RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

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

Promising Brands Weekend For Mason

Matt Mason is ‘satisfied’ after another solid weekend in the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship, which saw him take two strong points finishes in Rounds Three and Four at Brands Hatch, making him the top rookie in the 2011 championship standings.

With limited testing at the Kent circuit prior to the weekend, Mason took full advantage of the pre-event testing on Friday to get more track time in the car around the tricky Indy layout. After a slow start, the Nottingham based teenager began posting times putting him at the top of the standings.

The Nottingham Urology Group and Care Fertility backed driver commented: “Overall as a day, Friday testing was really good, though started off not so well. Last time we were here we had a bit of an incident at one of the corners and that knocked my confidence a bit. I was building on that over Friday and by the last session we were joint fastest with Josh Webster, which was good.”

With Brands Hatch being renowned as a circuit to be very difficult to overtake around in Formula Renault’s, Matt knew qualifying well was vital if he was to enjoy success around the Indy circuit. Despite being unable to match Friday’s exploits, Mason was able to set some more competitive times, particularly in qualifying two where he finished just 0.129s off a front row start.

Mason, who is just completing his first year studying Business Management at Oxford Brookes University, said: “Going into qualifying, the track changed to the Friday and there was a lot more grip. The times came down by about half a second and we didn’t really make full use of that, I wasn’t driving on the limit really. I had to give it a big push for the second session, as the first one we only managed twelfth and we were about half a second off the pace.

“Went out in the next one, we were running third for most of the qualifying, but in the last quarter we dropped back to ninth. From second to ninth there was literally just over a tenth of a second between us, less than half a car length. If we were just that little bit quicker we could have been second, so I was satisfied with the time, but not with the position.”

Race one saw Matt negotiate an early race restart, before going to enjoy a strong race run. Working his way up the field, he produced the best overtaking move of the race with a stunning pass on James Thorp  around the outside of Druids, moving him into ninth where he eventually finished.

The 18 year old commented: “The first start was red flagged, which was a shame as I had made a good start. Second time round I had an average start and Steven Durrant behind me had a really good start, meaning he overtook two of us. I was up to about tenth, behind James Thorp and Durrant, who had a little incident on the first lap and lost part of his front wing, meaning he was just defending the whole race.

“As Brands is such a tight circuit, with little overtaking opportunities, everyone was defending and I just couldn’t overtake. Got to the stage where Thorp and Durrant were having a little battle in front ans Thorp tried to go up the inside, but couldn’t quite make it. Durrant squeezed him on the inside going into Druids and seeing this coming, I just steamed in, really late on the brakes around the outside of both of them, but Durrant squeezed me so I had to slot in behind him, though I overtook Thorp. That was the only progress we really made in the race.”

The second race saw Mason once again showcase his superb racecraft with another quality passing move, this time on Howard Fuller at Clearways. He then settled down and set some blistering lap times on his way to a seventh place finish, his best result of the season so far.

Reflecting on the race, Mason added: “The second race I started ninth and finished seventh, which is pretty good. Had an alright start this time and made a good move on Howard Fuller into Clearways from really far back. We were very fast, so the potential was there.”

Matt felt the potential was there for some strong results over the weekend, but that the difficulty of overtaking on the circuit stopped him from making the progress he wanted to: “It’s so annoying as we know we had the pace, being joint fastest on Friday. I messed up one of the qualifying’s, but the second one we were all there or thereabouts, and I was consistently fast. Therefore we should have been able to overtake and make up a bit of ground, but due to the track you can’t, so that did hamper our performance quite a bit.”

The two top ten finishes moves Matt up to seventh in the championship standings, the best of the rookies for the championship. Next up are Rounds Five and Six of the championship on Saturday 28 May around the challenging Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire, a weekend he is feeling confident about: “I hope to move on up at Oulton, where we can actually overtake. I hope to be top three all weekend. It would be good as we’ve only had one day there, we’ll see.”

Bowyer hails ‘brilliant progress’ and ‘a lot of positives’ in second car racing outing

It is easy to forget given the extraordinary progress he is making that Callum Bowyer is still only four races into his fledgling car racing career – and for one with so little experience under his belt, to already be knocking on the door of the top ten is impressive indeed.

Having demonstrated eye-catching race pace only to be lucklessly eliminated from both encounters on his single-seater debut in the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship curtain-raiser at Donington Park three weeks earlier, Callum headed to Brands Hatch for seconds out, round two with the principal goal being simply to see the chequered flag. The talented young Peterborough speed demon would do rather better than that.

Although he had tested at Brands over the winter, that was only in wet conditions – placing Callum at an immediate disadvantage in relation to many of his rivals. He would suffer another small setback during pre-weekend practice with a suspension issue, but still, he headed towards the competitive hostilities in quietly optimistic mood.

“It definitely helped having the practice day,” he underlined. “That meant I could re-familiarise myself with the circuit – as it had been quite a while since we had been there – and learn it in the dry, too! I certainly felt more confident after that – the extra track time is never going to do any harm.”

Qualifying would yield respectively 16^th and 15^th places on the 22-strong grid for the two races – notably, three tenths of a second nearer to the benchmark in session two, and more than a second closer to pole position than he had been at Donington.

However, with overtaking at a real premium around Brands Hatch’s tight Indy Circuit layout – one Callum enjoys driving, but that he admits can be frustrating to race at with only one real line all the way round the lap – the Gunthorpe-based hotshot knew he would have a mountain to climb, and in the opening encounter, he was one of very few drivers in the field to genuinely move forward.

