RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

Josh Webster has expressed his delight at being named as one of the Motor Sport Association’s Team UK drivers for the 2012 season – he is part of an elite group of seven drivers who will be mentored by former Formula One driver and Le Mans 24 Hour winner David Brabham.

Webster, along with the other talented circuit and rally drivers were revealed on Friday 13 January at the NEC in Birmingham, during the annual Autosport International Show.

Stowmarket based Webster is the youngest of the group at seventeen years of age – this being recognition of the progress he has made in his two years of competing in the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship, having graduated from karting at the beginning of the 2010 campaign, and he went on to be named the Racing Steps Foundation MSA Young Driver of the Year at the end of 2011.

In the six round ‘Finals Series’ for the Protyre Formula Renault 2.0 UK category, he finished third overall out of thirty drivers, including a number of experienced European entrants.

“I am honoured to be included in the 2012 Team UK squad and I look forward to the first training workshops,” said Webster on his inclusion to the MSA Team UK programme.

“I’ll make the most of this fantastic opportunity to learn under the expert guidance of National Race Coach David Brabham and Performance Director Robert Reid. I know it will be hard work, but I’m grateful for my place in the team and will work hard to justify my selection.”

Away from the track, Webster is currently studying for his A-Levels – he recently graduated from the MSA Academy’s Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence and with his place in the MSA Team UK, Webster has become the first AASE to be invited into the national MSA squad.

The Team UK programme is run by the Brabham Performance Clinic on behalf of the MSA and the programme is designed to give those drivers placed on the scheme the very best in terms of driver coaching and fitness as well nutritional guidance – the selected drivers also get advanced psychology techniques to ensure that they have the best possible approach to their racing programme.

Webster will benefit from exclusive visits to Formula One teams’ headquarters while his current training regime will be supplemented with access to some of the most sophisticated simulator equipment available.

His plans for 2012 hang in the balance – he hopes to graduate into the CERTINA Formula Renault UK Championship but needs additional sponsors to join the grid. His current sponsors, Nine Telecom Group and Admiral Managed Networks are remaining on board and he hopes that his invitation into the Team UK programme will enable him to secure the full budget for the CERTINA Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship.

Covering races on the opposite side of the world is not usually in Racing Exposure’s scope, but there isn’t much real motor racing going on at the moment.   There is the Dubai 24 hour race this weekend, the Dakar Rally is almost over, and there is the TRS NZ series which is worth mentioning further.

The Car

New Zealand’s Toyota Racing Series could easily be described as “Formula Renault Down Under”.     Like Formula Renault BARC, the cars are designed and constructed by Tatuus in Italy, but instead of a RenaultSport Clio engine behind the driver, there is a Toyota 1.8 litre engine fitted.  This engine is the 2ZZ-GE engine which in road form is the 190hp engine found in the Celica 190 T-Sport amongst other models, and some versions of the Lotus Elise.    In race spec it develops 215hp.    They run on a 85% ethanol biofuel.

Its no wonder that many established and up and coming Formula Renault drivers from the UK and Europe take the trip to New Zealand to prepare for their own championship season.

The first test session and races will be held at Teretonga Park circuit, which is the world’s most southerly FIA recognised race track.

Challenge laid down for leading local drivers as international drivers quickly on the pace

Testing and track familiarisation sessions at Invercargill’s Teretonga Park race circuit have yielded some promising lap times for the international and local drivers in this year’s Toyota Racing Series.

In three one-hour familiarisation test sessions at Teretonga on Wednesday the international drivers were quickly on the pace, throwing down a strong challenge to the New Zealand contingent.

Drivers were quickly on the pace during their first session on the fast and demanding 2.67 km track near Invercargill, despite the session being one intended to give new drivers a chance to learn both their cars and the circuit.  In the second and third sessions later that day the top drivers were consistently posting lap times under the existing 2008 race lap record of 54.611.

With a record number of overseas racing drivers competing this year, the series has a 20-strong entry that includes no less than 15 internationals.  Most of the drivers in this year’s series are new to both TRS and to the five New Zealand tracks they will race on in the next five weeks.  All but one of the international drivers are new to the series, while among the New Zealand drivers at Teretonga only Southland racer Damon Leitch, Nick Cassidy and Jono Lester have prior experience of the agile wings and slicks single-seater Toyota Tatuus race cars used for the series.

It was the overseas drivers – in the process of learning both an unfamiliar track and a new car – who set the hottest pace in the first sessions.

Each of the three test sessions were topped by a different overseas driver, with Austrian Lucas Auer going fastest in the first session; British driver Josh Hill (son of 1996 Formula One World Champion Damon Hill) fastest in the second session and Dutch racer Hannes van Asseldonk comfortably fastest in the third.  The time set by van Asseldonk was more than a second faster than the current race lap record for the track.

Lucas Auer’s fastest time in the first session was followed by an off early in the second session at the fast turn two, his car going off the outside of the corner and running through the gravel trap to nudge the nose of his car into the safety tyre barrier.  Auer said he braked a little late for the corner and then was unable to hold the car on the track.

With only minimal damage to the car, he was back on track in the third session to be third fastest overall.

Hill’s fastest time in session 2 came late in the 30 minute track outing.  He posted a 54.445 ahead of Puerto Rico’s Félix Serrallés on 54.847.

In the third session, Hannes van Asseldonk also put in his fastest lap of 53.983 late in the piece, the time set on his 34^th lap.  Serrallés was once more second fastest, improving to a 54.419.

Invercargill’s Damon Leitch was fifth fastest and quickest of the New Zealanders with a 54.568.

On Thursday, van Asseldonk continued his strong form, posting fastest times in the first and second sessions and once more breaking into the high 54-second bracket.  Rain affects lap times for the first session, but as the sun emerged and the track dried times once more fell to mid-low 55 seconds.

Also quick were Josh Hill, Serrallés, young Austrian Lucas Auer and Jordan King as the field

Nick Cassidy was quickest of the Kiwis on 55.614 ahead of Damon Leitch 55.640 and Jono Lester 55.759.

A spin for van Asseldonk set back his charge to the top of the timesheets after he had traded top times with Auer, then Auer closed the third and final 30 minute session with fastest lap, but then went off at the fast left hand turn at the end of the start-finish straight, lightly damaging his car’s nose cone and bending his front suspension.

New Zealand’s International Toyota Racing Series starts at Invercargill this weekend, with qualifying and one race on Saturday and the headline race, the Spirit of a Nation cup, held over 20 laps on Sunday along with a further 16-lap race.  The series runs over five consecutive weekends, ending at the New Zealand Grand Prix at Manfeild in mid-February 2012.

2012 International Toyota Racing Series

Round 1: 12-15 January              Teretonga Park, Invercargill Spirit of a Nation Cup

Round 2: 19-22 January              Timaru Raceway, Timaru Timaru Herald Trophy

Round 3: 26-29 January              Taupo Motorsport Park Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy

Round 4: 2-5 February                 Hampton Downs, Auckland New Zealand Motor Cup

Round 5: 9-12 February               Manfeild, Feilding New Zealand Grand Prix (Dan Higgins Trophy and Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup)

Toyota Racing Series “better than ever before” says Amon

Kiwi Formula 1 legend Chris Amon believes New Zealand is set for a “brilliant” summer season of International single seater motor racing with the largest, and youngest field of drivers ever.

