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Ollie Hancock (Hook)
highlighted his stunning pace and confidence with a crushing victory in round
three of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship at Rockingham International
circuit. After starting eighth on the grid, the Apotex Scorpio Motorsport driver
won by a massive 35 seconds in the first of two races on Sunday, 20th
April. Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Johannes Seidlitz (Skegness) came through from
ninth to finish second, with Hillspeed’s pole-sitter Menasheh Idafar (London)
completing the podium line-up.
In Club Class, for Formula
Renault cars built before 2000, privateer Fraser Smart (Kilsyth) took a narrow
win ahead of Heuthsports of Royston’s Edward Heinzelmann (Royston) and Adrian
Dixon (Harpenden) as persistent drizzle and grey skies produced awkward
conditions for the 29-strong field.
Hancock, winner of round two at
Brands Hatch, completed much of the hard task he faced on lap one. As Triple D’s
Nathan Coulter (Hillsborough) made a slow start from seventh, Hancock stormed
away from the adjacent grid slot and was third exiting Deene Hairpin for the
first time. He then took second before passing Idafar out of Brook chicane to
lead by the end of the first lap.
Lap three saw Hancock set the
fastest lap of the race, worth one bonus championship point, at 1min 35.518s
(73.44mph) and he consistently lapped more than one second quicker than his
pursuers when faced with a clear track ahead of him to lead by 20s at the midway
point of the 14-lap race.
Behind Hancock, Idafar held
second ahead of Hillspeed team-mate Ahmad Al Harthy (Hathersage) before Coulter
made amends for his poor getaway by surging through to third on lap three. HS
Motorsport/Antel’s Brett Parris (Southampton) was fifth, ahead of Mark Burdett’s
James Dixon (Stockbury) and Taro Motorsport’s Ash Davies (Conwy) who had fallen
from third on the grid to seventh.
Seidlitz had dropped to
13th on the opening lap but, having won a snow-hit round one at
Brands Hatch, was relishing the wet conditions and was up to ninth by lap four
by dispatching Hillspeed’s Michael Lyons (Felsted) and seeing Coulter spin out
of contention. In Club Class, Smart and Heinzelmann were nose-to-tail on track,
running inside the top 20 overall with early challenger Steven Durrant
(Rayleigh) having spun out on lap three.
At the halfway stage with
backmarkers beginning to be lapped, Seidlitz gained three places on lap seven to
lie fifth after Russell Racing’s Aaron Steele (Chatham) made contact with Parris
at Deene Haipin, Davies also rising a couple of spots. On the next lap, the
German racer passed Davies and his team-mate Dixon to reach the final podium
position.
Now with a clear track ahead of
him, Seidlitz reeled in Idafar at a rate of two seconds per lap, making the
decisive move on lap 11. By this time, Parris had re-passed Davies for fifth and
in Club Class, Smart and Heinzelmann had swapped positions twice as the
Englishman briefly took advantage of traffic to pass the Scot before losing out
again.
The second half of the race
proved difficult for FR2000 Class father-and-son debutants Bob and Ian Pearson
(Didcot). The pair, both stalwarts of the Club Class won by Ian for the past
three seasons, ended the opening race of their full season debut in retirement
with Ian set for a ninth place finish before his final lap
spin.
All the while, Hancock was
pressing relentlessly on building his lead and by the chequered flag had lapped
every car up to 14th placed Jordi Weckx (Southampton). Seidlitz edged
away from Idafar by almost three seconds to settle the podium places, while
Smart held on to beat Heinzelmann and Adrian Dixon in Club
Class.
Commenting after his win,
Hancock said: “At the start a number of the drivers were struggling for grip but
I managed to get away well and was up to third. Fairly soon I was challenging
Idafar for the lead and I did have an opportunity to try a manoeuvre up the
inside of the chicane but I didn’t want to risk it. I noticed him hesitate
getting onto the power out of the chicane and was able to get the better of him
on the start/finish straight. After that it was just a case of getting my head
down and not making any mistakes.”
Second-placed Seidlitz said: “I
definitely enjoy the slippery conditions, first at Brands Hatch and now here. I
did a lot of overtaking through the last left-hander on the infield (Gracelands)
because I was able to find grip on the inside. It’s great to have another podium
and I’m confident of getting more during the season.”
Third-placed Idafar said: “I
haven’t had much practice in the wet so I wasn’t able to do the best start from
pole position. If it had been dry I think I would have been able to have a much
better result. I’m still happy to be on the podium and hopefully I can this
afternoon as well.”
Club Class winner Fraser Smart
commented: “I had one of my worst ever starts but in the run into the first
corner I managed to gain three or four places. At one stage Edward briefly took
the lead from me but I managed to regain it quickly and just held my nerve,
despite almost going sideways, until the chequered flag.”
Second-placed Heinzelmann said:
“It was a great race with Fraser even though we both agreed it was one of the
most frustrating because of the conditions. I thought when I got past him I’d be
able to hang on for the win but he drove a great race today and full credit to
him.”
Third-placed Dixon said: “It
was almost a case of survival first out there because the track was so greasy.
It’s never nice to race in conditions like that so to come away with a podium is
a good result for me.”
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