“It wasn’t a great spot on the grid in terms of the gradient of the hill, but I got a really good start,” he recounted, having initially vaulted magnificently up into the top ten only to see his blistering getaway scuppered by a red flag for an accident involving two of his adversaries.

“Then after I got into a rhythm, I concentrated on trying to pick off the cars ahead one-by-one. With overtaking being so difficult around the Indy Circuit, it was always a case of trying to pressurise the driver in front into making a mistake – that’s the only way you’re ever going to get past someone there.

“I managed to make a move into Paddock Hill Bend, and then I later went around the outside of another driver into Druids. There was a train of cars right ahead covering each other on the inside line, which slowed them all down. I had to try something different – if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gained anything anyway – so I went to the outside and was able to make up a place. You don’t see that happening very often – but we pulled it off.

“Towards the end, we were catching the three drivers in front, but they were so close together they were almost joined, and even though I got onto the back of them pretty quickly, I knew it was going to be near enough impossible to find a way past. Our pace in the race was definitely a lot better than it had been in qualifying again, though – that’s one of our strongest suits – so we just need to work on our qualifying form now.”

Eleventh at the flag – and less than a second shy of eighth place – the result was an immensely encouraging one, and a fastest lap time barely three tenths of a second off that of his ultra-experienced Antel Motorsport team-mate Dino Zamparelli was, Callum acknowledged, a ‘massive boost’ since ‘Dino has so much experience in the car and he won race two…so we just need to keep chipping away now and start minimising that gap’.

In the second outing later in the day, the former British Karting Champion found his efforts stymied by Brands’ dearth of passing opportunities – with only two overtaking manoeuvres up-and-down the field throughout – and 14^th position at the close masked another extremely promising performance in which Callum’s best lap time was a scant tenth of a second adrift of that set by the race’s runner-up. As he looks ahead to the next meeting at Oulton Park at the end of the month, he does so with ever-increasing confidence.

“The pace was definitely there in the races,” the 16-year-old concluded of his Brands Hatch weekend. “It was just that with it being so tough to overtake, we couldn’t really put that pace to good use. That was slightly frustrating, but it’s all a learning curve and we are getting there.

“By the end of the weekend, we were only a few tenths off the best. There are a lot of positives to take from that, and I’m really looking forward to Oulton Park now – it should be a lot easier to overtake there, for starters! We’ve made brilliant progress so far, and we’re getting closer every time we go out on-track…”

Callum Bowyer photos provided by Jakob Ebrey

Tough Brands Weekend For Hurs

Hector Hurst endured a disappointing weekend in Rounds Three and Four of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Brands Hatch. After two frustrating qualifying performances, the Scorpio Motorsport driver suffered a start line incident in race one, forcing him into retirement, before recovering for a twelfth place finish in race two.

After a solid start to the season at the opening rounds at Donington Park, where he took a superb fifth place on his car racing debut, Hector headed to Kent hoping to challenge at the front and showcase his championship credentials. The 18 year old was in a confident mood, after proving quick around the circuit during pre-season testing, and the weekend started well in Friday testing.

Hector said: “Friday was okay, we were pretty quick and on the pace. Not quite as quick as we were expecting, but still good enough to challenge at the front.”

Hurst, who is receiving driver coaching from 2009 series champion Kieren Clark throughout the season, headed into qualifying knowing that with Brands Hatch being renowned as a circuit to be very difficult to overtake around in Formula Renault’s, a strong performance was vital if he was to challenge in the two races.

Hurst commented: “Qualifying in general was quite surprising. We seemed to be doing the same times we did in practice and everyone else seemed to go about two to three tenths quicker, so we ended up in ninth and tenth, which was below what we expected.”

Race one saw Hector hoping to make amends for qualifying with a strong drive through the field, however the race proved to be a disaster for the driver from Lymington, Hampshire. A stall on the start line left him stranded in his grid place, with the unfortunate Macaulay Walsh running into the back of him. Despite getting going again, damage to his rear forced him to pit at the end of lap and retire.

A disappointed Hurst reflected: “Race one was probably the definition of the worst race you could ever have. Made a terrible start, stalled, and the bloke behind didn’t see so hit me. DNF on the spot.

“I think it looked worse than it was. It didn’t take any corners off, damaged a bit of suspension and the rear wing, but that was pretty much it to be honest, so could have been a lot worse on the damage front.”

Race two also proved to be frustrating for Hector. Starting tenth, another poor start saw him drop a few places on the opening lap. Once settled, Hector began posting some very impressive laps times as he caught onto the back of the rivals ahead. He became one of the few drivers in the race to make overtaking moves, including a great pass on Walsh at Surtees, described by many as the most difficult part of the circuit to overtake at.

He eventually worked his way to a twelfth place finish and proved his front running credentials by ending as the third fastest driver on circuit in the race. He commented: “After my mistake at the first start, and it appears starts are my weakness, I was too conservative and lost two, three places off the line, which is not what you want. I settled into a rhythm after that and started making some progress, setting fastest laps which I only lost on the last lap.

“Overtaking is pretty hard around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, especially as everyone’s so close on lap times, so you have to try and pull off a few original moves. The one going into Surtees was an interesting one, which I managed to pull off.”

Hector, who has a place from September 2011 at Oxford Brookes studying Automotive Engineering, is now looking to put the weekend behind him and move onto Rounds Three and Four of the series at Oulton Park on Saturday 28^th May, where he believes he can enjoy some success and move up from his current position of twelfth in the championship, concluding:

“I said I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get wins here at Brands, and I didn’t, so I’m disappointed. Heading to Oulton I hope to get on the podium and get some champagne.”

