ParcFerme.Com

In Club Class, 22-year-old Edward Heinzelmann (Royston) took two victories ahead of Adrian Dixon (Harpenden) and Fraser Smart (Kilsyth). Smart’s two podium finishes were enough to secure Club Class title having never finished outside the top three all season.   

In wet and windy conditions, round 11 saw Hillspeed’s Ahmad Al Harthy (Hathersage) line up as pole-sitter with Mark Burdett Motorsport’s James Dixon (Margate) and Hillspeed’s Menasheh Idafar (London) in second and third. As the lights went out for the start of the race, a great start by fifth place Yousif saw him shoot into second behind Al Harthy closely followed by Double M Racing’s Ross Curnow (Salisbury) who also got away well from fourth.

By the time the top three drivers reached Luffield for the first time they were three abreast with Yousif and Curnow just squeezing past Al Harthy to take first and second respectively with Al Harthy following in third.

Club Class pole-sitter Steven Durrant (Rayleigh) quickly saw his chances of snatching the championship title from Smart end on lap two after spinning off at Brooklands into the gravel.

On lap three a mistake by Curnow allowed Seidlitz, who had earlier passed fourth-placed Ash Davies (Taro Motorsport), to move into second but this was short-lived as on lap nine the German spun at Luffield ending his race.

As the 14-lap race continued around the 1.64-mile circuit, Yousif began to stretch his lead over Curnow with Al Harthy following closely in third and Davies in fourth. In the middle of the field, SSS Motorsport’s Lee Dwyer (Huddersfield), who started 10th on the grid, and Dixon, keen to make up for a poor start, were battling hard for fifth and sixth places with Dixon eventually getting passed Dwyer on lap 12.

By the last lap, Yousif had built a sizeable lead of almost 12 seconds to take the chequered flag comfortably – setting the fastest lap of the race in the process at 1min 06.984s (88.08mph) – with Curnow and Al Harthy finishing second and third respectively.

Despite starting from the back of the grid after having his times disallowed due to receiving mechanical assistance during qualifying, Club Class driver Heinzelmann showed his superiority in the wet to clinch victory with Dixon in second and Smart, who struggled to find grip, finishing third to all but secure the title.

Fourth win for Seidlitz

Round 12 saw the field take to the grid on a dry track after the day’s earlier downpour had eased. Seidlitz made a lightning start to jump from sixth to third as the field headed into the first corner with pole-sitter Yousif hanging onto his lead and Curnow in second with Davies in fourth and Dixon in fifth.

A spin by Yousif at Luffield on lap one resulted in an early end to his race allowing Curnow to briefly head the field before Seidlitz out-braked him going into Copse on lap two to move into the lead. Idafar remained in third with Davies, Dixon and HS Motorsport’s Brett Parris (Southampton) following closely.

In Club Class, Heinzelmann made the most of his pole position with Smart and Dixon fighting for second and third. Durrant, who had qualified second, was unable to start the race due to a fuelling problem.

By lap seven, Seidlitz was already opening up a significant lead over Curnow before the Salisbury driver spun at Becketts on lap nine dropping him down the order. Idafar inherited into second as Seidlitz increased his lead to more than five seconds. Parris was showing great pace and moved up to fourth by lap 10 and then took third place from Dixon at Brooklands on lap 12.

By the last lap Seidlitz had a comfortable lead to claim his fourth victory of the season and to move him into second in the championship standings just behind Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock (Hook), who was absent at Silverstone having already sealed the championship title in round 10 at Thruxton.

Idafar looked destined to take second place until a determined Parris overtook him on the last corner of the last lap to claim the place with Idafar completing the podium in third.

Heinzelmann took his second victory of the day in Club Class, setting the fastest lap in the process at 1.02.159s (94.92mph) to give him a tally of 33 points from the weekend out of a possible 34. Dixon and Smart reversed their finishing positions with the Scotsman taking second to win the title by 23 points from Durrant.

Commenting on his victory in round 11 Yousif said: “I’m really pleased with my win especially in such slippery conditions, plus I don’t have much experience of driving in the wet. It was a long wait for the race to start with all the rain this morning but I tried to work hard and do the best I could.”

Winner of round 12 Seidlitz, said: “To end the season with a victory is great and to finish second overall is even better. The conditions today were really difficult but the team had set up the car well and I managed to not make any mistakes in the second race.”

Commenting on his two Club Class victories Heinzelmann said: “I couldn’t have asked for more this weekend, it’s just a shame it couldn’t have been like this all season! The car has felt just right all weekend and I much prefer driving in the wet. To finish third overall in the championship means a lot too, especially as I am a complete novice to single-seater racing.”

2008 Club Class champion Fraser Smart said: “I’m delighted to take the title as both the team and I have worked really hard all season to be consistently good. It’s a shame Steven [Durrant] had such a poor final round as I know we both would have preferred to have taken it to the wire, particular as we’ve raced so closely all season.”

Commenting on his weekend, Steven Durrant said: “It’s been a disastrous weekend for both me and the team and I’m really disappointed not to have done better. I spun at Brooklands in race one and that pretty much handed the championship to Fraser [Smart]. I had a fuelling problem in race two which meant we were unable to start and so all in all not the best way to end the season.”

Provisional Formula Renault BARC Championship FR2000 Class standings – Round 12

Provisional Formula Renault BARC Championship Club Class standings – Round 12