“The 2012 Toyota Racing Series has attracted a record field which is great news for New Zealand motorsport. This rivals the very best years of the old Tasman series,” enthused Amon.

Racing in New Zealand’s annual single seater championship, the Toyota Racing Series, the first FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) 2012 International Calendar event of the New Year starts at Teretonga in Invercargill on January 14-15 and continues through to the New Zealand Grand Prix finale at Manfeild on February 11-12. Teretonga is the southernmost race track in the world.

In five consecutive event weekends the drivers will cover in excess of 2,500 kms of testing and racing on tracks from the deep South to the North of New Zealand.

Drivers are competing to win the coveted Chris Amon Trophy, awarded to the overall winner of the 15-race season. The Amon Trophy has only ever been won by a Kiwi driver since the series inception in 2005 but the new more compact format opens up the likelihood of an International name being added to the list of champions.

The latest addition,16-year-old Russian driver Dmitry Suranovich brings the total number of overseas drivers entered to 15 which is a record number for the TRS.  It may also be the highest number of international race drivers ever to contest the New Zealand summer series, eclipsing even the grids at the high profile Tasman Cup races of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

As with several of the other young drivers who are entered, Minsk-based teenager Suranovich is coming down under to gain valuable experience; racing against an intriguing mix of emerging talent from a wide range of series throughout the world. Suranovich is a karting graduate who has competed in the Italian Formula Abarth series in 2011.

“Some of these youngsters may not be well known now, but I think we have some very promising up and coming young drivers who we will undoubtedly feature in higher level categories of the sport in the years ahead,” said Amon.

He recalled previous overseas drivers that have progressed to international fame after competing in New Zealand – notably Keke Rosberg who went on to win a Formula One World Championship and Indycar Champions Danny Sullivan and Bobby Rahal.

Amon raced for Ferrari in Formula 1 between 1967 and 1969, and says he is feeling both nostalgic and delighted that Raffaele Marciello is coming to New Zealand to race in TRS. The 16-year-old Italian’s career is currently being managed by the Ferrari Driver Academy.

“For the Toyota Racing management team to get the Ferrari lad down here is brilliant. Imagine what this might lead to in the future…” said Amon.

“All these overseas drivers coming here provides a good incentive for few more Kiwis to become involved in TRS. We need to be looking right now for the next generation of drivers coming through from New Zealand karting.”

Chris Amon has been mentoring Auckland-based Jono Lester during his build up to his first full season in TRS, and thinks the 22 year old could be a strong contender, particularly in the early rounds.

“At 22 Jono will be almost the old man of the 2012 series but he has a good head on his shoulders and may benefit from being more consistent than some of the teenagers.”

The average age of the 2012 TRS grid is 19, the oldest competitor being 24 year old Italian woman driver Michela Cerruti.

The Teams Trophy also looks like providing intense competition with all of the teams running a combination of New Zealand and international drivers.

Giles Motorsport is back to defend the trophy it has held for the past three seasons but will face stiff competition from all of the other teams; ETEC Motorsport, M2 Competition and Victory Motor Racing teams all have drivers who are expected to challenge for front running positions throughout the series.

Twelve different countries will be represented on the grid in 2012

Here is the entry list for the Formula Renault Winter Finals, held at Snetterton this coming weekend, and Rockingham the weekend after.   The races will include entrants from Formula Renault UK, Formula Renault BARC and the Formula Renault Eurocup teams.

2 Daniil Kyvat, Koiranen
3 Ocon Esteban, Koiranen
4 Hans Villemi, Koiranen
5 John Bryant-Meisner, Koiranen
6 Martin Rump, Koiranen
7 Stefan Wackerbauer, Koiranen
8 Geoff Uhrhane, Atech Reid GP
9 Melville McKee, Interwetten
11 Dennis Van Der Laar, Van Amersfoort Racing
12 Joao Sergio Camara, Van Amersfoort Racing
14 Josh Hill, Fortec
16 Dan Wells, Atech Reid GP
17 Nick McBride, Manor Competition
18 Hector Hurst, Manor Competition
19 Dan De Zille, Fortec
21 Josh Webster, Mark Burdett Motorsport
22 Tomasz Krzeminski, Mark Burdett Motorsport
24 Felix Serralles, Fortec
25 Victor Jiminez, Hillspeed
26 Archie Hamilton, Fortec
27 Ivan Taranov, Antel
28 Chirag Marhotra, Antel
29 Ed Jones, Fortec
31 Joe Kibbler, Hillspeed
33 Sean Walkinshaw, Hillspeed
34 Thomas Jäger, Fortec
39 Shahaan Engineer, Fortec
41 Jake Dennis, Fortec
42 Jordan King, Manor
44 Oliver Rowland, Fortec
66 James Fletcher, MGR
99 TBA, MGR

Pic: Norwich Photo

19-year-old Howard Fuller will race on the Formula 1 support bill this weekend (28/29/30 October) when he competes in the MRF Delhi Championship at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

The Surrey speedster has been invited to take part in the event along with a host of other highly rated opposition, including Formula Renault 2.0 UK series regulars Alice Powell and Jordan King. Fresh from his team leading season at Hillspeed in the Formula Renault BARC series, Fuller will also face familiar opposition in the shape of his Indian team-mate Zaamin Jaffer. Eight Indian drivers are expected to take on the international field of young talent at the prestigious event, with a total of 20 drivers set to compete.

Fuller ran well during pre-event testing, despite the car being completely new to him. The drivers will be piloting identical Van Diemen single-seater chassis that boasts a 1.6 litre Ford Duratec Engine. It is effectively a Formula Ford car with ‘slicks and wings’ and has been rigorously tested by a host of professional drivers, including India’s biggest F1 star Narain Karthikeyan. With the double-header of MRF Formula 1600 races being billed as the support event to the Grand Prix itself, Fuller has a real chance to impress the F1 paddock on the 5.1 kilometre Buddh International Circuit (BIC).

“It’s an honour to be racing in India and to be a part of the country’s first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix,” said Fuller. “It is a really strong line up in terms of talent so I am looking forward to the challenge very much. It is just a shootout for the two races over the weekend and all the cars will be identical, which is something I haven’t been able to enjoy so far this season. It is just a really exciting prospect and will be a great way to close out the 2011 season – I just can’t wait to get out on the track and to get a taste of the Formula 1 paddock too.”

Fuller left for India in fine form having produced two fantastic drives in the Formula Renault BARC series finale at Silverstone last time out. The teenager blasted by a total of 13 cars in the two races, claiming an event high of eighth place in the weekend opener. Despite it being Fuller’s maiden season in the series, he finished as the highest placed Hillspeed team driver in the championship.

*ENDS*   Words: 402

Note to editors – Captioned photographs attached are free for editorial use

Captions:

Fuller to embark on Indian adventure

19-year-old to race on F1 support bill

Formula Ford front runner Dan de Zille will be teaming up with Fortec Motorsport to do the Renault Winter Series this November.

After three years of Formula Ford and some very impressive Sports-car racing results, automotive engineering student Dan has his sights set on testing his skills at a higher level.

Richard Dutton of Fortec commented” The Winter Series is a great opportunity for drivers to get a feel for the Renault Championships and learn to qualify and start”

The Winter series events start the first weekend of November with an intensive weekend of four races at Snetterton followed by an event at Rockingham the following weekend with a further 2 races. Dan will also have the benefit of three days solid testing leading up to the first round at Snetterton so there will be lots of track time to get used to the new car.

