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Stoneman Surges Into Championship Lead With Double Win |
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Tuesday, 14 August 2007 |
Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman (Southampton) came away from Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit leading the Formula Renault BARC Championship after winning rounds seven and eight on 11th/12th August. The 16-year-old leads the FR2000 Class standings by nine points from CF Racing’s Hywel Lloyd (Corwen) as the Welshman finished second and seventh.
Reon Motorsport’s Roberto Tirone (Amberley) collected a first victory in Club Class in round seven, adding second place in round eight. Reigning Club Class champion Ian Pearson (Didcot) bounced back from retirement in round seven to win round eight comfortably, finishing 13th overall.
Each day of the race meeting saw one qualifying session and one race,
with Eurotek Motorsport’s David McDonald (Ewell) scoring a first
single-seater pole position for Saturday’s round seven with a time of
1min 08.386s (102.75mph). His team-mate Sung Hak Mun lined up alongside
him as Lloyd and Stoneman could only manage seventh and eighth.
On the green flag lap, an electrical problem ended Ian Pearson’s race
before it began. As the race got underway, Mun got past McDonald at
Riches to lead with Worswick Engineering’s Rossi (Blackburn) and Double
M Racing’s Aaron Steele (Chatham) also making good starts. Problems
arose at Riches as Steele spun, collecting the unfortunate Rossi and
forcing him into retirement as Steele resumed with front-wing damage.
Lloyd and Stoneman each collected two further places to lie third and
fourth when the red flag was deployed due to Russell Racing’s Mark
Gillibrand (Manchester) retiring in a dangerous position at the Esses.
The race re-started with the cars in race order but a spin at the Esses
for the Club Class car of Bob Pearson (Didcot) on the first racing lap
saw a second red flag in quick succession.
Following the two stoppages, the race distance was five laps at the
second re-start as Mun led away from McDonald. On lap three, Mun made
an error to drop to fifth and hand his team-mate the lead. Stoneman
passed Lloyd on the same tour to claim second place, while Roberto
Tirone led the Club Class from Heffernan with the FR2000 Class car of
Robin Palmer (Yelverton) between them.
More drama came on the final lap as McDonald, on the verge of his first
win in car racing, ran slightly wide at Coram curve and was unable to
take his usual line through Russell chicane to drop to fifth. Stoneman
took full advantage to move through on the inside to take the win ahead
of Lloyd, while 3K’s Racing’s Kieren Clark (Tadlow) passed both Eurotek
cars to clinch fourth and his best result of the season. Mark Burdett
Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock (Hook) scored one bonus championship point
for setting the fastest lap of the race at 1min 09.436s (101.20mph).
Bright and dry conditions continued into Sunday as the 30-car entry
qualified for round eight, with Stoneman clinching his third pole
position of the season with a time of 1min 08.350s (102.81mph). The
first-year driver made a perfect start to lead away from fellow
front-row starter Mun, who was passed by Rossi at Riches.
Starting from eighth on the grid, Championship leader Hywel Lloyd was
squeezed onto the grass as McDonald and Kieren Clark battled, dropping
the Welshman to midfield. Once again a red flag intervened at the end
of lap two as Club Class duo Adrian Dixon (Harpenden) and Steven
Durrant (Rayleigh) came together at the Bombhole hitting the tyre wall.
The leaders were starting lap three at the time and McDonald retired at
Sear after contact with Aaron Steele under braking.
At the re-start, Rossi threatened to pull alongside Stoneman but the
pole-sitter held the lead through the first lap. Lloyd made his way up
to 13th as he tried to limit the damage caused by his earlier excursion
on the grass, while Hancock and Copeland touched wheels at the Esses on
lap two dropping Hancock to 22nd.
Despite slight damage to his steering caused on the first start, Kieren
Clark was able to pass Quantexe Racing’s Felix Fisher (Bridgwater) for
sixth place on lap three. Stoneman continued to edge away from Rossi by
a couple of tenths of a second per lap, with Mun and Steele running in
tandem two seconds behind. Falcon Motorsport’s Craig Copeland
(Wimbourne) occupied a lonely fifth place.
Lloyd was making progress on his recovery drive, passing Hillspeed’s
Chris Dittmann (Tewkesbury) and Taro Motorsport’s Ash Davies (Conwy) on
successive laps to lie eighth on lap five. Davies retired two laps
later, while Ollie Hancock continued to make his way through the field
to reach 16th by the end of lap seven.
Ian Pearson was running 12th overall to comfortably lead the Club Class
from Tirone and Heffernan in 20th and 21st respectively. The race for
second place in Club Class saw the duo separated by no more than one
second for the duration of the 12-lap race but Heffernan was unable to
force a mistake from the calm Tirone.
On lap eight, Lloyd passed Fisher for seventh place and was lapping at
the same pace as leader Stoneman, who held a two-second advantage to
Rossi. The closest battle on the circuit saw Hillspeed Racing’s Omani
racer Ahmad Al Harthy (Hathersage) and Boulevard Team Racing’s Joshua
Brooks (Alford) dicing for 17th place, with Brooks eventually winning
out after a fantastic duel.
Lap 10 saw Kieren Clark set a new fastest lap as he kept clear of Lloyd
and pressed Copeland for fifth place. Stoneman responded on lap 11 with
the fastest lap of the race at 1min 08.615s (102.41mph) and claim a
bonus point that could prove crucial in the title race. Stoneman went
on to win by 2.302s from Rossi, with Mun taking a maiden Formula
Renault BARC podium in third.
Commenting on the weekend, Stoneman said: “Two wins – I can’t ask for
any better than that! It was close yesterday but I knew my car was
quicker than I’d shown in qualifying. Today I made two good starts and
once I got to a two-second lead I could ease off and it was quite
comfortable. I’ve got two of my favourite circuits still left to race
at so hopefully I can go on to win the series.”
Round eight runner-up Rossi said: “After a non-finish yesterday it’s
great to come back and finish second. I got into second on the first
start and then got almost alongside Dean on the re-start but couldn’t
quite get through. I came back later in the race but Dean was too far
ahead to challenge for the win.”
Third placed Mun commented: “It took a few laps for the tyres to give
optimum performance but when they did I was able to catch Rossi. I was
very comfortable in third and didn’t have to defend at all and I’m
happy to get my first podium.”
Round eight winner Ian Pearson, who picked up his seventh win of 2007,
commented: “It was a broken wire that stopped me on the warm up lap
yesterday and that was disappointing because I wanted to keep my
winning run going. Today was much better and one of my best overall
finishes this year, which is positive.”
Round seven Club Class winner Roberto Tirone said: “Usually finishing
second to Ian is as good as a win but to actually win a round is
brilliant. The whole Reon team has worked hard this year to get the car
running well and this is the best way to repay them for their work.”
Rounds nine and 10 of the Formula Renault BARC Championship take place
at Kent’s Brands Hatch Indy circuit on the August Bank Holiday weekend,
Sunday 26th and Monday, 27th August.
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