Danzey belies lack of experience to trouble the front-runners on Formula Renault debut

In terms of time in the cockpit, Russ Danzey is inarguably one of the most inexperienced drivers in the field in the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship – but to witness his remarkable performance on his debut in the fiercely-fought single-seater series at Donington Park, you would have been hard-pressed to tell.

Having graduated from a successful karting career into cars midway through 2010 with a promising toe-in-the-water exercise in the entry-level Autosport Young Guns Championship, Russ has revved things up another gear by stepping up to Formula Renault BARC this year with the recently-founded, Mark Godwin-run MGR Motorsport outfit – a team benefitting from the skills of versatile and ultra-experienced former British F3 Champion, sometime F1 test-driver and touring car and sportscar star Kelvin Burt as a driver coach.

“Mark Godwin came very highly-recommended,” explained the talented young Sheffield speed demon. “He has worked with quite a few teams in Formula Renault BARC, and for us, he was the man to be with. Having Kelvin Burt there as a driver coach was also a major pull, given the amount of track time he has had throughout his career – he understands every little thing about the car, and can really relate to what I’m telling him. I’ve already learned a ridiculous amount from him.

“Kelvin watches from the sidelines and can tell us exactly what we are doing wrong. He’s so instinctive, and he can pick up the tiniest little things from the data to improve our performance – it’s just unbelievable. That has changed the way I think, too, and the wealth of experience he has will be pivotal to helping me to progress this year.

“In some respects, going with MGR was a long shot, because the team had only just formed and we didn’t truly know how it was all going to turn out – but I think we’ve really landed on our feet. Being a young team, of course, everybody is still learning how to work with each other, but there’s never any tension or quarrels – just a really good atmosphere. I think I’m probably in the best place on the grid right now for bringing drivers on.”

Limited winter testing had permitted Russ the opportunity to gain something of a handle on each of the tracks that the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship will visit over the coming months – Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Croft, Thruxton and Silverstone – and heading to the curtain-raiser around his ‘home’ circuit of Donington, the Dore-based hotshot professed himself in reasonably confident spirits off the back of an encouraging day of running there.

“I think we came on in leaps-and-bounds during testing at every track,” he affirmed. “That was really beneficial for me in terms of getting to grips with everything ahead of the season. I’m still clearly on a learning curve, but I think we’re a lot closer than we were back at the beginning of testing.

“I knew I still had some time to find at Donington, and the main goal for the weekend really was to be up there with the leading rookies. Quite a lot of the drivers in the field have done at least a year in the series already – and some have done several – so it was always going to be hard to pitch myself against them.”

Be that as it may, 13^th place in both qualifying sessions – barely a second shy of the outright benchmark in the 22-strong field – was an extremely solid way to begin, and as Russ reflected, ‘pretty much all the drivers in front of me on the grid were older and had more experience’.

Even more strikingly, heading into his first race in the championship, the 16-year-old MSA Academy member betrayed no discernible nerves – and belying the fact that he had not had chance to practise any starts beforehand, he left the line like the proverbial scalded cat.

“I really bogged down as we set off on the ‘green flag’ lap, so I thought I probably wouldn’t get a great start after that,” he mused, “but I actually made up four places to ninth! Later on, I went for a move on the driver ahead and got up the inside of him; I thought he would give me a car’s width, but he kept moving across and put me on the grass, so I had to rally it a bit!

“I did manage to get past him into the chicane shortly afterwards which put me eighth, and I was gaining on the driver in seventh but as my tyres went off in the closing stages, I dropped back into the clutches of my team-mate, who just pipped me at the end. Still, for my first race in the championship, it was fantastic to come away with a top ten finish!”

That much is indisputable, and Russ’ pace and consistency were impressive indeed. With his confidence buoyed, he headed into race two bidding to produce a repeat performance – only unfortunately, one of his rivals had other ideas…

“I got a really bad start again on the ‘green flag’ lap, and a really good one again when the lights actually went out!” quipped the Birkdale School AS-level student. “I was up to eighth and everything felt good, but then I ran just a little bit wide which allowed the driver behind to latch onto the back of me and I couldn’t shake him off. Going into the chicane at the end of lap two, he went up the inside and put me off onto the grass; that launched me across the kerb, cost me a couple of places and bunched the pack right up.

“We then went about five-abreast down towards the first corner beginning lap three! I made a good manoeuvre up the inside of someone to regain a position, looked in my mirror and didn’t see anybody and so started to turn in – and then suddenly, there was a flash of red to my inside. I got a clip from behind, which sent me into the side of the driver I was overtaking and broke my suspension.”

Game over on the spot and through no fault of his own, the early bath did not in any way take the gloss off what was an overwhelmingly positive weekend during which Russ turned many a head and caught many an eye. As he looks ahead to the second meeting on the schedule around Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit, he does so with his tail up.

“I definitely feel stronger going to Brands,” he underlined in conclusion. “The gap to the front shrunk as the weekend wore on at Donington, and in every race we go to now, it should keep on shrinking. I was quick in testing at Brands so I know I’ve got the speed round there and I’m feeling confident – and the main objective is to just keep on progressing and moving up the field.”

Pics: Jakob Ebrey

Hector Hurst proved his potential as a championship contender in the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship with a strong debut weekend at Donington Park with Scorpio Motorsport. Hurst was a frontrunner throughout the weekend, taking a solid top five finish in his first ever car race, before showing superb speed when recovering from an early mistake in race two.

With no pre event testing before the weekend, Hector’s first track time on the circuit for over a month came in the two high pressure qualifying sessions. The 18 year old kept his teams nerves up throughout both, leaving it until his last lap in each before setting his quickest times.