“The main difference with the car is getting used to the down-force, the Formula Ford cars have no downforce and the Formula Renault cars have both slicks and wings.”

“Since Dan was a front runner in Formula Ford, I see no reason why he should not do just as well in Formula Renault, there will be plenty of data to look at and he will have strong teammates to compare against, he will also have the same technician working alongside him throughout whom he can trust and rely on”

The first event will be at Snetterton on 5th November. After his seat fitting last week Dan commented “I am very excited about the Renault Winter Series, Fortec have a good reputation and I am looking forward to the new challenge, new faces and learning all about the new car, testing my driving ability on a higher level”

Rising star Matt Mason produced a superb performance over the latest rounds of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship, the MGR Motorsport driver stunning his rivals at the high-speed Thruxton circuit in Hampshire to take second place in Round Ten, Mason’s maiden podium finish in his first season of car-racing.

Last time out at Croft, Matt and his MGR Motorsport team struggled throughout, finding themselves much further off the pace than expected. Despite this though, Matt, from Southwell, Nottingham, was in relatively confident mood heading to Thruxton, after performing well at the high-speed Hampshire circuit at a test day in pre-season.

A strong run in Friday testing, which put Matt unofficially second in the times, meant all eyes were on the 19 year old heading into morning qualifying, but he didn’t let the pressure get to him and a superb performance saw him secure third on the grid, with his second best time putting him second for race two, his finest performance in qualifying this season and the best showing by any rookie all campaign.

The opening race saw Mason drop to fifth early on, but a superb drive saw him work his way back to third and challenging for second, comfortably racing and beating the top drivers in the championship. There was to be slight disappointment however when on the last racing lap before a red flag, a steering problem forced Mason off track, dropping him to a fourth place finish, still a superb result for the Care Fertility-supported driver though.

Mason, who will be at Mansfield Renault this weekend (10/11 September) showing off his Formula Renault car, said: “We had a few issues at Croft the last race, we were really far off the pace and we still don’t really know why. They had a big strip down of the cars, ironed out some issues and we’ve come here and been pretty fast since first testing on Friday.

“I started the race in third place and got an alright start, but dropped back to fifth by about lap three, then came back up to third. I was catching second when the steering rack broke on the car and I went off. One of the teeth on the little pinions inside had dislodged and got jammed, so going into turn three I literally couldn’t turn the steering wheel and had to use all my strength to get it to suddenly snap back. I missed the corner as I couldn’t turn into it, so I dropped back to fourth and the race was then red flagged, which is probably a good thing as that little bit could have got stuck again around Goodwood, one of the fastest corners in the country.”

Despite feeling frustrated at just missing out on the podium in race one, the race left Mason full of confidence for the day’s second race, the Nottingham Urology Group-backed driver feeling he could challenge for a maiden win. A great getaway saw Matt challenge the leader around the outside at the first bend, but he had to back off and slot into second, from which point the leader Dino Zamparelli, the championship leader who had a clear advantage over all his rivals all meeting, was able to stay ahead. Matt matched his lap times through the middle part of the race though as he ran in a clear and comfortable second, which he converted to take a memorable first ever car racing podium, becoming the first rookie in the championship this season to do so.

Mason, who dedicates his podium result to family friend Jeff Leadley, who passed away at Thruxton last year while racing Ferrari’s, commented: “Absolutely fantastic! It’s really good. I got a really good start and was alongside the leader at the start, but in all fairness I gave him a bit of room because he was slightly ahead and then I just stuck behind him the rest of the race. He pulled away quite a lot in the first three laps, but then mid race we were doing similar lap times and towards the end my times dropped off a bit.

“He’s an experienced driver and was hitting qualifying sort of laps, while I was trying to keep calm and have a good finish really. I still think I’ve got quite a lot to learn, because I’m still a rookie at the end of the day, but I’m really happy with it. I’d say we haven’t had the greatest luck this season, we haven’t been able to fund the testing that lots of drivers on the grid have, so I think for the amount of mileage I’ve done in the car, I’m really impressed with the result and it has been a real turning point in the year, which is just what we needed. It’s brilliant.”

The two great results means Mason moves up from tenth to seventh in the standings, meaning he is now able to challenge for a top five championship finish at the final meeting of the season at Silverstone, which sees the series join the prestigious British Touring Car Championship package. This means Mason will be racing in front of over 30,000 spectators, with one of his races to be televised live on ITV4 on Sunday 16 October at around 1.45pm.

Hector Hurst left the latest rounds of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship once again clutching the positives from a tough meeting, this time at his local circuit Thruxton. For the third meeting in a row, Scorpio Motorsport’s Hurst was on the receiving end of contact from a rival, taking him out of the first race and leaving him on the back foot for the second.

After a frustrating weekend last time out at Croft, Hurst headed to the high-speed Hampshire circuit hopeful of a strong performance to get his season back on track. Pre-event testing didn’t go entirely to plan, with the 19 year old strangely off the pace, but he really got his head down and raised his game in qualifying,

Hurst said: “In qualifying, my lap times were much improved from how we were in testing and we were very pleased with where we. The whole grid was extremely close apart from the pole-man who had a clear advantage this weekend, so it was quite strong to be eighth and sixth after how we’d been the day before.”

This put Hurst in confident mood heading into the day’s first race, but it was barely three corners old when Hurst was suddenly hit in the side while braking for Campbell, the momentum from which sent him into another car, before he finally came to rest in the tyre wall.

A dejected Hurst commented: “Positives from the first race, I got a great start off the line, we’ve really cracked out procedure and was lining up to gain a few positions.  Then someone behind put a wheel on the grass and took me out before turn three, so that was the end of the race, leaving one positive and a lot of points lost.”

This marked the third time this season that Hurst has been unceremoniously removed from a promising position in a race. Just like at Oulton Park and Croft, the latter of which saw him spun round on the final lap when he was set for a season’s best fourth place, Hurst was the innocent party and had his race ruined by a rival’s error.

Hurst reflected: “In a cost-effective but quite competitive championship like this, I suppose you have the people at the front who are using it to try and move up the ladder, then people in the middle and the back who are just there for maybe a bit of club racing and some fun. It’s not anywhere near as serious for them and when they make mistakes they take people out at the front, which happens more than it should in a more professional grid. I suppose we’ve just had some outrageously bad luck also, I think it’s that simple.”

The incident caused substantial damage to Hector’s Formula Renault 2.0 machine, but a sensational effort by his Scorpio Motorsport team defied the odds and got Hurst back out on track for the second race, leaving him once again full of praise for his team.

Hurst commented: “There was so much damage to the car after the first race, I was hit from behind, which then resulted in more contact to the front and the side with the wall. The guys just did such an incredible job to get it turned around before the second race, with 100% the correct set up. Full marks to them, I didn’t think I’d get out but they did a truly fantastic job. Scorpio Motorsport keeping up their great reputation.”

This gave Hurst a chance to make amends for the earlier disappointment with a strong run in the second encounter. With a mis-match of tyres on his car, the Bolde Estates Ltd-backed driver struggled for grip and pace early on, but once the tyres were bedded in, he showed some great speed and racecraft to fight back to an eighth place finish.

