matthew Swanepoel?when the lights went out and was never headed thereafter, winning by over five seconds.

Super License’s Yuja Motojima finished in second place, with Munro’s teammate?Dan Wells taking the final podium spot, dropping behind Motojima after encountering a gearbox problem.

Polesitter Swanepoel stalled at the start after a clutch overload and required a bump start to get away. He managed to climb back up to fifth from last, but was handed a 30-second time penalty for the start, which dropped him back to 12th.

Darma Hutomo picked up fourth place for Humpuss, ahead of Eurasia drivers Bo Yuan?and Ronald Wu.?Eurasia’s Matthew Solomon came home seventh, having starting from the pit lane after stalling on the formation lap due to a clutch issue. Akhil Rabindra, Bao Jin Long?and Senna Iriawan?made up the rest of the point scoring positions.

Munro will start from pole on race two, having set the fastest lap of the race en route to victory. He will line up ahead of Motojima and Wells.

Race results