Filipino Formula BMW driver boosts stock in Singapore

The Philippines’ only BMW Formula Scholar and top international racer – 17-year-old Marlon Stockinger – drew raves from the international audience and the media in the support races conducted during the recent Formula One Grand Prix night in Singapore.

Stockinger is currently the top Filipino athlete in the world’s most expensive sport.

Filipino-Swiss Stockinger competed in two Formula BMW Pacific events which were the main support races to the F1 event viewed live by a global audience of over 500 million people.

Suffering dehydration and a bum stomach for two days due to food poisoning, Stockinger failed to finish the first race on Sept. 27.

He, however, came back to finish a strong seventh out of 17 top international young racers the next day. He clocked 24.56.723, while eventual winner Doru Sechelariu of Romania timed 24.32.563.

A Singapore media report cited Stockinger’s courage and grit in the race as “a particularly special feat as the Fil-Swiss driver continued to battle a bout of food poisoning – to him, even just racing was an achievement.”

Stockinger told the media after the race: “I was tired from the get-go but towards the end, it was hard to even hold the steering wheel and I was just happy to finish and really pleased to be in seventh.”

Even before the races had started, Stockinger grabbed Singapore headlines with his published photos alongside reigning Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela whom he met at the Marina Mandarin Hotel.

“You’re the first race driver I’ve ever met,” the thrilled beauty queen told the younger Stockinger, who has turned down invitations to join local showbiz, because his focus is to compete in the world’s most competitive Formula races from Europe, North and South Americas to the Far East.

Stockinger, Chris Wooton of Australia and Simon Moss of South Africa are the only young racers who won the prestigious Formula BMW Pacific scholarships this year.

Other BMW Formula scholars who later on became top F1 racers include Sebastian Vettel, Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Nico Rosberg.

Romanian Sechelariu, 15, won convincingly and led from start to flag. England’s Ollie Millroy came in second and Hong Kong’s Ross Jamison, third. Other entries came from Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Korea, United Arab Emirates, Japan, India, Colombia and South Africa.

Only 15 drivers have so far scored points in the leader board of the Formula BMW Pacific circuit. Stockinger, the only Philippine contender in the world, has registered one podium finish and is second to Moss in the Rookie Cup ladder. Stockinger ranks eighth with 67 points.

In December this year, all Formula BMW drivers from the three divisions of Europe, Americas and Pacific will converge in a one-off battle for the world championship in Mexico City. The winner will have a chance to be test driver for the BMW Sauber Formula One team whose world-famous racers include Nick Heidfeld of Germany and Robert Kubica of Poland. If Marlon Stockinger can make it in December, he is well on his way to become the Philippines’ finest ever and one of Asia’s elite few racers in the world’s ultimate motorsport event of Formula One Grand Prix.

Created in 2001, Formula BMW circuit is considered the world’s most competitive entry-level into big-time motorsport racing and was designed specifically to assist young karters in the transition to single-seat driving. Formula BMW uses the FB02 racing car, powered by a 140 horsepower BMW engine with a capacity of up to 230 kilometers per hour. The circuit is split into Formula BMW Europe, Americas and Pacific.

Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) which is motorsport’s world governing body. The F1 world championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets like the famous Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. The other closed city streets F1 is the only night-race ever and hosted by city-state Singapore.