Hector recalled: “For the second race we had to put four different tyres on from two different batches, as the first set we had on were completely written off through safety, because they had holes and tears in them. For the first few laps they were off and were different at every corner I drove, so we did lose four positions which wasn’t great. But then I had a quite exciting race, there was good driving from the drivers I around, for a change, and I had some really enjoyable scraps right through the race and came back in eighth with some very competitive lap times.”

Despite the positive finish in race two, it was once again a case of what might have been for Hurst, with another race meeting ending up with Hector not getting the results his performance deserved after contact from a rival.

Hurst commented: “It’s stupid really, it’s happened three times too many. There’s not really any excuse, once you can say ‘okay don’t worry, it’s a racing incident’, but when it’s happened for a third time, you just say ‘come on guys, use your eyes a little bit.’ It’s that simple, but I won’t get hung up on it, will always take the positives away and whenever we get the chance we show that we are very quick.”

Hector now has one more race meeting left of the season, with the finale taking place around the Silverstone National circuit. The weekend has added significance as the series joins the British Touring Car Championship package, meaning Hector will be competing in front of over 30,000 fans trackside, with thousands more watching one of his races live on ITV4 on Sunday 16^th October.

Hurst concluded: “Silverstone’s going to be a great race meeting, it’s going to be really good for the fans and the sponsors because of the categories racing there. It’s a great track to drive, I really like it and it’s where we’ve had our best pace on all of the circuits, so we should be able to use all of the speed we’ve had all season effectively.”

The next round of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship was at Thruxton. With qualifying in the morning and two races in the afternoon it`s a busy day for the teams and drivers. The Friday practice was a really hot day with tempertures in the high 20`s but for Saturday qualifying and race the temperature had dropped, with fine rain in the air. Qualifying ended with Dino Zamparelli  a clear half second ahead of second place James Thorp and Matt Mason in third.

The first race of the day was full of drama. A first lap crash at Campbell between Victor Jimenez, Hector Hurst and Archie Hamilton saw all three drivers race end, the rest of the field carried on with Dino Zamperelli pulling a clear lead. But with three quarters of the race done a second crash between Jack Dex and Zaamin Jaffer on the exit of Club with the two cars ending up by the side of the pit wall, the safey car came out but with the two cars in a dangerous place for the marshalls to recover and race was stopped and Dino Zamparelli was declared the winner, with Matt Mason in second and Josh Webster in third.

The second race of the day and Dino Zamparelli was on pole again. The start of the race saw Steve Durrant having a brilliant start and managed to get pass Josh Wesbter and into third from seventh on the grid and held that place for a number of laps, with a clean fight between the two till Josh Webster got past to retake third. The race finished with no crashes and the same order as the first.

With the results from Saturday Dino Zamparelli keeps ahead in the championship.

Results below the gallery.

Report and photographs by Tim Surman.

Qualifying Race 1:

Pos:      No:      Name:                                      Entry:                           Time:

1          8          Dino Zamparelli                        Antel Motorsport          1:12.490

2          38        James Thorp                             Mtechlite                      1:13.086

3          14        Matt Mason                             MGR Motorsport         1:13.123

4          5          Josh Webster                            Fortec Motorsport        1:13.335

5          77        Kourosh M Khani                    Scorpio Motorsport      1:13.360

6          18        Steven Durrant             RPD Motorsport          1:13.660

7          2          Archie Hamilton                        Fortec Motorsport        1:13.700

8          35        Hector Hurst                            Scorpio Motorsport      1:13.708

9          25        Victor Jimenez              Fortec Motorsport        1:13.805

10        43        David Wagner                          MGR Motorsport         1:13.852

11        7          Callum Bowyer             Antel Motorsport          1:13.877

12        27        Jack Dex                                  SWB Motorsport         1:13.935

13        1          Howard Fuller                          Hillspeed                      1:13.970

14        9          Zaamin Jaffer                            Hillspeed                      1:13.971

15        55        Ivan Taranov                            Team Daytona              1:14.169

16        29        Rauol Owens                            SWB Motorsport         1:14.962

17        33        Sean Walkinshaw                     Hillspeed                      1:14.974

18        17        Tom Walker                             JWA Racing                  1:15.453

RACE 5 – GRID

Pos:      No:      Name:

1          8          Dino Zamparelli

2          14        Matt Mason

3          5          Josh Webster

4          36        James Thorp

5          77        Kourosh M Khani

6          35        Hector Hurst

7          18        Steven Durrant

8          2          Archie Hamilton

9          43        David Wagner

10        27        Jack Dex

11        7          Callum Bowyer

12        25        Victor Jimenez

13        9          Zaamin Jaffer

14        1          Howard Fuller

15        55        Ivan Taranov

16        33        Sean Walkinshaw

17        29        Rauol Owens

18        17        Tom Walker

RACE 5 – Classification

Pos:      No:      Name:                                      Gap:

1          8          Dino Zamparelli

2          14        Matt Mason                             3.957

3          5          Josh Webster                            8.047

4          18        Steven  Durrant             12.381

5          77        Kourosh M Khani                    15.388

6          2          Archie Hamilton                        17.150

7          36        James Thorp                             18.567

8          35        Hector Hurst                            19.427

9          1          Howard Fuller                          20.141

10        9          Zaamin Jaffer                            20.849

11        27        Jack Dex                                  27.129

12        55        Ivan Taranov                            40.479

13        17        Tom Walker                             40.479

14        33        Sean Walkinshaw                     40.938

DNF    7          Callum Bower

DNF    43        David Wagner

DNF    29        Rauol Owens

Fastest lap:

Dino Zamparelli            1:13.518          115.36mph

Formula Renault is considering whether to introduce a class B and to re-introduce the older Tatuus designed cars, possibly designated Formula Renault Junior.

The Tatuus FR2000 was produced for 10 years (2000-2010) with minor updates to engine, electronics and bodywork and is the most successful modern era single seater with almost 1000 examples produced and run in many championships around the world.    It is comparatively easy to update an older car to a later specification and spare parts are readily available.

For the 2010 season, Renault switched suppliers and the new car was designed by Barazi-Epsilon.   Whilst the 2010 car was more advanced, the move has not been entirely popular, with complaints over the large increases in spare parts prices and shortages of vital components.   Grid numbers have dropped in the UK with typically 14 cars entering.

Introducing a Class B category would allow graduates from the Formula Renault BARC championship to enter the senior series without having to invest in a brand new car and the learning period which follows.   Formula Renault BARC uses the Tatuus cars but BARC racers are restricted to three sets of gear ratios – short, medium and long and their cars are fitted with a mandatory air restrictor which reduces power.

Whilst some commentators are thinking this could be the death knell for the BARC series, I don’t think that it would, and it would certainly give the TOCA series a much needed boost.  Currently BARC rules which also limit testing prior to the event would mean that someone couldn’t contest both series, unless the BARC championship visited a particular circuit first.

Pic: Norwich Photo

Bowyer edging closer to the podium with best car racing weekend yet

Car racing rookie Callum Bowyer reckons a podium finish between now and the end of the season is not out of the question in the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship, after producing a superb performance in what was incontestably his finest outing to-date at Croft.

Having graduated into single-seaters this year off the back of an ultra-successful national karting career, Callum took a giant leap forward in the third round of Formula Renault BARC’s 2011 campaign at Oulton Park – leaving him bullish about his prospects as the action resumed with round four at Croft in North Yorkshire.