The first session saw him set a 1m 08.041s to line up fifth for the first race, before going narrowly quicker in the second session, with a 1m 08.014s putting him fourth for race two.

Hector said: “Qualifying was actually quite good. It would have been nice to set a record and get a pole, but realistically a fifth and a fourth in my first ever qualifying in cars, in a very competitive field, is a great result.

“Being the top rookie by quite a long way is also quite nice, shows that we’re doing a good job. I’m not going to do anything stupid this weekend, just looking for some good points to start off the championship.”

When race day came around, Lymington-based Hector was feeling slightly nervous ahead of his first ever car race. As the race began, a slow getaway saw him drop a couple of places into seventh at the first corner, but he grew in confidence as he completed the first few laps and began going on the attack.

Consistent quick lap times saw him move onto the tail of the drivers ahead, quickly moving into sixth place before chasing down Archie Hamilton for fifth. As the race headed towards its conclusion, Hector knew he had to make a move and made a superb move at McLeans to take the place, before holding on to it till the finish to take a great haul of points from his opening race.

Commenting on his debut race, Hector said: “Race one was pretty good. It was my first ever race start and it didn’t go great, meaning I dropped back a couple of places. But then I managed to get back up to fifth which I held to the finish. I was pretty pleased with that for a first race as I got some good points.”

Just a couple of hours later race two was upon him and lining up on the second row, Hector hoped to push for a podium finish. However a mistake on the start line saw him go too early and jump the start, leading to a drive-through penalty which he took during a safety car period a few laps later. However when doing so, he went through a red light at the end of the pit lane, which saw him breach the rulebook and end up with a second drive through penalty of the afternoon.

After successfully completing this one, Hector began putting in some blistering lap times as he worked his way onto the back of the field. Picking off drivers throughout the remainder of the race, Hector finished up in a strong thirteenth place, less than thirty seconds behind the race winner, setting the third fastest lap of the race in the process.

Reflecting on race two, Hector commented: “I jumped the start, so got a drive through penalty for that, and then got another drive through penalty for doing my first one during a safety car period. Two drive through penalties is obviously terrible, but I still somehow managed to bring it home in thirteenth, so got a surprising amount of points for the second race. Obviously nowhere near what we wanted, but I still got points and just missed out on fastest lap, which was a shame as that could have been a couple more points.”

The whole weekend proved a real learning curve for the Hampshire driver, as he explains: “It’s good to get the whole format of the weekend out the way. Being quick in testing in one thing, but then doing it in qualifying and the races is another. I showed I’ve got a bit to learn on the start of the races, but it’s all good experience and I’ve learnt a lot I can apply in the future.”

Despite the disappointing end to the weekend, Hector and his team were happy with a really strong debut in the series, bringing the car home for two finishes with no damage and showing pace throughout the weekend that’s indicates they’ll will be a real threat for race wins and the championship title as the season continues.

Next up for Hector is Rounds three and four at Brands Hatch on 14/15 May. The teenager heads to Kent lying seventh in the championship standings, holding the position of top rookie, and is looking for some real success at Brands, concluding: “We’re now heading to Brands Hatch, where we should be very competitive and honestly I’d be disappointed if we didn’t get two wins.”

On the face of it, Callum Bowyer’s car racing debut in the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship curtain-raiser at Donington Park was one of disappointment, but delve beneath the surface and there are more than enough indications that the talented young Peterborough hotshot will take a quantum leap forward in round two at Brands Hatch.

Callum headed to Donington with just eight days’ testing underneath his belt in his single-seater – one capable of accelerating to 100mph in a jaw-dropping five seconds – and preparing to pitch himself against a highly-competitive field of 21 rivals, the majority of whom benefitting from far more experience than him. Still, pre-season testing had gone well and had culminated in a hugely encouraging seventh place in the final outing at Silverstone – leaving the Antel Motorsport star ‘quietly confident’ about his chances.

“I was really looking forward to the first round,” he acknowledged. “I was more excited than nervous, to be honest. I was quietly confident, and hopeful of getting some good results. I already feel like I’ve been at Antel for years; I’m really settled there, and I get on with them all really well – they’re a great bunch of guys.

“Our preparation had been really good; I felt strong in myself, and had trained hard for a long time leading up to the race weekend. I felt we had done the right groundwork in testing, and the pace we had shown had been good considering the limited amount of time we’d had in the car – so I was just looking to build on all that through the weekend.”

Unfortunately, a lack of Friday practice counted against the championship’s rookies, and placed Callum on the back foot right from the word ‘go’. That meant that rather than chasing fast lap times straightaway in qualifying, the Gunthorpe-based speed demon found himself needing to mentally re-familiarise himself with the track, bed in a set of wet tyres in case of rain on race day and set his car up to suit the circuit characteristics – all things that would normally be carried out in free practice when nothing is at stake.

As it was, he had to get to grips with the whole gamut during a qualifying session just 20 minutes long and in which, he quipped, ‘it’s hard enough as it is just setting a quick lap time!’ Lining up a lowly 18^th for race one and 17^th for race two was a clear legacy of that, but confessing to already rating Donington as one of his favourite circuits, the 16-year-old remained laudably upbeat ahead of race day.

“I was disappointed initially because of the pace we had shown during testing, but it was my first race weekend in cars and it is all new to me, at the end of the day,” he maturely reflected. “I just had to focus on trying to get through the traffic to come away with some half-decent results. The changes we made during qualifying really seemed to help in the races, and our pace was much better – a lot closer to the front.

“Race one was my first-ever start in cars, surrounded by all the other drivers on the grid, so there was a bit of pressure from that – but I made a really good getaway and passed two other cars heading up towards the first corner. Everyone stayed really bunched together for quite a while, and by lap three, I was up to tenth.

