|
Sixth Win Caps Brilliant Season For Singleton |
|
|
|
|
Monday, 25 September 2006 |
Coles Racing’s Richard Singleton (Conway, Wales) eased to victory in round 12 of the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Brands Hatch Indy on Sunday, 24th September, his sixth in a title-winning season. The 17-year-old, who has entered the final two rounds of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship in preparation for a full campaign in 2007, won by 5.730s from Hillspeed’s James Littlejohn (Warwick). Eurotek Motorsport’s Emma Selway (Tring, Herts) scored her first podium in car racing, finishing in third place.
The race was held as part of the support package to the British Touring Car Championship, guaranteeing a huge crowd for the season’s final race.
Following the withdrawal of Jordan Oakes (Hopton, Norfolk) from the race, pole-sitter Singleton was unchallenged from the front row as the 26-car field negotiated Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. Andrew Meyrick (Oakmere, Cheshire) had a poor first lap, dropping from third on the grid to fifth, allowing Littlejohn to slot into second ahead of Selway and Rossi (Blackburn). The Worswick Engineering racer, who overtook Hywel Lloyd (Corwen, Denbighshire) at the start, made a successful pass on lap two and began to chase Littlejohn and Singleton.
Meyrick’s disappointing start was compounded by a clash with Louis Hamilton-Smith (Stratford upon Avon, Warks) on lap two, resulting in Meyrick’s retirement. In midfield, Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Thomas Arme (Staffordshire Moorlands) passed Welch Motorsport’s Ian Pearson (Didcot, Oxon) on lap three before passing Ryan Borthwick (Hawick, Scotland) and Andrew Bentley (County Durham).
In Club Class, for pre-2000 Formula Renault cars, Mark Terry (Chatham, Kent) led comfortably at his home circuit from James Heffernan (London) and round 11 winner Adrian Dixon (Harpenden, Herts). He was unable to challenge for the Class lead, however, as FR2000 Class driver Robin Palmer (Yelverton, Devon) was sandwiched between them.
As Rossi closed on James Littlejohn, their ensuing tussle enabled Selway and Lloyd to reduce the gap between second and fifth places. Rossi made two attempts to pass Littlejohn after carrying more speed through Clearways, but on both occasions he found a backmarker thwarting his attempt at Paddock Hill Bend by occupying the overtaking line in their efforts to allow Littlejohn through on the racing line.
On the third occasion, Adrian Dixon was the backmarker in question and as Rossi moved to pass at Druids Bend, the pair made contact causing damage to Rossi’s front wing and Dixon’s rear tyre. The tyre then punctured on the approach to Graham Hill Bend, leaving Dixon a passenger as he spun. The unfortunate knock-on effect saw Rossi run wide across the grass into the tyre wall and retirement.
Where Rossi had failed to gain a place after carrying greater speed through Clearways, Hywel Lloyd was able to successfully complete this manoeuvre to pass Selway for third place. But disaster struck for the Welshman in the closing two laps, an intermittent engine problem causing him to lose power and dropping him to ninth place.
Mechanical problems also ended the races of Club Class rivals Mark Terry and Simon Keast, a broken throttle cable and faulty gear selection highlighted as respective causes. This allowed Heffernan to claim his second category win in three races, ahead of Robert Pearson (Didcot, Oxon) and Muzz Race’s Steve Hanselman (Basildon, Essex), who makes his first podium appearance of the season.
The race, like the season, belonged to Singleton and his status as Champion was underlined with a sixth win in 12 races. He also set a new lap record with a time of 46.599s (92.59mph). His record of 11 podium finishes in 12 races, blotted only by a seventh place at Snetterton in round two, is even more impressive given the quality of this season’s opposition in the feeder series to the prestigious Formula Renault UK Championship.
Commenting on his win, Singleton said: “The pressure was off today so I was able to go out and enjoy it a bit
more. The whole season has gone better than I could have hoped for and
to finish with six wins is amazing really. My only real worry in the
race was getting past the backmarkers but they were aware and made it
very easy for me. Now I want to show what I can do in Formula Renault
UK at Silverstone.”
Littlejohn was delighted with second place, which lifts him above Rossi
in the final drivers’ standings. He said: “I was struggling for
straight line speed today so Rossi was always going to be able to
challenge me at Paddock Hill. But I enjoyed fending him off and it’s
probably the longest amount of time I’ve had to do that for. To come
second in front of a big crowd at a BTCC meeting and third overall is a
great end to the season.”
An emotional Selway said: “I’m just ecstatic with third place. I did a
lot better in the second qualifying session and got a good start. I’ve
been taking a different line through Clearways, which worked in
qualifying. But in the race I ended up going through the gravel and
that let Hywel past. When he slowed I knew I was on for a podium finish
and I’m just so happy.”
Championship standings after Round 12 - provisional
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nationality |
Team |
Points |
| FR2000 Class |
| 1 |
Richard Singleton |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
158 |
| 2 |
Jordan Oakes |
GBR |
Eurotek Motorsport |
109 |
| 3 |
James Littlejohn |
GBR |
Hillspeed |
97 |
| 4 |
Rossi |
GBR |
Worswick Engineering |
82 |
| 5 |
Hywel Lloyd |
GBR |
CF Racing |
57 |
| 6 |
Craig Copeland |
GBR |
Mark Burdett Motorsport |
44 |
| 7 |
Matt Shawyer |
GBR |
Russell Racing |
40 |
| 8 |
David Scott |
GBR |
DS Motorsport |
39 |
| 9 |
Thomas Arme |
GBR |
Mark Burdett Motorsport |
38 |
| 10 |
Michael Broadhurst |
GBR |
Hillspeed |
32 |
| Club Class |
| 1 |
Ian Pearson |
GBR |
Driver |
138 |
| 2 |
Mark Terry |
GBR |
Reon Motorsport |
106 |
| 3 |
James Heffernan |
GBR |
JH Motorsport |
105 |
| 4 |
Robert Pearson |
GBR |
Driver |
84 |
| 5 |
Andrew Webb |
GBR |
Driver |
62 |
| 6 |
Simon Keast |
GBR |
Muzz Race |
53 |
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
|
News