“We had driven at Croft in an official pre-season test back in March, and it had gone really well,” revealed the talented young Peterborough speed demon. “It was my first time in the car in dry conditions and on slick tyres, and I had lapped sixth-quickest, which was really encouraging. I felt I had learned a lot since then and gained much more experience, so I was looking to have a strong weekend.

“I really like the track; it’s got everything – long straights, twisty and technical corners and some fast corners as well…a real mixture – and I just wanted to keep on improving and build upon my Oulton Park result. We’d shown really good pace at Oulton, which had done my confidence a lot of good and given me quite a big boost.”

That pace was palpably maintained during practice at Croft, as Callum lapped an eye-catching fourth-quickest on Thursday and then sixth on Saturday morning – or fourth-fastest again of the drivers not to elect to bolt on a set of fresh rubber – barely half-a-second adrift of the outright benchmark. Heading into qualifying, it was all looking extremely promising.

“We’ve tended to have better race pace than qualifying pace so far this year, so to be fourth and sixth-quickest over a single lap was really good,” affirmed the Antel Motorsport star. “Unfortunately, in qualifying, a number of factors conspired against us and when it really mattered, it all fell away from us a little bit.

“With the tyre performance at Croft, there was such a small window to actually put a lap together – and I think we missed that window. In the first session, I got traffic on my fastest lap, so that was out of our hands, which was a bit frustrating, and I think we took the best out of our tyres in that session which meant we struggled in the second one as well. The wind had changed direction since Friday, too, and it was slightly warmer, neither of which seemed to help us. It was just a really disappointing outcome overall.”

The upshot was an unrepresentative 11^th place on the starting grid for race one and 12^th for race two amongst the 21 competitors, but undeterred and unbowed, during the opening encounter, Callum went on to demonstrate the virtue of grittily refusing to give in.

“We knew we were on the back foot tyre-wise going into the races, but we changed a few things on the car which seemed to improve it and made it gentler on them,” he explained. “That enabled the tyres to last that little bit longer and allowed me to fight my way through.

“I knew our race pace would be good because it has been all season, and since there was so little to choose between a lot of the drivers around me on the grid in terms of lap times – literally just thousandths of a second – I simply concentrated on picking them off one-by-one. In the first race, I got a good start and managed to dodge an incident ahead when a few cars went off. I ended the opening lap in eighth and then tried to establish a decent rhythm.

“To be honest, it was quite a boring race from where I was sitting, but I gained steadily on the group of cars in front and on the last lap, the driver I was applying pressure upon went off. Then into the Complex, there was a coming-together between two more drivers and I was able to pass one of them. I had been expecting to finish seventh, so fifth was really quite a bonus!”

A bonus it might have been, but thoroughly well-deserved it was, too, as Callum ably demonstrated his raw pace and potential with the fourth-quickest lap time – better than the two drivers who took the chequered flag directly ahead of him – to turn his troubled qualifying around in style and match his best result in cars thus far.

Whilst conceding that ‘it would have been nice to have gained the positions by overtaking the others on the track’, the Gunthorpe ace nonetheless rightly acknowledged that ‘you’ve got to be there when it counts to be able to grab the opportunities when they arise’ – and he subsequently entered race two with his tail up.

“I got another really good start,” he recalled, “and over the first few laps, I focussed on trying to keep my tyres in good condition, because with Croft being such an abrasive circuit, we knew they would drop off over the second half of the race. I just had to persevere for a while, but then after a handful of laps we really got going, and I caught and passed a few drivers in front, pulling away afterwards each time.

“It’s so hard to overtake in these cars; you really have to think hard about where and how you are going to do it, line the moves up and carefully plan everything out. I got up to eighth place, but then in the closing stages there was quite a big gap to the pack in front, so I just made sure I brought it safely home in that position.”

With nobody ahead retiring or hitting problems that he might have been able to take advantage of, it was indeed a result achieved entirely on merit – and one that crowned Callum’s best weekend in car racing yet. Making a special point of thanking Antel Motorsport, Brett Parris, Julian Parris, Calum McGregor and Stuart Croft for the key role they all played in that, there is no denying that in recent weeks, the 17-year-old’s improvement has been significant and his progress meteoric.

Having vaulted from 15^th in the championship standings pre-Croft to 12^th now – tallying the fifth-highest points total over the course of the weekend and impressively outscoring each of the seven drivers immediately above him in the table – the former British Karting Champion is clearly fired-up to keep his momentum going next time out at Thruxton, the most fearsomely fast circuit in the whole of the UK.

“Everything feels like it’s coming together a bit more,” Callum mused in conclusion, “and that’s reflected in the results we’re getting. I feel a lot more comfortable in the car now; we’ve still got a little way to go, but we’ve made massive progress in that respect. We certainly took another step forward at Croft – we’ve done so every time, to be fair – and that’s definitely a good sign.

“Obviously, I’d like to be right up at the front at Thruxton, but the main goal really has to be to just keep on improving. Every time we go out, we’re getting closer-and-closer to the outright pace, and hopefully between now and the end of the season, we might even be able to get a podium. With a good qualifying performance and just a little bit of luck, I don’t think that’s out-of-reach.”

Callum is seeking sponsorship for the remainder of the 2011 campaign; if you are interested in supporting him, please contact Tracey Bowyer on 01733 701099 or 07960 400731, or e-mail: callumkf3@hotmail.com

Photos: Jakob Ebrey

Hector Hurst is looking forward to some good results in the second half of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship, starting at Croft this weekend. The Scorpio Motorsport driver has used the series’ eight week break to prepare mentally and physically for the remaining six races of the season and is feeling confident of some strong performances.

The season has had six races so far and it started well for Hector in the opening rounds at Donington Park, with a fifth place finish in his debut car race, before he recovered from two drive through penalties to take twelfth in the next race. The next meeting at Brands Hatch produced his first retirement of the year, caused by a startline incident, before a solid run to thirteenth in Round Four. Last time out at Oulton Park, a strong opening race saw him up to fourth early on, before contact from a rival forced him to retire again, which he followed up with fourteenth in Round Six.

Reflecting on the season so far, Hector said: “I think that we started off well because there wasn’t that much pressure. We’d been quick in testing and then we just went there to do the best we could, there was no comparison to anybody else. We had a good result the first race, then the next two races we didn’t get at all what we wanted.

“This was for a number of reasons, mainly because I hadn’t quite worked out the best way to prepare pre-qualifying and how to go about the qualifying sessions. Also the start of the races, in the first couple, gave us a bit of trouble. Since then I’ve been working with a really great mind coach and combined with Kieren [Clark] my driver coach, I’m ironing out most of those issues and putting all the bits of the puzzle together, so we can really use all the speed we have and stop having results that should have been, but weren’t.

“There were a few results that we should have done better, but that was then, that was the past. We’ve learnt from everything, taken the positives and the negatives there’s not much point in worrying about.”

The series has been out of action since the 28^th May, a long break that has allowed Hurst to clear his head and get ready for the remaining races. The Lymington-based race commented: “I think a lot of people improve over the winter when you have a lengthy break, so to have a big break in the middle of the year, while it can be quite frustrating, it can be quite good because you can have that chance to think over everything and come back fresh again.”

While the break has proved beneficial in some respects, the eight week lull has also left Hector frustrated, as he has been unable to get out on circuit in his Formula Renault car. Instead Hector, who turned 19 this week, has been keeping busy keeping fit and building up sponsorship packages.