“Then I went up the inside of the driver in ninth into the final corner, but I don’t think he saw me in his mirrors and he turned in, leaving me with nowhere to go and taking my front wing off. I pitted for a new nosecone and rejoined the race, but by then we were two laps down.

“In race two, I got a really good start again, passed some cars in front and worked my way up to 13^th, but at that point I had no idea that I had been clipped from behind and left with a puncture in my right-rear tyre. Going down towards the Old Hairpin, the car is all loaded on that tyre and it spun me round and into the gravel. It was really unexpected, and from there, I was just a passenger…”

A brace of DNFs was palpably not what Callum had been either anticipating or hoping for from the weekend, but despite what was a baptism of fire and then some, there were sufficient flashes of genuine potential to suggest that the remainder of the campaign will be a very different story. His overtaking prowess, in particular, was tremendously impressive – and although he is still irrefutably on a steep learning curve, with scheduled practice for round two at Brands Hatch, next time, he vows, he will be ready.

“It obviously wasn’t what we had been aiming for, but everyone has bad weekends,” mused the former British Karting Champion in conclusion. “If we’d had Friday practice, we would have had more pace in qualifying and been further up the grid and away from the damage zone that we got tangled up in, and maybe it would have been a different outcome to the races.

“On the positive side, the pace was definitely there on race day, even if the timesheets don’t necessarily show it because we did so few laps. We know we can go through the traffic, too – I overtook 12 cars in the five racing laps that I had – and we just need to take those positives on to the second round at Brands Hatch.

“It’s easy to look on the downside after a weekend when you don’t really get any results, but it was my first-ever car racing meeting, and the improvement we made from Saturday to Sunday was really promising. The first one was always going to be the hardest, but we just need a bit of luck now – and then I’m sure the results will come.”

Pics: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hector Hurst is getting set for his car racing debut in the opening rounds of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship. The 18 year old has spent the last few weeks making his final preparations ahead of his first two races at Donington Park on April 23/24.

Hampshire-based Hurst has continued to clock up the miles recently, heading to Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Silverstone for more track time with Scorpio Motorsport. The testing has gone well, with the 18 year old regularly running in the top three, ahead of many of his more experienced rivals.

Commenting on the recent testing, Hurst said: “Brands was tricky, it was my first time at the track and there was a lot of traffic. We managed to learn the track which was good ahead of racing there, but only got a couple of clean laps all day. Then it was Oulton Park, though on the International circuit, not the Island circuit which we’ll race on, but it was still good.

“It was good practice, same with going to Silverstone again, because there were so many people running on Avon and other types of tyres, the track really transformed, which meant I got excellent experience of adapting to the surface, as opposed to running when it’s perfect. We set the pace at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, but there wasn’t much competition there.

“Over those days we’ve continued to get some really excellent running with Scorpio and the cars been perfect each time. Also at Silverstone I got to try my first few race starts, which is important before going to Donington for my first race weekend so I have a gauge of what to do, so I don’t stall.”

Hurst, who has a place studying Automotive Engineering at Oxford Brookes University from September, has also been working hard off track to ensure he’s at his peak for when the season begins: “I’ve continued to be in the gym three, four times a week, building up strength and using my bike about five times a week to get some really good levels of endurance and fitness. All of this is so that I can be just as comfortable in the car on the last lap of the last race as on the first lap of the first practice session.”

All the hard work is paying off now, with Hector feeling really confident ahead of his first BARC weekend: “I feel better now than I ever have done, every time we go to a test or every day I wake up I feel better prepared. I don’t feel nervous yet about the racing, maybe I will when I get strapped into the car but I feel pretty confident I can just get the job done.

“If we could go straight out onto a podium in the first weekend that would obviously be excellent, but as long as we’re top five and getting some good points, that’s a great starting point for the championship. It’s going to be a long year and everyone’s going to be very close, so scoring lots of points consistently will be the key.”

Pic: Jakob Ebrey

As he continues his car racing apprenticeship in the 2011 Formula Renault UK Championship, highly-rated young Warwickshire star Jordan King learned some valuable lessons and picked up an excellent top six finish in round two at Donington Park – leaving him looking to the future with justifiable optimism.

Following a solid debut yielding eighth and ninth places in the Brands Hatch curtain-raiser – spoiled only by set-up issues during qualifying – karting graduate Jordan headed to Donington Park bidding to take a step forward, and it was a target that he would confidently accomplish.

“I was disappointed after Brands Hatch,” mused the 17-year-old Stoneleigh-based speed demon. “It hadn’t been the best start to the season, and that was largely down to qualifying – so the main focus for Donington was to qualify better. I really like the track – it’s a mega circuit! It’s really hard to get the downhill run through the Old Hairpin right; the minimum speed at the apex is something like 112mph, which is ridiculously quick, and it was a bit hairy going in there at times..!

“We had tested at Donington during the winter, but in the torrential rain, so Thursday practice was my first proper run in the dry – and in Formula Renault UK, you only really get two sessions in the car to get used to the track and get the set-up sorted ahead of the race weekend.

“In the first session, we went out on old tyres and ended up only 17 hundredths off the pace, which was encouraging; we then put new tyres on for the second session, but we didn’t really get a long run because of a red flag. Still, we closed to less than a tenth off and were the quickest of the four Manor Competition drivers, and I was happy with our speed and consistency and felt like we were in good shape for the weekend.”

Qualifying the following day, however, would end in frustration, with sixth position for race one and just 11th for race two, as set-up woes and a flat-spotted tyre scuppered what Jordan contended could have been a top five starting spot for the second outing.

