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Fourth Win For Bird As Hohenthal Extends Lead |
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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
Sam Bird (Claygate, Surrey) completed a lights-to-flag victory in round 18 of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship on Sunday, 24th September to regain third place in the drivers’ standings. His Fortec Motorsport team-mate Sebastian Hohenthal (Northampton) finished in third, two places ahead of title rival Patrick Hogan (Killiney, Co Dublin) to stretch his Championship lead to 19 points with two races left. However, this becomes nine points, as each driver is required to drop his two worst scores of the season to determine their final points total.
Hogan started from fifth on the grid after a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday, leaving him on the outside line around the high-speed Paddock Hill Bend. The Irishman showed great courage to hold his position as other drivers took the inside line and he was rewarded by keeping fifth place behind Manor Motorsport’s Franck Mailleux (Hull) at the end of the first lap.
The long-time series leader was under intense pressure from rookie driver Fabio Onidi (Northampton) who was looking to close the points gap on B4 Group Graduate Cup leader Dean Smith (Wolverhampton). The Italian driver filled the mirrors of the AKA Lemac star for the early part of the race but although he looked set to pass on a couple of occasions, Hogan’s car control enabled him to comfortably stay ahead and pull away.
Hogan’s title rival Hohenthal was also under pressure from Mailleux in the opening laps, which allowed Bird and second placed Cheng Cong Fu (Oxford) to open a two-second advantage over the chasing pack. In midfield, Position 1 Racing’s Armaan Ebrahim (Woking) passed Scorpio Motorsport’s David Epton (Fleet, Hants) for 12th place as Manor’s Joao Vasconcelos (Anston, Sheffield) ran wide at Clark Curve, allowing Welch Motorsport’s Daniel Welch (Fleet, Hants) and AKA Lemac’s Michael Meadows (Shutford, Banbury) to each gain one place.
Once clear of Onidi’s attentions, Hogan set about chasing down Mailleux for fourth place. Meanwhile, Bird set the Fastest Lap of the race on lap 11 with a time of 45.440s (94.96mph) to claim two bonus points. While Onidi led the six Graduate Cup contenders, Smith was edging clear of fellow Graduate Cup driver Ebrahim to challenge Scorpio’s Will Bratt (Banbury, Oxon) for 10th place, finally getting past on lap 12. Immediately, Smith pulled away from Bratt, but Ebrahim was unable to copy the move leaving him down in 12th position after a promising qualifying session on Saturday.
With overtaking at the 1.20-mile circuit proving to be as difficult as expected due to the tight nature of the track, the race entered its final quarter with Bird extending his lead by one-tenth of a second per lap over Cheng. Hohenthal was able to break away from Mailleux, leaving him comfortably in third place.
On the penultimate lap, Welch ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend enabling Epton to use his greater momentum on the run up the hill to Druids Bend to claim 13th place. Meadows tried to take advantage of Welch’s slip by diving up the inside at Druids, the series debutant clipping Welch and spinning him out of the race as he took 14th place.
Bird continued to force the pace on the final lap, wary of Cheng’s permanent presence just over one second behind him. But the 19-year-old kept his nerve to win his fourth race of the season and leapfrog ahead of the Chinese in the drivers’ standings.
Commenting on the victory, Bird said: “It’s been a great weekend for both myself and Fortec Motorsport but by
no means was it an easy win. Cheng was in my mirrors the whole race and
I wasn’t able to pull away from him very much at all. It’s a very busy
circuit because the corners come so soon after each other so you have
to be alert. The drivers are so evenly matched we run so close together
and that kept me on my toes.”
Second placed Cheng commented: “My start was a little better this time
but Sam also got away cleanly and it’s very difficult to get past. My
results here show how much difference a good qualifying session can
make and now I have to concentrate on improving my qualifying at every
race.”
Having extended his Championship lead by five points, Hohenthal said:
“I was under a lot of pressure from Franck at the start of the race and
by the time I had pulled away from him, Sam and Cheng were too far in
front to catch. But I knew they aren’t in contention for the
Championship and was happy to let them go and take third. The most
important person is Paddy (Hogan) and he was behind me.”
The season reaches its conclusion with rounds 19 and 20 at Silverstone National circuit on Sunday, 15th October.
Standings after Round 18 - provisional
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nationality |
Team |
Points |
| Drivers’ Championship standings |
| 1 |
Sebastian Hohenthal |
SWE |
Fortec Motorsport |
439 |
| 2 |
Patrick Hogan |
IRL |
AKA Lemac |
420 |
| 3 |
Sam Bird |
GBR |
Fortec Motorsport |
345 |
| 4 |
Cheng Cong Fu |
CHN |
Manor Motorsport |
340 |
| 5 |
Jeremy Metcalfe |
GBR |
AKA Lemac |
317 |
| 6 |
James Sutton |
GBR |
Fortec Motorsport |
300 |
| 7 |
Markus Niemelä |
FIN |
Mark Burdett Motorsport |
260 |
| 8 |
Will Bratt |
GBR |
Scorpio Motorsport |
248 |
| 9 |
Dean Smith |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
189 |
| 10 |
Fabio Onidi |
ITA |
Fortec Motorsport |
179 |
| B4 Group Graduate Cup Standings |
| 1 |
Dean Smith |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
189 |
| 2 |
Fabio Onidi |
ITA |
Fortec Motorsport |
179 |
| 3 |
Daniel Roos |
SWE |
Nexa Racing |
127 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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