Hurst commented: “It’s quite tricky in the summer as any sportsman would want to be out practising their particular field as much as possible, so it can be quite tough in Motorsport because running is very limited, especially in this championship. Therefore I’ve been doing lots of cycling, rowing and free weights, everything I’ve been doing normally to keep fit, but just harder and harder to bring me to a new level fitness wise.

“Also as I say, I’ve been working with my mind coach Gloria, who’s been really excellent, while we’ve also been using the time to go out and talk to as many contacts and have as many meetings as possible, trying to put packages together for the winter and next year, which is obviously very important to ensure we’re racing competitively next year.”

The driver from Hampshire did get some track time during the break however, when he made a one off appearance in the Mazda MX5 Championship to help him improve his racing license. He explains: “The series organisers have given all the BARC drivers a great opportunity by allowing us to enter the Masters by Formula 3 event in August. To be eligible for this you needed the full license and as this is my first year I didn’t have that, so I chose to do some cheap racing which I secured through some contacts to help get it.

“I did one round of the Mazda MX5 Championship at Oulton Park, which was actually huge amounts of fun, so thanks to Finish Line Racing for the great work they put in for that one off weekend. I helped them develop their car, because they hadn’t had much running with the Mazda before that, so it was good to help out an up and coming team. The first race I climbed up onto the podium, then in the dry we weren’t so fast, but overall it was a good weekend though.”

Looking ahead to the remaining six races of the season, Hector was quick not to make predictions about where he might perform well, concluding: “Previously I think I might have had a bit of a flaw where I’ve predicted results based on how fast we’ve been at those particular tracks, putting unnecessary pressure on myself. So I’m not going to say where we should be, but some good results are definitely on the cards. There is no reason why we can ‘t be running at the front as long as all the bits of the puzzle stay together.”

Iranian driver Khani shines at Oulton Park to take Maiden win.

The 2011 season has already underway; Oulton Park was the next destination for Khani, who last month had double podium finishes in both BARC Formula Renault as well as a guest appearance in the Monoposto 2000 where he shined in a Formula Renault against faster F3 cars and finishing in 2nd place.

Kourosh Khani was the undoubted star of round six, taking his maiden category victory and entering the record books as the first Iranian in history to win in Formula Renault. Having taken his first BARC Formula Renault podium in round four at Brands Hatch, the 21-year-old’s win today put his Scorpio Motorsport team back on top of the podium for the first time since 2009.

Round 5

Going into qualifying, Khani was in buoyant mood, but a red flag caused by Dino Zamperelli’s car breaking down meant as the session restarted it was a mad dash to set a good lap time. On his last lap Khani was up on his previous best time and on course to improve, but traffic ensured he could not better his time. Khani ended up securing fourth place behind Championship leader James Thorp, Josh Webster and a great effort by Zamperelli to put the car on pole with a lap time of 1min 22.041s. Unusually as there was only one qualifying for both races, the drivers’ second fastest lap would determine start positions for the second race. This gave Khani a fourth place start position for both races.

On a race that started in damp conditions with many opting for slicks in hope of the track drying out, Khani immediately got the jump on his rivals in front and was into second behind Webster. The top two began to race hard, but in tricky conditions several cars mid field tangled and ended up crashing out.

With the safety car deployed, the pack lined up behind while the marshals cleared the stricken cars from the track. The rain now coming down hard a decision was taken to red flag the race. After a short pause, the cars lined up on the grid to take the restart.

At the start Webster made a clean getaway leading into Old Hall hotly pursued by Khani, Hamilton and Vernon. Vernon wasted no time in getting past Hamilton and then Khani in to the Island hairpin demoting Khani into third. The following lap Khani pounced upon by Hamilton at the same place the pair had a slight touch pushing Khani wide which allowed Hamilton to dive through into third.

An incident between Howard Fuller and Khani’s team mate Hector Hurst meant the race was prematurely stopped giving Webster a win, followed by Vernon and Hamilton to give Fortec top three places. Khani continued his strong run of results with a fourth place finish but was somewhat frustrated at missing out on the podium. His sights were firmly set on making amends in the next race.

“I had hoped to do better in the race, but with so many red flags and not enough racing laps, it made it impossible, but the positive is that I had the pace and we still have another race left. I will be pushing for a win”

Round 6

It was another blinding start by Khani to move into second place followed by Webster, while pole sitter Dino made a poor getaway and was down to sixth. As the first few laps unfolded, the order was Webster followed by Khani who was pushing very hard in hanging on to Webster, with Zamperelli working his way up into fourth place. Incidents at the back of the field between Ivan Taranov, Sean Walkingshaw and Raoul Owens ensured the appearance of the red flags and resulted in the race to be stopped.

At the restart, in the positions they were holding prior to the red flag saw Webster start from pole, but Khani now becoming something of a starting expert, blasted past into the lead for the first time in his Formula Renault career. A six lap battle at the front was very past paced, with Hamilton and Zamperelli fighting hard for third place until the former got awarded with a drive through penalty for jumping the start. Meanwhile at the front Khani began to open up a small gap from Webster, and was posting a series of fast laps, clearly he was going for the fastest race lap as well.

Khani crossed the line to record a well deserved maiden win to the much delight of his team who were equally excited with the result. Webster finished second just about holding off a charging Zamperelli to finish in third.

“It was an exciting battle; I made a great start at the restart and was able to get by Josh. I was also pushing for the fastest lap too but on my last lap, I pushed a little too hard and missed out by 2 tenths. I am now looking forward to the next race at croft, I am very optimistic of another strong result. Overall I am extremely happy with how this season is going with big thanks going to Scorpio motorsport and my driver coach Kieran Clark. For the first time in my career I have a car that is on the pace and the level of professionalism and commitment from my team is second to none”

Words: Demitri Ianou
Pictures: Jakob Ebrey

Breakthrough weekend for Bowyer as classy car racing rookie cracks the top five

For a car racing rookie, Callum Bowyer is making impressive progress indeed, and that was never more in evidence than at Oulton Park last weekend, as the talented young Peterborough speed demon came within a whisker of a podium finish in what was unquestionably his finest outing to-date.

Following a double non-finish in the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship curtain-raiser at Donington Park – Callum’s car racing debut off the back of an ultra-successful six-year karting career that had yielded the coveted British crown – the Gunthorpe-based hotshot took a step forward at Brands Hatch and headed to Oulton with the intention of maintaining that upward momentum and keen ‘to show everyone what I’m actually capable of’.

“I didn’t have a great experience at Oulton in winter testing,” he confessed. “It was only my third day in the car so I wasn’t all that confident at the time, and it was wet all day, too. It’s very undulating and demanding, though, and a real drivers’ track – for me, it’s one of the most enjoyable circuits in the country.

“During practice, it was just a case of settling back into it and re-familiarising myself with the track in different conditions, because that was the first time I had ever driven it in the dry. It didn’t take too long to adapt to it all, and we actually got quite close to the leading pace pretty quickly and then every time we went out, we improved – the gap got dramatically smaller with every session.”

Praising the work of his Antel Motorsport team in establishing a solid set-up for his fearsomely-fast single-seater, Callum targeted a top 12 qualifying position to put himself inside the upper half of the 23-strong grid – a target he comfortably exceeded with an excellent ninth place for race one and eighth for race two. To put that into perspective, his previous best starting spot had been 15th – and the performance left him eagerly anticipating the races and ‘ready to get cracking’.