“I was very disappointed with that outcome after the speed we had shown in practice,” confessed the BRDC Rising Star. “I think the main problem in the first session was that I didn’t get my tyres up to temperature before I started to push – they were only at about 85 per cent of their optimum temperature. That meant I didn’t get the best out of them and it left me five tenths off, so that’s just another lesson to learn for the future. I’m on a learning curve at the end of the day, and it’s all good experience.”

That much is indisputable, and after narrowly losing out to team-mate Josh Hill early on in the opening encounter as he found his corner exit speed compromised by the tight line held by the driver in front, Jordan went on to take the chequered flag seventh – second out of the Graduate Cup entrants and producing competitive lap times along the way. And race two would yield an altogether feistier performance again.

“I was just aiming to make up as many places as I could from where I was starting!” quipped the Princethorpe College student. “I managed to get past Mitchell Gilbert into the first corner, but then coming out of the Craner Curves towards the Old Hairpin, someone had spun ahead. I had to slow down to get through the gap, but when I went to accelerate again I was still in too high a gear so it wouldn’t pull away and I lost time there. After that, I chased down, caught and overtook Oscar King, but the gap ahead to Josh was too big to close.”

Be that as it may, sixth place indubitably demonstrated that Jordan is moving in the right direction, and fastest lap and the runner-up laurels again amongst the Graduate Cup contenders was positive indeed. Sitting seventh in the overall title chase and a close and challenging second in the Graduate Cup heading next to the ultra-fast Thruxton circuit for round three, the Hugo Boss brand ambassador’s tail is palpably up.

“The first few races are all about making sure I learn as much as I can without making too many mistakes,” he affirmed in conclusion, “and then over the second half of the season, I can put all that into practice. Hopefully that will be the trend for the season, and then towards the end we can start getting some podiums.

“I really enjoyed Thruxton when we tested there over the winter; I came in after my first session with a huge smile on my face and just said, ‘it’s brilliant!’ It’s pretty much flat-out in seventh gear the whole way round the lap in the dry with an average speed of about 135mph, which is simply insane! The goal for the weekend has to be to keep learning and come away with a couple of decent finishes; it’s one of the harder circuits on the calendar without a doubt – but one that I’m definitely looking forward to!”

Pics: Jakob Ebrey

Another media day, this one attended by photographer Tim Surman.

King maintains stately progress with confirmation of Manor re-signing

Off the back of an impressive car racing debut in the 2010 Formula Renault UK Winter Series in November, talented Warwickshire motorsport star Jordan King has re-pledged his commitment to Manor Competition for the serious business in 2011 – and he already has the podium in his sights.

Jordan graduated to cars following a tremendously successful karting career, during which he had firmly established himself as one of the very best not only in Britain but indeed internationally. As he took his first tentative steps in Formula Renault UK’s Winter Series, the Stoneleigh-based speed demon overcame a run of ill-fortune to swiftly slot straight into the upper midfield, with a highlight of a superb sixth place at Pembrey in Wales, only his seventh-ever car race.

Having spent the subsequent three months pounding around the test tracks – setting an eye-catching third-fastest lap time at Brands Hatch last week, a scant five hundredths of a second shy of the benchmark despite eschewing the opportunity to run with new tyres, unlike many of his rivals – the recently-turned 17-year-old acknowledges that he is learning every day and has come on in veritable leaps-and-bounds.

“Everything feels a lot easier now, which is all down to spending more time in the seat and having more experience of the car,” revealed the Princethorpe College student and newly-appointed BRDC Rising Star. “We’ve made a big leap forward over the winter, and it’s really encouraging to be up there on lap times with drivers who are going into their fourth year of car racing, and ahead of other drivers with a lot more experience than me. If I can stay in front of them for even half of the races this year, I’ll be happy with that.

“Our speed in testing has been really good, and I’m very happy with how it’s all been going so far. We’ve found a few things in terms of set-up, and now we just need to optimise the performance of the package. It’s looking quite good.”

That much is no idle boast, and Jordan is quick to underline that he owes a great deal of his improvement to Manor, the ‘winningest’ team in Formula Renault UK history, one that was responsible for nurturing the formative careers of future F1 World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen – and one that now benefits from a tie-up with grand prix outfit Virgin Racing to-boot.

“We got to the stage where everything had gone well with Manor,” reflected the Hugo Boss brand ambassador, pointing to the team’s enviable expertise in the sport, its drivers’ title triumph in 2009 and its runaway entrants’ glory in 2010. “We had made good progress together and I know all the people there, so once we decided to stay in Formula Renault for the full UK championship, it was quite an easy decision to re-sign with Manor, too.

“They’ve got a good background, obviously, and have done really well in the past – and for a young driver like me, that’s really confidence-inspiring. We didn’t really have a second thought about which team to go with.

“I get on really well with the other three drivers in the team and we all have a laugh together, and I’ve developed a good relationship with my engineer and mechanic and the driver coach, too. The team has been really welcoming and supportive, and I feel very settled there now. I feel confident everyone is behind me, and that’s a good position in which to be going into the season.

“I don’t know how many drivers will be competing in total yet, but I would like to end up as the top car racing rookie, and to win the Graduate Cup as well. For the opening round at Brands Hatch, I’d love to get a podium finish – and from the speed we’ve shown in testing, I think that’s achievable.”

The curtain-raiser at Brands Hatch is scheduled for April 2/3, followed by meetings at Donington Park, Thruxton, Oulton Park, Croft, Snetterton, Rockingham, a return to Brands and a brace of outings around the celebrated ‘Home of British Motor Racing’, Silverstone. Manor team principal Tony Shaw is similarly optimistic that his highly-rated protégé can make a big impact right from the word ‘go’.

