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Singleton Back On Top At Oulton Park |
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Monday, 07 August 2006 |
Richard Singleton (Conwy, Wales) took his third victory of the Formula Renault BARC Championship season at Oulton Park Island circuit on Saturday, 5th August. The 17-year-old won by just 1.245s from Jordan Oakes (Hopton, Norfolk) to extend his lead in the drivers’ standings to 17 points with five races left. Hywel Lloyd (Corwen, Denbighshire) took his first Formula Renault BARC podium in third place.
Ian Pearson (Didcot, Oxon) took the Club Class honours for the fifth time in seven races, finishing ninth overall. James Heffernan (London) made his first appearance on the Club Class podium in second place, with Ian’s father, Bob Pearson, completing a happy day for the father and son team.
Singleton secured pole position at the Cheshire circuit in a dramatic end to a qualifying session held on a drying track. Debutant Andrew Meyrick (Oakmere, Cheshire) held top spot for much of the session and the Falcon Motorsport driver looked to have made the best possible start to his Formula Renault BARC career. But with many of the drivers setting their best times towards the end of the 20-minute stint, Singleton took pole with a time of 1min 23.402s (96.08mph) around the 2.23-mile circuit, with Meyrick relegated to fifth place.
The race began in dry conditions and Coles Racing’s Singleton made a clean start from the front, keeping ahead of Oakes as the 26-car field entered Old Hall corner for the first time. Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Thomas Arme (Staffordshire Moorlands) failed to capitalise on another impressive qualifying performance, the 16-year-old tangling with Hywel Lloyd at Knickerbrook chicane on the first lap, ending his race. Louis Hamilton-Smith (Stratford Upon Avon) also managed just one lap before being forced into retirement.
Worswick Engineering’s Rossi (Blackburn) made the best start, gaining four places after starting eighth on the grid. Hillspeed Racing’s Michael Broadhurst (Cheltenham) made up three places from 11th on the grid but had to pit for a new nose cone on lap four, dropping him well out of contention, while reigning Club Class Champion Ian Pearson also picked up four places on the opening lap.
Singleton made an early break and was able to open a gap of more than two seconds to Oakes, with Lloyd comfortably in third. Just behind, Meyrick passed Rossi for fourth place on lap four, but the round five winner was able to regain the place on the following lap. Running in ninth place, Ian Pearson was comfortably heading the eight Club Class challengers ahead of Heffernan in 16th and newcomer Adrian Dixon (Harpenden, Herts) driving for Muzz Race in 17th.
At the race entered its second half, there was a change in the midfield as Vitulli Racing’s 11th place man Michael Vitulli (Cowley, Oxford), who had to start from the back of the grid after missing qualifying with mechanical problems, was passed on successive laps by Welch Motorsport’s James Green (Torquay) and Macob Motorsport’s Chris Lamare (Worcester), who was making his debut in the series. Lamare, 23, then passed Green on the final lap to finish just outside the points in 11th place.
Meanwhile, Singleton was looking to re-establish his advantage over Oakes after running wide onto the grass at Old Hall corner on lap five allowing his title rival to close the gap to just over one second. Oakes also set a new lap record for the circuit on lap 10, a time of 1min 24.414s (94.93mph) but it was not enough to prevent Singleton taking his third win of the season. Ian Pearson also broke the lap record for Club Class with a time of 1min 25.868s (93.32mph).
Rossi just managed to hold off the advances of Meyrick after the pair lapped nose to tail for much of the race, while less than two seconds covered the trio of James Littlejohn (Warwick) and Mark Burdett Motorsport pair Denis Autier (London) and Craig Copeland (Wimbourne, Dorset).
Commenting on the victory that extends his Championship lead to 17 points over Oakes, Singleton said: “Second place is usually good but I can’t be too pleased because my
main Championship contender was in first place. The track conditions
were quite poor and once you got off the racing line it was hard to
push because you would understeer off the circuit. There’s still five
races to go and that’s enough to keep my Championship challenge going.”
For Lloyd, it was a first podium finish after stepping up from a very
successful karting career and he commented: “My aim was to be on the
podium before the end of the season but it’s a reward for all the hard
work we’ve put in this year. I was slightly lucky not to be damaged
when Thomas hit me on the first lap but then opened a gap to Rossi and
although he came back at me late on, I wasn’t too worried. I’m over the
moon to be on the podium and hopefully there will be more to come
before the end of the year.”
Club Class winner Ian Pearson, who now has a 33-point lead over Mark
Terry (Chatham, Kent) after he failed to finish the race, said: “I’m
pretty pleased to finish in the top 10 overall and to break the lap
record by nearly three seconds is a great bonus. The car was working
well in qualifying and then it was a case of avoiding the trouble in
front of me to make sure I got the win.”
Rounds eight and nine of the Formula Renault BARC Championship take place at Pembrey circuit, Wales, on 19th/20th August.
FR2000 Standings after Round Seven - Provisional
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nationality |
Team |
Points |
| Class Standings |
| 1 |
Richard Singleton |
GBR |
Coles Racing |
86 |
| 2 |
Jordan Oakes |
GBR |
Eurotek Motorsport |
68 |
| 3 |
Rossi |
GBR |
Worswick Engineering Ltd |
61 |
| 4 |
James Littlejohn |
GBR |
Hillspeed |
46 |
| 5 |
Matt Shawyer |
GBR |
Russell Racing |
35 |
| Club Class Standings |
| 1 |
Ian Pearson |
GBR |
|
103 |
| 2 |
Mark Terry |
GBR |
Reon Motorsport |
70 |
| 3 |
Andrew Webb |
GBR |
|
62 |
| 4 |
Simon Keast |
GBR |
Muzz Race |
43 |
| 5 |
Bob Pearson |
GBR |
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38 |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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