“Just as we were lining up in our grid positions, the heavens opened, soaking the whole circuit very quickly,” he recalled of the opening encounter. “We were all on slicks, so the start was delayed to allow us to change tyres – and then a few minutes later, the rain stopped and the track began drying again really fast. We all changed back over to slicks, but the problem was that whilst half the lap was dry, the other half was still wet, which made things really tricky – it was a challenge for everyone simply to stay on the track!

“After the start, going into the hairpin on the first lap, a few cars came off – I was quite lucky not to get collected in it – and there was a red flag to recover them. At the re-start, everyone took it very cautiously on the damp track; I got quite a good start to move up to sixth, and was able to break away from the pack behind.

“I closed the gap to the championship leader ahead of me, overtook him to move into fifth and pulled away. I then concentrated on chasing down the drivers in third and fourth; I had just got onto the back of them when there was another red flag, and as there were only two laps left to go, they called the result there. Looking back at it now, without the red flag, I daresay it would have been a podium.”

Less than a second shy of the rostrum and with the third-fastest lap time to his name – behind only the top two finishers – it was a magnificent result, and one that belied the fact that it was just Callum’s fifth competitive start in cars. By some margin the leading rookie to-boot, the treacherous conditions that caught out a number of his rivals only served to highlight the 16-year-old’s superb car control and prowess, and his pace was exceptional throughout. Sadly, race two would prove to be rather more short-lived…

“I was on the outside of the grid which was the dirty line and as such a disadvantage, but I got a good start again,” he revealed. “I was in seventh place with the championship leader behind me, when going down the main straight at about 120mph and completely out-of-the-blue, I suddenly got a massive whack from the rear, which spun me right round. You never expect to get hit on the straight, and it left me facing backwards at the fastest part of the track, with the oncoming traffic all speeding towards me.

“They were arriving just over the brow of a hill, too, so it would have been quite a shock for them seeing me in the middle of the track facing the wrong way! If any of them had hit me, it would have been an impact speed of more than 200mph, but fortunately, I managed to regain control and get off the circuit to a safe spot as fast as I could to avoid any further damage.

“You have so much adrenaline pumping through your body that you don’t really have time to think about the danger, to be honest – it all happens so quickly at that speed, and it’s only afterwards that you start to think, ‘that could have been a really nasty one’. Ok, we didn’t finish the race and it could have been another really good result, but I was just thankful that I came out of it all unharmed. There was a little bit of damage to the car, but nothing that can’t be repaired.”

The fact that Callum’s assailant was excluded for his misdemeanour was little consolation to his victim, whose race had been needlessly wrecked, but that should nonetheless not take the sheen off an otherwise tremendously encouraging weekend.

Having hitherto taken the chequered flag no higher than 11th, the former Ken Stimpson School pupil’s fifth place has seen him more than double his erstwhile points tally and move up from 17th to 15th in the championship standings. With his confidence boosted, he is bullish indeed heading to the next round at Croft, having evinced promising speed there during winter testing – and now being very much more the complete package.

“Despite the way it finished, it was still a great weekend with the pace we had and the result in race one, in tough conditions and around a difficult track,” Callum concluded. “We took another big step forward, and I’m just really looking forward to Croft now.

“After a rocky start to the season with the double DNF at Donington Park, we had a better weekend at Brands Hatch and then at Oulton, we were really knocking on the door. We’re continuously improving and getting ever-closer to the podium. That has always been the goal – and it’s really looking achievable now.”

Pics: Jakob Ebrey unless indicated otherwise

Hector Hurst suffered another frustrating weekend in the latest rounds of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship around Oulton Park, with a red flag and then contact by a rival ruining his first race when he looked set for a strong finish.

Scorpio Motorsport driver Hurst headed to the picturesque Cheshire circuit hoping to make up for a tough weekend last time out at Brands Hatch. The 18 year old had a mixed start to his weekend in pre-event testing on Friday, running comfortably quickest in wet conditions in the morning, but as the circuit dried, he took his time to get on the pace, only getting back near the top of the timesheets in the day’s final session.

Hurst, who receives coaching from 2009 series champion Kieren Clark, said: “Friday was wet in the morning and our pace was fine, before it dried out pretty quickly. During the day we were off the pace to be honest and I was a bit worried, but then in the final session on our tyre run we were bang on it.”

The strong end to the day meant rookie Hurst was hopeful of a competitive run in the single 20 minute qualifying session on Saturday morning. The Hampshire based driver endured a frustrating session though and was unable to convert his pace into front-running times, leaving him tenth and ninth on the grid for the two races.

He commented: “We headed into qualifying quite confident of a strong result. I just didn’t put the laps together though, which was my fault, leaving us ninth and tenth for the races. All the sectors were fine and my theoretical was good for the front few rows, but I just couldn’t get a rhythm going with traffic and didn’t get on it properly.”

Race one saw Hector finally overcome the problem with race starts he’s had this season, producing a great start that moved him up two places into eighth at the first corner. Then two corners later at the Island Hairpin, he avoided an incident in front of him to slide into a brilliant fourth place.

His sensational opening lap was in vain though, as two laps later the race was red flagged after another incident on track. The officials restarted the race with the original grid, forcing Hurst to start back in tenth.

Another strong start saw him move into a solid seventh place in tricky conditions, after a brief rain shower. He was looking set for a strong points finish, but around mid-distance he had his race ruined by a rival. Approaching the Island hairpin, Hurst defended the inside line, but the car behind drove into the back of him, forcing him to retire, a disappointing end to a promising race.

A frustrated Hurst said: “Going into race one, I figured that because I knew I could do the lap times, I was going to enjoy chopping through the people in front of me, getting to the front and then seeing what we could do. That worked pretty well, I got up to fourth and caught the front three up, but then we had a safety car and restart.

“After the restart, everything was looking good again until someone forgot to brake behind me into the hairpin, ending my race on the spot, which was annoying as it could have been a really good haul of points and a strong bounce back from Brands Hatch.”

He looked to make up for the disappointment in race two, which he started from ninth. He began strongly, but got slowed by an incident ahead, dropping him back a few places that he was unable to regain, despite being clearly quicker than those ahead, meaning he ended the race an unspectacular fourteenth

He said: “Throughout the weekend we had the performance but weren’t really able to show it, so this was our last chance to. I got a good start but then there was an accident ahead of me, everyone stopped and I got mugged, as the people behind me had the momentum I didn’t. Then it proved pretty easy for the people ahead to defend, despite being much slower, and it was only a short race, so I just brought it home.”

Despite the disappointing results, Hurst heads to the next rounds at Croft on 23/24 July with many positives to take from Oulton, after overcoming his race start problems and once again showcasing strong pace and great racecraft that indicates he can still challenge for podium finishes this season.

He concluded: “With the pace and everything, we’re definitely on for podiums soon. I had a weak spot with starts, but we’ve sorted that out, so it’s now just putting everything together in a weekend and there’s no reason we can’t be right up there on the podium.”

Matt Mason endured a mixed day in Rounds Five and Six of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship, the MGR Motorsport driver recovering from a big accident in race one to take his first top six finish in car racing in race two.