“We are very happy to have Jordan at Manor for his first full year in Formula Renault UK,” he affirmed. “He showed in the short Winter Series, and in subsequent testing, that he has a healthy appetite for the competitive nature of ‘slicks-and-wings’ single-seaters. His grounding and success in karting has set him up very well for the future, and we look forward to enjoying success with Jordan as a Manor driver.”

Bowyer set for single-seater graduation – but still in search of last-minute sponsorship support

As one of the most highly-rated karting drivers in the country, it was perhaps inevitable that Callum Bowyer would ultimately take the next step up the motorsport ladder into cars – and in agreeing terms to join Antel Motorsport for the 2011 BARC Formula Renault Championship, that is precisely what he is set to do, but he is still reliant upon some vital last-minute support from sponsors.

Callum has been a front-runner in UK karting circles for five years, finishing inside the top four in the British Championship in every season bar one since 2006 and storming to both national titles in the Mini Max class in 2008. That has left the talented young Peterborough star primed to make the move into single-seaters, and Antel has been quick to recognise his outstanding promise and potential.

“We watched Callum in KF3 and KF2 karting, and he stood out to us immediately,” explained team principal Brett Parris. “I rate him extremely highly and we’ve been desperate to get him into our car for well over a year now, so I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to put a deal together for 2011.”

“We did our first test with Antel before Christmas to see how we got on, and after that went well, we tried to get everything sorted,” added the Gunthorpe ace. “They’re a great bunch of guys – they’ve really welcomed me, and we all work together really well. I’m already very comfortable as part of the team, and it feels like I’ve been here for ages – I really feel at home at Antel. Hopefully, that will all translate into good results on-track this year.”

One factor that will undoubtedly help the 16-year-old in his transition is the presence of an experienced team-mate alongside him to learn from in the shape of Dino Zamparelli, a driver with prior knowledge of BARC Formula Renault from 2009. Acknowledging that the ability to share data in the quest for mutual improvement and progress will be a boost, Callum is clearly keen for the pair to push each other and in so doing drive the whole team forward.

Thus far, the former Ken Stimpson School pupil has tested his new toy at Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Thruxton and Croft – five of the six circuits that will constitute the 2011 calendar, with Donington Park the only remaining track still to visit, albeit on the agenda for before the season starts. The car racing rookie admits that the distinctly capricious elements – good practice for the famously unpredictable British summer, at least – have scarcely aided his apprenticeship, but the approach that he is adopting is palpably a mature one, and one that should serve him well over the months and challenges to come.

“I was quite open-minded going into the first test about what to expect,” he reflected. “Apart from a Ginetta Junior shoot-out last year, all the experience I’ve had so far has been in karting, which is very different. I knew it would be a big step-up; I’ve seen other drivers going from karts into cars, and some have struggled whilst others have done quite well. Obviously it’s a big jump in terms of the speed and the size of the tracks and the cars – I certainly can’t go for little gaps anymore like I used to!

“It was quite straightforward getting used to the car, to be honest, although pulling out of the garage for the first time did feel a bit strange. The BARC Formula Renault has a lot of power – at Thruxton in the wet I was heading up towards the chicane at 135mph and sitting just an inch off the floor! It’s an amazing feeling. I’ve got a gearbox to deal with now and weight transfer to have to think about, too. It just takes time to get used to it all, and the weather hasn’t helped us – it’s rained at nearly every test so far. That has made it difficult to learn, but you’ve just got to get on with it.

“The aerodynamic grip has been one of the biggest changes to adjust to. It’s all a question of mind-over-matter – you go into a corner and you’ve got no grip, and then you go into the same corner again but 20mph faster and you’ve got loads of grip, because the extra speed forces the car down to the ground. That’s been one of the hardest things to learn, simply because it’s the complete opposite of what you would expect – you think you’ll go off if you go in too fast, but the car just reacts to it and grips around the corner. I still haven’t quite mastered that yet, but I’m getting there.”

“Every circuit we’ve gone to has been a lot of fun and really good to drive, with plenty of undulation and demanding corners – I’ve really enjoyed them all. Testing has gone really well so far, and we just need to keep on building upon that now every time we go out. I’m getting consistently closer to the pace, and we’ve never been that far off, in truth – even on my first day in the car I was straight into the top ten, which was really encouraging. Since then, I’ve had five more days and seem to be getting closer-and-closer every time.

“It’s still quite difficult to assess where we are in the pecking order at the moment – in karting, I knew who would be quick and who I would need to look out for from one year to the next, whereas in BARC Formula Renault, I’m not really sure who’s who yet – but at the media day at Silverstone every driver competing in the championship should be there, so that will be a good opportunity to gauge our relative position. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Although an agreement with Antel has been reached in principle, Callum still needs more funding to be able to finalise the deal and participate in BARC Formula Renault in 2011. With the final meeting of the year due to support the high-profile, live ITV-televised British Touring Car Championship at the celebrated ‘Home of British Motor Racing’, Silverstone, interested backers have a superb opportunity not only to invest in and support the burgeoning career of an exciting young racing driver who is clearly going places – and fast – but also to benefit from unparalleled nationwide publicity at the same time.

What’s more, corporate race weekend hospitality as well as car, pit and garage tours offer a unique possibility to take a privileged peak behind-the-scenes of a sport that is widely-held to be the most glamorous – and certainly the fastest – the world over.

