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Russell Racing Secures First Points of BARC Season |
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Tuesday, 22 May 2007 |
 Doncaster-based Formula Renault BARC entrant Russell Racing enjoyed a double points finish at Croft earlier today during the second and third rounds of the 2007 season, Manchester racer Mark Gillibrand finishing ninth in the first encounter and then adding another hard-fought top 10 to his tally in the second race of the weekend.
The 24-year-old, who made his single-seater debut last time out at Donington Park, delivered a top 10 grid slot during Saturday’s qualifying session for round two at the North Yorkshire venue and after posting the 11th fastest time in round three qualifying, Mark had his sights firmly set on breaking into the points in only his second ever Formula Renault BARC race meeting.
While round two was a more straightforward affair, Mark rising as high
as eighth position at one point and just missing out on a top eight
finish by only two 10ths of a second, in round three the Mancunian ran
strongly in the top 10 until lap seven when he dropped a couple of
positions.
Battling back hard during the remaining five laps, the former 125cc and
250cc gearbox kart racer took 11th place on lap 10 from Louis
Hamilton-Smith and then on the final tour, lap 12, produced a great
pass on Estonian Sten Pentus to seize his second points finish of the
weekend. The result means Mark is now 12th in the FR2000 Class
standings.
“We’re delighted Mark has scored the team’s first points of the
season”, said Russell Racing owner Tim Russell, “He performed well this
weekend and as he spends more time in the car he’ll obviously improve.
His progress is very good and we’re confident he’ll be a regular in the
top six before long.”
Mixed fortunes for Bahraini trio
Russell Racing’s Bahraini contingent, which swelled to three at Croft
with the arrival of rapid new sensation Mohamed Al A’li, had a weekend
of mixed fortunes. For Essa Mohammed and Menasheh Idafar the weekend
produced more than their fair share of trouble, although the former did
manage a brace of solid finishes.
Although forced to miss the first race of today’s races due to being
considered a reserve entry as a new registrant to the fully subscribed
series, newcomer Al A’li enjoyed better fortunes in round three when
Ash Davies was unable to start meaning the Middle East-Russell Racing
youngster had the opportunity he deserved.
Starting from the pitlane by virtue of his reserve status, even though
in qualifying he had set an impressive 13th fastest time, any kind of
result was always going to be a tall order for Al A’li but he made
great progress to end the race in 18th position from 31 finishers.
The talented 16-year-old underlined the performance he had displayed in
Saturday’s qualifying by posting the 13th fastest lap time in round
three, just two 100ths of a second shy of the best set by series
front-runner Pentus.
Essa, meanwhile, made a great start to the first race and held 10th
position on lap one but after running wide at Clervaux at the beginning
of lap two, the 16-year-old was forced to battle back through the order
before eventually finishing in 17th position. In round three Essa
finished in 16th place having started 19th on the grid.
Menasheh had the worst fortune of all four Russell Racing drivers, the
Middle Eastern 16-year-old seeing decent qualifying performances come
to nothing when he was forced to retire on the fifth lap of round two.
Frustratingly for team and driver, further mechanical issues ended his
involvement in round three before he hardly had a chance to start.
Tim Russell added: “This championship is very tough but Essa, Menasheh
and Mohamed are all showing good speed and we’re certain within the
next couple of race meetings they will be challenging for points
results. Mohamed made big strides on his debut and we’re sure more will
follow at Oulton Park a few weeks from now.”
There is now a month-long break in the Formula Renault BARC calendar
ahead of round four of the campaign which will take place at Oulton
Park Island Circuit in Cheshire on Saturday, 16th June.
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