The weekend started with Friday testing, which proved to be very eventful for Mason. One session saw a wishbone snap in the left rear of his car as he headed towards the first corner, with the 18 year old narrowly avoiding a big crash, before in the final session a Formula Ford dropped water on the track, catching both Mason and the driver ahead of him out, causing both to go off at the fastest circuit of the corner.

Mason explains: “Luckily I only had a little bit of rear wing damage, but it knocked my confidence a bit because we didn’t have as much time in the car as we could have. We were down on track time here anyway as we’d only had one test day before, so it left us on the back foot even more.”

The testing woes left the rookie at a real disadvantage over his rivals heading into Saturday morning’s qualifying. The session, which determined the grid for both the day’s races ended with his best time putting him thirteenth on the grid for Round Five and his second best putting him eleventh for Round Six.

Mason, from Southwell, Nottingham, commented: “Qualifying was quite hard as you had to be on it instantly and put in two consistent fast laps. We didn’t put new tyres on Friday, as we’d planned to put them on in the final session but the crash stopped that, meaning we weren’t very well prepared for qualifying.

“We put new tyres on, about the fourth set I’ve ever had on in the car and we’ve suddenly found a lot more grip. I pushed it, but not enough and we didn’t get the best results really. On my best lap, I was three tenths up on my team-mate, but at the end of the lap a rival got in the way, which was a pain as I would have been top five or six.”

The Nottingham Urology Group and Care Fertility backed driver hoped to make up for it with a strong run in race one and started well, a great opening lap seeing him jump into the top ten and pressuring the drivers ahead. However his race was to end just a lap later, when he was innocently collected by a spinning rival, causing substantial damage to his car.

Reflecting on his first retirements of the season, Mason said: “The start was okay, I made up four or five places which was great and then caught the group ahead by the end of the first lap. Going into the first turn, [Victor] Jiminez, who was a few cars ahead of me, spun. The person behind him avoided him, the next driver binned it and the guy in front of me slammed on the brakes. I saw Jiminez go right, so I went left onto the grass, but he swung back and collected me. That was the end of the race with a lot of damage.”

Initial fears were that Matt wasn’t going to get out for the next race, with serious damage to the whole front end of his car. However after a superb effort by his MGR team to get the car repaired, Matt was able to go out in the second race and pick up a hard fought sixth place finish, rewarding all the teams’ hard work with their best result of the season so far.

Mason concluded: “Hats off to the team, they worked flat out on the car and they did really well to get me back out there. We had a very good start again and got to about eighth. At the restart, I made up two places and pulled out a comfortable lead from those behind, staying with [James] Theodore ahead who’s an experienced driver for most of it. Quite a positive end to the weekend, it was my best result of the season and I don’t think we could have been worse prepared for it.”

Danzey proves you can overtake at Brands Hatch as he scythes his way through the field

There might not have been a great deal of overtaking in the second meeting of the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship around Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit, but if there was a move to be made, Russ Danzey ensured that he was the man making it, with a breathtaking charge through the field from the very back of the pack.

Having claimed a brilliant top ten finish on his Formula Renault BARC debut with the Mark Godwin-run MGR Motorsport outfit three weeks earlier at Donington Park – even if he was unceremoniously removed from contention in race two by a wayward rival – Russ headed to Brands Hatch in optimistic mood.

“I felt quite confident,” confirmed the talented young Sheffield speed demon. “Of course, the second race at Donington hadn’t gone too well, but we felt we had some pace. I had raced at Brands Hatch before and we’d tested there, as well, so I knew the track quite well. The first corner – Paddock Hill Bend – is just fantastic! The Indy Circuit is a short lap but it’s good fun to drive, and whilst it’s not the easiest track to overtake around, it is possible if you know how – it’s all about knowing when to take your chances.”

Russ certainly did that over the course of the weekend, and a positive practice day saw him immediately inside the top ten, just four tenths of a second shy of the leading pace – before a coil issue unfortunately restricted his running in the opening qualifying session and prevented the highly-rated Dore-based ace from setting a representative lap time. Fortunately, the problem was rectified in time for the second session, which produced a more accurate barometer of the 16-year-old’s form with an encouraging 11^th place in the 22-strong field.

“We were pleased with that, especially given how much track time we had missed out on in relation to everybody else,” he conceded. “It was incredibly tight, with just a second covering the top 18, and three tenths was all I needed to move up onto the front row!”

From plum last on the grid in race one, Russ was psyched up in the knowledge that he had absolutely nothing to lose, but with his starting position being on an incline, his car kept inching forwards, and in trying to counter that movement – which could have resulted in a jump-start penalty – the MSA Academy member unfortunately knocked his left foot off the clutch and the engine cut out.

Lady Luck, however, was smiling upon him, as a red flag for a start-line shunt meant there would have to be a re-start – although in Russ’ case, this would be from the pit-lane after the rest of the field had sped by, and he completed the opening lap almost 17 seconds behind the leader and the best part of ten seconds behind the driver directly in front of him. He takes up the story.

“I thought I might just about latch onto the back of the pack by the end of the race,” he revealed. “I could see I was closing on them, but I didn’t think I was going to be able to get near enough to attack. It was mainly an exercise in damage limitation, to be honest, to just stay out there and perhaps make up some places if other drivers came off.

“The car felt really good, though – really nicely-balanced – and I was gaining time everywhere. With it being so difficult to overtake around Brands Hatch, that was bunching the field right up and they all started fighting each other. Three of them went off, and I managed to pass another three or four.

“I actually made one place around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend. One thing that’s very easy to do around the Indy Circuit is to make your car very wide, and when I got onto the back of this particular driver, he immediately started defending everywhere. He went quite tight into the last corner, but that allowed me to go out wide and get a better run than him onto the pit straight.

“I was initially thinking about trying to get the cutback on him coming out of Paddock Hill and heading up to Druids, but as we went along the pit straight, I realised I was getting further-and-further alongside and I knew I was going to brake later than him – so I decided to go for it. Once I actually was alongside on the outside I was a bit less sure about it, but I kept my foot in and it paid off!

“To finish 13^th from the pit-lane was certainly a lot more than I could have expected from the race – we were really pleased with that. I was just disappointed with my mistake at the start, which probably cost me more places; if I had been able to clear the second group I was coming up to by the end, we would have been looking at about eighth position, because I was quicker than them, too – we just ran out of time. Still, given that everyone says Formula Renault is just single-file around Brands Hatch, I think we proved them wrong…”

That much is indisputable, and the seventh-quickest lap time – comfortably faster than either of his two MGR team-mates – underlined what might have been. If race two was a rather more ‘processional’ encounter throughout the field, still it impressively yielded a second top ten finish from just four starts in the championship for the Birkdale School AS-level student, and a better lap time than that of the runner-up – the closest he had been to the outright pace all weekend – pointed to outstanding progress and potential going forwards.

“We definitely need to look at getting higher up the grid in qualifying to improve our chances on race day,” Russ concluded, “although the other tracks won’t be as hard to overtake at as Brands Hatch was. Looking back at the weekend, of course there were things we could have done better, but that’s all part of the learning process of moving into cars, and I’m really pleased with how we all performed as a team.

“We learned a lot about the car, and I feel we took another big step forward. There’s plenty more still to come, too, and now I’m just looking forward to the next round at Oulton Park. I’ve tested there already and loved it – it’s a brilliant track! We struggled a little bit pace-wise in the test, but we were still in the very early stages then – and I’m much more confident now.”

Pics: Paul Davies