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Russell Racing’s Mark Gillibrand saw one of his customary lightning starts
fail to bear fruit at Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire this afternoon during the
11th round of the Formula Renault BARC Championship, contact from a rival FR2000
Class competitor ruining his chances of a push towards the top 10.
The Manchester 24-year-old, who is the Warwickshire team’s most successful
driver  this season with four points finishes to his credit, started the 12-lap
race from 19th on the grid after a difficult qualifying run earlier in the
day.
With race conditions far cooler and much more blustery than the warm
sunshine which graced the 2.35-mile track during the morning, Mark made a
typically storming getaway and, taking Kieren Clark out of the equation whose
car stopped on the green flag lap, the Russell Racing driver had superbly
climbed into the top 16 on lap one.
Adding in the demise of Ross Worswick with car troubles at Woodham Hill,
Mark moved into the top 15 by the time he reached the Club Chicane for the first
time. After passing Pierre Renom for 14th place during the next tour, all looked
good for Mark to continue his impressive rise through the order but it would all
change on lap three.
Running side-by-side with the Frenchman through the notoriously fast Church
Corner, Mark taking the outside line, contact from the Frenchman forced the
Russell Racing charger into a spin which dropped him down to 18th
position.
Over the remaining nine laps, Mark faced an uphill task to make up ground
having lost touch with the middle order but he did manage to climb back into the
top 15, missing out on gaining another place on the final lap by just over a
second.
For team-mate Menasheh Idafar, today’s visit to Thruxton was his first ever
to the fast and incredibly challenging Hampshire venue and after qualifying on
the 11th row of the grid, the British-born Bahraini 16-year-old hoped for a
strong start to the race.
Unfortunately for Menasheh, he wasn’t able to make the getaway he wanted
and slipped behind several slower Club Class cars on the run to the complex for
the first time. By lap six, Menasheh had managed to climb into the top 20 and
after taking 19th position on the next tour, he moved into 18th place on lap
10.
With just two laps remaining, the young Bahraini racer did move up another
place before the chequered flag and was less than a second shy of the top 16 as
he crossed the line on the 12th and final lap.
Reflecting on the day’s action, Russell Racing owner Tim Russell said:
“Qualifying didn’t produce the results we’d have hoped for but we were confident
Mark would be able to charge through the order. Unfortunately the contact on lap
three cost him a lot of time so to climb back into the top 15 was as much as any
of us could have expected.
“It was always likely to be a tough and challenging weekend for Menasheh,
he’s never been to the circuit before, so to bring the car home safely at such a
notoriously tricky place as Thruxton was pleasing to see. Hopefully we can end
the season on a high note at Oulton Park a fortnight from now.”
The final round of the Formula Renault BARC Championship will take
place at Oulton Park Island Circuit on Saturday, 29th September, the event
marking the category’s second visit of the season to the picturesque Cheshire
venue.
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