|
Thruxton Double For Jubilant Winner Smith |
|
|
|
|
Monday, 07 May 2007 |
On the day he took his first Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship win, Dean Smith (Wolverhampton) made it two in a row with victory in round six at Thruxton on Sunday, 6th May. The Fortec Motorsport driver also picked up two bonus points for setting the NGK Laser Platinum fastest lap. His team-mate Duncan Tappy (Ewell) finished second with AKA Cobra’s Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet) third on his home circuit.
AKA Cobra’s Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield) made a clean start from pole position and lead through the first half-lap. But fellow front row starter Dean Smith (Wolverhampton), winner of round five earlier in the day, was applying pressure throughout the first lap and took the lead at Club chicane with Tappy and Metcalfe in third and fourth.
Borthwick Motorsports’ Ryan Borthwick (Hawick) made a superb start from
16th to lie 12th at the end of lap one, while Eucatex’s Adriano Buzaid
(Oxford) gained three places from 11th on the grid. Fortec Motorsport’s
Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield) had a disastrous first lap,
understeering off the circuit at Village and dropping a full 20 seconds
behind the last place car.
AKA Cobra’s Nathan Caratti (London), after the best qualifying
performance of his season in fifth, came under pressure from Apotex
Scorpio Motorsport’s Will Bratt. On lap three, Caratti dropped four
places to ninth as Bratt took fifth ahead of Manor Competition’s
Richard Singleton (Conwy), Buzaid and Apotex Scorpio’s David Epton
(Fleet).
This change allowed the top four cars to break clear by four and a half
seconds, with Smith gradually extending his lead over Tappy. On lap
four, Sims passed Caratti at Club chicane as the Australian’s
disappointing race continued. Meanwhile, Buzaid came under pressure
from Epton, who was looking strong in just his second race of the
season.
The pressure finally told on lap seven as Epton used the slipstream
from Buzaid to his full advantage up Woodham Hill to claim seventh
place. The move was identical to the one used by AKA Cobra’s Jeremy
Metcalfe to pass team-mate Adam Christodoulou on lap five to take the
final place on the podium, albeit several seconds behind the two
leaders.
On lap six, Manor’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) ran very wide at the
high-speed Goodwood corner and lost four laps after recovering to the
pitlane for repairs. Although he rejoined the race and finished, he did
not complete the required percentage of the leader’s race distance to
be classified in the official results.
A good battle for 12th place between Borthwick and Fortec’s Ryuji
Yamamoto (Northampton) was disrupted when Manor’s Kris Loane (Kesh)
passed them both around the outside at Club chicane. Yamamoto then
passed Borthwick but later contact between Loane and Yamamoto ended the
race of the Japanese and relegated Loane to last place.
With Borthwick struggling after slight damage to a rear wishbone, both
Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Daniel Ivarsson (Skegness) and AKA Cobra’s
Chris Holmes (Ilkley) passed the Scot. At the rear of the field, Riki
Christodoulou had made up the time he lost and overtook Borthwick at
the Complex as he tried to salvage more championship points.
In the battle for sixth place, Singleton had been catching Bratt for
several laps and as the race entered its final stages was in position
to challenge. With three laps to go, Singleton out-braked Bratt at Club
chicane with a brave move round the outside to take sixth place and
record his best result of the season.
On the penultimate lap, the contact between Loana and Yamamoto left the
latter driving slowly through the chicane with a rear puncture as
leader Smith reached that part of the circuit. Despite slowing, his
lead of more than two and a half seconds gave him enough of a cushion
to hold off Tappy on the closing lap and take his second win of the day.
Commenting on his victory, Smith said: “Once again the car was
fantastic and my engineer has done an amazing job in giving me the
right set-up. I knew as soon as we started the Green Flag Lap before
the race that it felt good and once I passed Adam I tried to push and
gain as much of a lead as possible. Once I broke the slipstream I could
get away and it’s been a brilliant weekend all round.”
Second-placed Tappy said: “I can’t be disappointed with two podiums
this weekend but Dean just had a slight advantage all weekend. His car
was quick as soon as we arrived here and although I’ve closed the gap
during the weekend it wasn’t quite enough. Dean had one quick lap early
in the race but after that it was quite close between us and the team
has done well again to claim the top two positions.”
Third-placed Metcalfe, making his first podium appearance since winning
round one, said: “I had a bad start but made up a couple of places on
the first lap. I think Adam did the sensible thing when he saw I was
faster and didn’t defend too strongly but I was too far behind to catch
the Fortec cars. Hopefully we can do some work during the test at Croft
and build on this result.”
Rounds seven and eight of the Formula Renault UK Championship take place at North Yorkshire’s Croft circuit on 2nd/3rd June.
|
News