The Season Opener of the Formula BMW Pacific was held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on 4-5 April 2009 as a support race to the Formula 1TM Malaysian Grand Prix. Two Indian drivers Aditya Patel of Atlantic Racing Team and E-Rain Racing’s Akhil Khushlani took part during the weekend.

Going into the first two Rounds, Patel was a little concerned as he had absolutely no testing or practice. He dove straight into the event and his team decided to get going cautiously. Patel managed to qualify a decent 10th and 11th for Rounds 1 and 2 respectively.

Patel finished 9th for the first Round while in Round 2, he managed to steer clear of the race start mishap and put his head down to start climbing up in the ranks, overtaking his competitors one by one. He drove an absolutely impeccable race, going faster every lap and finished a creditable 6th. Patel is currently placed 7th in the overall classification with 5 points collected from the weekend.

Patel was not able to put in any pre-season practice and testing due to his lack of budget, but now hopes to be able to put in some serious time in his race craft in preparation for the next round which will once again be held at the Sepang International Circuit on 22-24 May 2009.