Home Z - Archive seriesFormula Masters China Six wins on the trot for Rump after Sunday sweep in Kuala Lumpur

Six wins on the trot for Rump after Sunday sweep in Kuala Lumpur

by Aditya Banerjee
Martin Rump

Photo: Drew Gibson/FMCS

Estonian driver Martin Rump extended his championship lead with two commanding Sunday wins on the Kuala Lumpur street track in the fourth round of the 2015 Formula Masters China Series season.

The KCMG driver enjoyed comfortable lights-to-flag victories in both races, and with it, extended his race-winning streak to six. The battle for second in both races was nowhere near such a formality as that, though.

Race two saw Rump’s closest title-challenger Jake Parsons of Meritus GP beat series newcomer and 2013 ADAC Formel Masters champion Alessio Picariello in an enthralling battle. Having got the jump on Picariello off the line, Parsons proceeded to hold off the Belgian for the entire race, finishing just 0.02 seconds ahead.

Shota Kiyohara replicated his race one performance with another fourth-place finish, while Daniel Woodroof passed Nick Rowe to take fifth. Formula Renault Eurocup frontrunner Dennis Olsen grabbed seventh.

Sean Zheng, Sean Hudspeth and Matthew Swanepoel completed the top ten in race two.

Rump was peerless again in race three, but there was action behind him with Picariello being forced to retire early with a broken rear suspension. Olsen slipped into second at the start, but was forced to contend with Kiyohara, Parsons and Rowe for most of the race.

The Super License driver dropped to fifth at the flag, having had to serve a drive through penalty for a jump start. Olsen, Parsons and Rowe finished line astern in second, third and fourth.

Yuan Bo took his first points with KCMG with a solid drive to sixth, ahead of Swanepoel in seventh.

Hudspeth kept the charging Woodroof at bay, the Malaysian having started dead last after a crash in qualifying yesterday. Aidan Read completed a low-key weekend with a tenth-place finish.

Race two results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Martin Rump KCMG 14:47.343
2 Jake Parsons Meritus GP +4.628
3 Alessio Picariello Absolute Racing +4.838
4 Shota Kiyohara Super License +7.205
5 Daniel Woodroof Meritus GP +8.195
6 Nick Rowe KCMG +9.056
7 Dennis Olsen Absolute Racing +9.638
8 Sean Zheng KCMG +20.565
9 Sean Hudspeth Eurasia Motorsport +27.286
10 Matthew Swanepoel Arrows Racing +27.556
11 Jeffrey Ye KCMG +41.088
12 Hong Shi Jie Super License +1:31.900
13 Takashi Hata Super License +1 lap
14 Aidan Read Eurasia Motorsport +1 lap
15 William Lok Eurasia Motorsport +1 lap
Not classified
Kim Jeong Tae Eurasia Motorsport
Yuan Bo KCMG
Race three results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Martin Rump KCMG 23:36.811
2 Dennis Olsen Absolute Racing +4.081
3 Jake Parsons Meritus GP +4.420
4 Nick Rowe KCMG +4.697
5 Shota Kiyohara Super License +7.342
6 Yuan Bo KCMG +8.129
7 Matthew Swanepoel Arrows Racing +19.372
8 Sean Hudspeth Eurasia Motorsport +20.273
9 Daniel Woodroof Meritus GP +27.622
10 Aidan Read Eurasia Motorsport +22.953
11 Jeffrey Ye KCMG +26.896
12 Kim Jeong Tae Eurasia Motorsport +5 laps
Not classified
William Lok Eurasia Motorsport
Hong Shi Jie Super License
Takashi Hata Super License
Sean Zheng KCMG
Alessio Picariello Absolute Racing