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Hohenthal Clinches Fifth Win Of Season To Keep Title Bid Alive |
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Monday, 11 September 2006 |
Fortec Motorsport’s Sebastian Hohenthal (Northampton) overcame the disappointment of his exclusion from round 15 of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship by winning round 16 at the World Series by Renault event at Donington Park. The Swede led from lights to flag and picked up two bonus points for setting the Fastest Lap to claim his fifth victory of the campaign and close to within two points of Championship leader Patrick Hogan (Killiney, Co Dublin) who finished third. Hohenthal’s team-mate Sam Bird (Claygate, Surrey) added a second place to his round 15 win.
Having qualified on pole position, Hohenthal took full advantage to lead away from Bird and Hogan on the opening lap. Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Markus Niemelä (Lincoln) challenged AKA Lemac’s Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet, Hants) at
Goddards chicane for fourth place but was just unable to find a way
through.
As the leading pair edged away from AKA Lemac’s Hogan, Manor
Motorsport’s Franck Mailleux (Hull) passed both James Sutton (New
Barnet, Herts) and team-mate Cheng Cong Fu (Oxford) to claim sixth
place. One lap later, the Frenchman, who also raced in the World
Series’ Eurocup Mégane Trophy over the weekend, overtook Niemelä at the
Melbourne Hairpin for fifth place where he would eventually finish.
Scorpio Motorsport team-mates Will Bratt (Banbury, Oxon) and David
Epton (Fleet, Hants) battled for 10th place, which became a tussle for
eighth place as Sutton and Comtec Racing’s Pippa Mann (Aldeburgh,
Suffolk) tangled at Fogarty Esses. Epton managed to get in front of his
team-mate but his race ended on lap seven when he spun off the circuit.
Mann’s incident with Sutton damaged her front wing but she was still
able to fend off AKA Lemac’s Peter Rees (Pangbourne, Berks), Jamun
Racing Services’ Duncan Tappy (West Ewell, Surrey) and Manor
Motorsport’s Joao Vasconcelos (Sheffield). Tappy passed Vasconcelos at
Fogarty Esses and although the Portuguese briefly re-took the place at
Redgate corner, he ran wide to allow the Briton back through to 12th
place.
As the race entered the final four laps, Hogan had dropped to three
seconds behind the leading Fortec duo and was now coming under pressure
from team-mate Metcalfe, who closed by half a second on lap nine. But
Metcalfe, like Bird ahead of him, was reluctant to make a forceful
overtaking move on a team-mate who is battling for the title.
Metcalfe’s solid showing was enough, however, to win the DPRAC Cup for
the highest scoring British driver over the course of the four rounds
held at Donington Park this season.
On the penultimate lap, Tappy passed Cheng for 11th place with a superb
move up the inside at McLeans. Meanwhile, Coles Racing’s Dean Smith
(Wolverhampton) was closely following Bratt in eighth place to keep
ahead of Fortec’s Fabio Onidi (Northampton) and extend his lead in the
battle for the B4 Group Graduate Cup.
The victory, however, belonged to Hohenthal and he took the chequered
flag 0.998s ahead of Bird as the Fortec pair completed a formation
finish. Hogan stayed just ahead of Metcalfe to take third and retain
the lead in the Championship after a weekend when he admitted his rival
had superior pace.
Commenting on the victory and the fight for the title, Hohenthal said:
“This morning was a bad start to the day for me with the exclusion but
at least now I can leave the circuit with a smile on my lips. It was
good to have Sam in my mirrors as a team-mate but it was also good to
see Paddy disappearing out of my mirrors. There are still four races to
go and in motorsport the situation can change in an instant.”
Bird added: “I was happy to play the team game because Sebastian is
fighting for the title and I am fighting for wins and podiums. It was a
good race and nice to know that I could have overtaken him if I had
wanted to because I think I had the faster car.
A gracious Hogan commented: “Fortec have done a good job this weekend
and I actually expected Sebastian to take the lead in the Championship
by the time we left here. AKA Lemac has been tremendous for me all
season but when you’re not in a position to win the race you have to
limit your losses and we did that very well today. I had a win at
Brands Hatch earlier in the season so I’m confident heading into the
next two rounds.”
Hogan leads the Championship by just two points from Hohenthal, but
when each driver drops their two worst scores as required by the
regulations, the Irishman’s lead is 12 points. Rounds 17 and 18 will be
held at Brands Hatch on 23rd/24th September.
The results remain provisional pending the checking of the engines of the front three finishers in round 16.
Standings after Round 16 - provisional
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nationality |
Team |
Points |
| Drivers’ Championship |
| 1 |
Patrick Hogan |
IRL |
AKA Lemac |
382 |
| 2 |
Sebastian Hohenthal |
SWE |
Fortec Motorsport |
380 |
| 3 |
Sam Bird |
GBR |
Fortec Motorsport |
289 |
| 4 |
Jeremy Metcalfe |
GBR |
AKA Lemac |
289 |
| 5 |
Cheng Cong Fu |
CHN |
Manor Motorsport |
287 |
| 6 |
James Sutton |
GBR |
Fortec Motorsport |
264 |
| 7 |
Will Bratt |
GBR |
Scorpio Motorsport |
231 |
| 8 |
Markus Niemelä |
FIN |
Mark Burdett Motorsport |
218 |
| 9 |
Dean Smith |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
166 |
| 10 |
Valle Makela |
FIN |
Manor Motorsport |
161 |
| B4 Group Graduate Cup |
| 1 |
Dean Smith |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
166 |
| 2 |
Fabio Onidi |
ITA |
Fortec Motorsport |
161 |
| 3 |
Daniel Roos |
SWE |
Nexa Racing |
116 |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 December 2006 )
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