Mechanical woes dog Sy’s Asian series

Filipino Tyson Sy of Minardi Team Asia dropped further down the championship standings of the Formula BMW Asia Series 2004 after falling prey to handling problems and an accident during the fourth leg of the series held recently at the Goldenport Circuit in Beijing.

The 16-year-old Sy, the "wonder boy" of Philippine motor sports, qualified fifth for the race and was one of only five drivers in the field of 13 to beat the one-minute five-second barrier despite driving with a defective right front tire.

In Round 7, Sy got off the line perfectly and moved up to fourth place in the leading group led by Hong Kong driver and series leader Marchy Lee, Korea’s You Kyong-Ouk and Hanss Lin Po-Heng of Chinese Taipei.

But in the fourth lap, Sy’s car developed oversteer, which got worse with each passing lap and caused the car to suddenly snap into a spin on Lap 11. This dropped him down to ninth place at the end of the race, which was won by Lee.

Minardi Team Asia, sponsored by San Miguel Corp., Bosch, Caltex Havoline Racing, Demvels Motorsports, Tiger Steel and A-Toy Body Kits, is the junior team of the Minardi F1 outfit.

Round 8 proved even worse for Sy as he was eliminated on the first lap after another car crashed into his. The incident occurred when Sy’s Minardi Team Asia teammate, Dado Peña, clipped the car of Mohammed Al Baharna on Turn 2 and sent it into the air and on top of Sy. Both Al Baharna and Sy were unhurt, while Peña went on to finish sixth in the race, which was won by Lin.

As a result, Sy has been relegated to seventh overall with 40 points in the series, which is still led by Lee with 150, followed by You with 92, Moroccan Mehdi Bennani with 80, Lin with 78 points, Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain with 52 and Filipino Dado Peña with 49.

"I’m really disappointed at the way things turned out for me this weekend," Sy said after the race. "My car was really difficult to drive during qualifying and the first race. Then the accident happened and that really ruined everything. All I can do now is put it all behind me and just look forward to the next leg."

Rounds 9 and 10 of Formula BMW Asia will be held at the Autopolis Circuit in Japan on Sept. 4-5.