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SEAT Cupra Championship front-runner Andrew Herron consolidated his fifth
position in the 2008 driver standings at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire
today, Saturday, 26th July, after racing to a solid fourth place finish during
the 13th round of the season.
Heading into the weekend unsure exactly how competitive he would be –
Oulton Park being one of the Dromore-based 20-year-old’s least favourite
circuits – he was pleasantly surprised with his pace after qualifying fourth
quickest in both of today’s qualifying sessions.
Producing a best time of 1m 30.292 seconds (88.75mph) during the round 13
session to secure a place on the second row of the grid, Andrew went on to
replicate the performance in round 14 qualifying with a great effort on his
final lap of the session, a time of 1m 30.774 seconds (88.28mph).
At the beginning of this afternoon’s 14-lap encounter, Andrew appeared to
make a very good getaway but he later put that down to the fact JHR Developments
team-mate Robert Lawson and series rival Carl Breeze both made poor
starts.
Following third-placed qualifier Martin Byford through to pass front row
starter Lawson on the run to Old Hall Corner for the first time, Andrew ran in
third position until midway through lap one when he sensibly allowed his
championship leading team-mate back past in order to avoid compromising their
individual races.
From that point on, the Brian Herron Contracts backed star remained
unchallenged in fourth place, crossing the line on lap 14 four seconds clear of
Jeremy Gumbley. On lap two, Andrew posted a fastest race time of 1m31.265
seconds – just two 10ths of a second shy of the best managed by podium finishers
Lawson and Byford.
“I didn’t make the best of starts actually, it looked good because Robert
(Lawson) and (Carl) Breeze didn’t get away well but mine wasn’t brilliant”,
explained Andrew, “I did still manage to get by Robert at the start but heading
down to the chicane it was safe to let him past so I did – there was no point us
fighting.
“The people behind would have caught us if we’d started racing for the
position. He’s leading the championship too so if we had fought it could have
ruined both our races. I decided to do the sensible thing which was the best
decision. I didn’t quite have the pace of Robert and (Martin) Byford but we’ll
have a look at the data and hopefully improve.”
The Northern Irishman added: “I came into this weekend not knowing where I
was going to be so to have ended today with two fourths in qualifying and fourth
in the first race is good. If I can finish in the top four again on Sunday I’ll
be really happy. I didn’t expect to have the pace I’m showing this weekend so
it’s been a really good boost today.”
The 14th round of the 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship will take place at
approximately 15.40 tomorrow, Sunday, 27th July, and will be contested over 14
laps.
Provisional 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship Driver Standings (after
Rd13):
1st Robert Lawson, 211pts; 2nd Jonathan Adam, 185pts;
5th Andrew Herron, 138pts
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