If you are interested in backing Callum, please contact Tracey Bowyer on 01733 701099 or 07960 400731, or e-mail: callumkf3@hotmail.com

Drivers competing in next year’s Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship are to benefit from the capacity crowds and live television exposure of the British Touring Car Championship for the final two rounds of the season after organisers unveiled the 2011 calendar.

The one-make single-seater category will once again be contested over 12 rounds (six double-headers) with the final two races – often the championship decider due to the series’ closely fought nature – joining the TOCA package at Northamptonshire’s Silverstone circuit on 15th/16th October.

The move marks only the second time the Protyre BARC series has joined the popular BTCC package (previous 2006) with the championship filling the slot left by the ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin which in 2011 features a 16-round calendar. It will join BTCC regular the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship as Renault Sport UK’s second support race at the Silverstone meeting giving spectators four thrilling single-seater rounds to enjoy.

More than 40,000 spectators attended the BTCC finale earlier this year which enjoys comprehensive live television coverage on the ITV Sport network and website, and, from next year, the channel’s new HD channel.

Meanwhile the rest of the calendar sees the series kick-off at Donington Park National on Easter weekend (23rd/24th April) before moving to Brands Hatch Indy (14th/15th May), Oulton Park Island (28th May), Croft (23rd/24th July) and Thruxton (3rd September).

The series will also continue to be run by Grovewood Sport Ltd with Championship Promoter Simon North commenting: “We are very much looking forward to the 2011 Protyre BARC series and in particular the introduction on the BTCC meeting. The series has always been a proven feeder series to the national-level Formula Renault UK Championship but this announcement means the top BARC drivers will be able to demonstrate their talents in front of the UK teams along with the thousands of spectators and millions more watching live on ITV.

Chipping Norton racer Alice Powell secured the 2010 Protyre BARC Championship title after a thrilling head-to-head finale with Mitchell Hale (Bristol) at Thruxton. Protyre BARC racers were also well represented in this year’s packed Winter Cup series which was won by Suffolk ace Josh Webster.

Interest is also already building ahead of the 2011 season with the recent announcement of Indian racing driver Zaamin Jaffer signing a deal with reigning champion team Hillspeed.

Snetterton saw the first two rounds of the Formula Renault Winter Cup on a shortened race card at Snetterton which saw a mixture of 2010 Renault chassis mix it with the older 2009 Tatuus cars.    Formula Renault is now an established career path for those progressing up the single seater ladder, and is a real breeding ground for future household names, Kimi Raikkonen in particular being the most well known.

Morning qualifying was damp, the majority of competitors opting for wet tyres rather than risking slicks, and it was Jack Hawksworth in the Mark Burdett Motorsport prepared car who would claim pole position, just 0.029s ahead of Alex Lynn’s Fortec car.    Danii Kvyat, Luke Wright and Carlos Sainz Jnr (son of the former World Rally Champion) completed the top 5.

Josh Hill (son of 1996 F1 World Champion), making his ‘slicks ‘n’ wings’ debut was a creditable 7th, whilst 2010 Formula Renault BARC champion Alice Powell was down in 17th place. “Awful” was how she described the session, knowing that she had created a lot of work for herself in the two races to follow, as race 2 times were decided by 2nd best lap from the single 20 minute qualifying session rather than by the results of race 1.    Mackenzie Taylor secured pole position for the older BARC class cars.

Race 1 saw the field head off, only to see the safety car deployed after two laps to clear up Mitchell Gilbert and Antti Rammo’s stranded cars at Sear corner, this taking 5 or so laps before racing could resume.    Matt Bell was the next casualty, pulling off at Riches as soon as racing resumed.

Leading from the start was Alex Lynn, taking his first race win, and claimed fastest lap as well.   Ollie Millroy was 2nd 2.34s adrift with Kiwi Richie Stanaway 3rd and pole man Hawksworth 4th.     Hill had a cautious first race, finishing 7th, a little distant from the squabble for 5th ahead of him, which Luke Wright won ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr.

Alice Powell had used her racing experience to put the qualifying problems behind her, battling up to 9th place, and it was Josh Webster who took the BARC class championship.

Race two saw Daniil Kyvat take the Chequered Flag ahead of Millroy, but they were both given 5 second penalties for gaining an advantage during the safety car period, this handing race victory to Alex Lynn.   Luke Wright impressed with 2nd place overall, just 0.491s behind Lynn at the flag.   Kvyat ended up third, with Millroy 4th and Wells 5th.   Alice Powell drove from 15th to 7th. and Josh Webster repeated his earlier victory with another class win.     A brace of retirements early on saw Carlos Sainz Jnr, Richie Stanaway and Mitchell Hale and the safety car was again deployed to clear up the stricken cars at Russell’s Chicane.

Josh Hill retired on lap 12, but showed impressive pace in setting 2nd fastest race lap and running as high as third before retiring from the race with an electrical problem.

Both Caterham Acadamy races were won by Jon Mortimer, the race results suggest race 1 was an easy win, but it was a close race between him and poleman Nick Powell.  Powell leading the early stages, before a mistake at Riches corner spun him, but he fought back to take 6th overall.      Powell kept things pointing in the right direction for race 2, finishing 2nd, 8 seconds behind Mortimer.

So, the sun sets on another season at Snetterton.    Next season will be very different with track works starting soon to build the circuit extension between Riches and Sear, and many other parts of the circuit will be given a nip and a tuck.    Mortimer won the final race on the current circuit configuration, whilst Bob Pearson, who was the last man running, was the last man to complete a racing lap, so makes his own little piece of history.

The Formula Renault Winter cup continues next weekend at Pembrey, where the Ginetta Junior winter series will join them.

Report: Andrew Cliffe

Photography: Norwich Photo

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