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Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock (Hook) extended his Formula Renault BARC Championship lead to 17 points by picking up his fourth successive victory in round five at Oulton Park Island circuit on Bank Holiday Monday, 26th May. SSS Motorsport’s Lee Dwyer (Huddersfield) took second to claim his first-ever podium finish while Alpine Motorsport’s Isa Yousif (Southampton) finished an impressive third after qualifying 14th.

Now in his second season of car racing, Muzz Race teenager Steven Durrant (Rayleigh) scored his second successive victory in Club Class, a category for cars built prior to 2000, with privateer Fraser Smart (Kilsyth) finishing second ahead of Adrian Dixon (Harpenden) in third.

As the lights went out for the start of the race, Hancock made a fantastic start to shoot from fourth on the grid to first ahead of Hillspeed’s pole-sitter Menasheh Idafar (London). Taro Motorsport’s Ash Davies (Conwy) moved into third ahead of Triple D’s Nathan Coulter (Lisburn), while Mark Burdett Motorsport’s James Dixon (Stockbury) didn’t make the most of his front row position, dropping down the order.

Just behind the front runners, Russell Racing’s Aaron Steele (Rochester) stalled in sixth place on the grid and was unavoidably hit by Welch Motorsport’s Kourash Khani (Corby) and Edward Heinzelmann (Royston), leading to a red flag.

At the restart, Hancock was again quick off the line to lead the field into Old Hall corner closely followed by Idafar, Davies and Coulter. Pearson Engineering’s Ian Pearson (Didcot) was fifth ahead of Dwyer and Double M Racing’s debutant Ross Curnow (Salisbury).

Club Class pole-sitter Durrant made the most of his start to lead the Club Class drivers on the opening lap ahead of Smart, Dixon and Heinzelmann, who had been forced to start from the pit lane following his early incident.

By lap two Hancock was beginning to pull away from Idafar building a gap of 0.387sec but he was given little time to extend his lead as the race was cut short for a second time. Alpine Motorsport’s Jordi Weckx (Southampton) spun at Lakeside leaving his car in a dangerous position, forcing the red flag to be deployed for a second time.

The second restart saw a revised grid and the race reduced to six laps of the 2.23-mile Cheshire circuit from the originally scheduled 12. Hancock once again proved his determination by taking an early lead leaving Idafar, Davies and Coulter to jostle for second place as they headed into the first corner. However, contact between Davies and Coulter caused them both to spin at Old Hall, clipping Idafar in the process and dropping him down the field.

This allowed 17-year-old Dwyer to get past Pearson into second with Yousif moving to fourth followed by Curnow, Alpine Motorsport’s Kenny Andrews (Orsett) and Mark Burdett Motorsport’s German racer Johannes Seidlitz (Skegness). In the middle of the pack, Dixon moved to eighth ahead of Idafar, Hillspeed’s Michael Lyons (Felsted) and HS Motorsport/Antel’s Brett Parris (Southampton).

By lap three, Hancock was beginning to dominate at the front, setting the fastest lap of the race at 1min 23.901s (95.51mph) to earn a bonus championship point.

In the battle for Club Class honours, Durrant continued his excellent form from Rockingham to maintain his lead from the start, setting the fastest Club Class lap with a time of 1min 27.473s (91.61mph) on lap two. Behind him, Smart tried hard to catch Durrant but couldn’t match him for pace while third-placed Dixon had to work hard to keep a determined Heinzelmann at bay.

At the end of lap three, contact between Ian Pearson and Curnow at Lakeside caused both drivers to spin allowing Yousif to move up into a podium place with Andrews in fourth and Seidlitz in fifth. With both cars stranded in dangerous positions, the Clerk of the Course had no alternative but to deploy the red flag and with Oulton Park subject to a curfew, the race was declared over with Hancock claiming his fourth successive victory and extending his championship lead.

Commenting on his victory, Ollie Hancock, said: “I’ve worked hard all season on perfecting my starts and this really paid off given we had three to contend with. On all of them I managed to get away cleanly which meant I had a clear run leading into Old Hall. As the race finally got going, I made a decision to just go for it as the car was running well and pretty soon I lost sight of anyone in my mirrors.”

Second-placed Dwyer, said: “I’m delighted with my first podium of the season especially as I very nearly got caught up in the incident between Coulter and Davies and in fact I did take a little knock. Luckily there wasn’t any serious damage done and I was able to continue, although the race was stopped anyway.”

Third-placed, Yousif, said: “I can’t believe I finished on the podium after starting in 14th place on the grid. It was a real stop/start race but I’m pleased with the outcome. I just had to be really careful with other cars spinning and I’m very happy to get back on the podium.”

Club Class winner Steven Durrant said: “I’m over the moon to make it two wins out of two, although I have to confess this is not how I like to win. The car has been running fantastic recently and a lot of thanks have to go to my team for that.”

Second-placed Fraser Smart who still leads the Club Class standings, said: “The interruptions made this a very difficult race and didn’t give us the chance to get going. I’m now certainly going to be keeping a close eye on Steven given his current form.” 

Third-placed Adrian Dixon said: “It’s good to be on the podium again in what can only be described as a messy race. Edward and I were battling hard for much of it but I managed to hold him off in the end.”

Rounds six and seven of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship take place at North Yorkshire’s Croft circuit on 19th/20th July.

Formula Renault BARC Championship provisional drivers’ standings – FR2000 Class

1 Ollie Hancock                       GBR              Apotex Scorpio Motorsport       64 pts

2 Menasheh Idafar                  GBR              Hillspeed                                 47 pts

3 Johannes Seidlitz                 GER               Mark Burdett Motorsport          38 pts

4 Isa Yousif                             BRN             Alpine Motorsport                    32 pts

5 Brett Parris                           GBR             HS Motorsport/Antel                22 pts

6 Ash Davies                           GBR             Taro Motorsport                      22 pts

7 Ahmad Al Harthy                  OMA             Hillspeed                                 22 pts

8 Lee Dwyer                            GBR             SSS Motorsport                       20 pts

9 James Dixon                        GBR               Mark Burdett Motorsport         18 pts

10 Aaron Steele                      GBR               Russell Racing                        18 pts

Formula Renault BARC Championship provisional drivers’ standings – Club Class

1 Fraser Smart                        GBR             Driver                                      66 pts

2 Edward Heinzelmann             GBR             Heuthsports of Royston              60 pts

3 Steven Durrant                     GBR             Muzz Race                                57 pts

4 Adrian Dixon                        GBR             Driver                                      28 pts