Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Will Bratt (Banbury) won round 16 of the 2007 Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship after Championship leader Duncan Tappy (West Ewell) was excluded having taken the chequered flag in first place.
Apotex Scorpio Motorsport protested the race-winner’s car in relation to the fixation of the floor. Upon investigation by the Series Eligibility/Safety Scrutineer, the car was found to be non-compliant with Championship regulations leading to Tappy’s exclusion.
As the winner of round 15 at Brands Hatch Indy circuit earlier on Sunday, 19th August, Tappy was favourite to complete his double starting from pole position for the second time that day. Although he came under pressure from Bratt at the first corner, the pair narrowly avoided contact through Paddock Hill Bend and Tappy maintained first place.
AKA Cobra’s Chris Holmes (Ilkley) made the best start among the front-runners, surging through from seventh on the grid to fifth behind team-mates Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield) and Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet). With overtaking difficult at the tight 1.20-mile circuit, the 20-year-old’s start was crucial in helping him to his best result of the season. Meanwhile, Manor Competition’s Kris Loane (Kesh) dropped from his season-high fifth on the grid to lie ninth at the end of lap one.
In a repeat of his round 15 performance, Tappy set the fastest lap of the race on lap four as he opened up a clear lead at the head of the field, although fastest lap would be awarded to Bratt for his time of 44.899s (96.10mph) following Tappy’s exclusion. In midfield, Loane moved up to 10th having lost further places to Eucatex’s Adriano Buzaid (Oxford) and Hillspeed Racing’s Richard Singleton (Conwy).
Buzaid was then forced to serve a drive through penalty for a false start, also serving a stop-go penalty for ignoring the initial order.
Lap 11 saw AKA Cobra’s Nathan Caratti (London) run wide at Paddock Hill Bend and into the tyre wall. This brought out the Safety Car and wiped out Tappy’s 1.2s lead as the remaining 19 cars bunched together. At the restart, Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s David Epton (Fleet) passed Singleton before the start line so the 10th and 11th placed cars were racing in the incorrect order. Epton was later issued a one-second penalty, dropping him behind Singleton in the race classification.
Singleton then came under pressure from Eurotek Motorsport’s Jordan Oakes (Hopton) as the two drivers who battled for the Formula Renault BARC Championship title in 2006 raced wheel-to-wheel once again. Despite repeated attempts, notably at Paddock Hill Bend, Oakes was unable to find a way past the Welshman.
The top two drivers soon opened up a comfortable gap after the restart, lapping within hundredths of a second of each other for much of the 24-lap race, which became 27 laps due to the Safety Car period. Championship contender Dean Smith (Wolverhampton), who would return to the top of the drivers’ standings after Tappy’s exclusion, was struggling to improve on his sixth place grid slot as he followed Holmes for the full race distance.
On lap 23, Manor Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) made a rare mistake at Surtees, clipping the kerb and crashing head-on in to the tyre barrier although he was unharmed. This promoted Fortec’s Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield) into seventh place, having started 10th on the grid after a below-par qualifying performance.
As the chequered flag dropped, Tappy celebrated his second win of the day. However, the margin of victory was only 0.364s due to Tappy locking his wheels in celebration as he crossed the line and Bratt almost passing him. The potentially dangerous manoeuvre by Tappy saw him fined £250 and his licence endorsed with three points, although worse was to follow with his exclusion from round 16.
Commenting after the race, Will Bratt said: “To start second on the grid and finish in second is really the best you can do unless you make a brilliant start because overtaking is so difficult. We could almost match Duncan’s pace so overall I’m happy with how things went. To then get the win later on just makes the day even better and also helps me in the title race. ”
Promoted to second place, Adam Christodoulou said: “It’s a great feeling to be on the podium having just missed out by one place in round 15. There isn’t really any way to pick up a slipstream to help anyone overtake so keeping Jeremy behind me wasn’t too difficult as long as I kept my concentration, although he was always pushing me. ”
Third placed Jeremy Metcalfe commented: “It’s a surprise to be in third place but a nice one and I did have a good race after a much better qualifying session. I think I was quicker than Adam on some parts of the track but wasn’t ever close enough to attempt an overtaking move and he never made a mistake. ”
Duncan Tappy commented: “I’m gutted about what’s happened but we’re not going to appeal as we risk a harsher punishment. As it is, I’m only seven points behind Dean and I can still win this championship and that’s what I intend to do. I’ve won the last four races and there’s no reason why that run can’t continue. ”
The Formula Renault UK Championship leaves the British Touring Car Championship support package for its next race meeting, which takes place alongside World Series by Renault at Donington Park on 8th/9th September. More than 250,000 free tickets have been issued by Renault for the event.
Provisional Drivers’ Championship standings after Round 16 (including dropped scores)
1 Dean Smith GBR Fortec Motorsport 392 pts
2 Duncan Tappy GBR Fortec Motorsport 385 pts
3 Will Bratt GBR Apotex Scorpio Motorsport 340 pts
4 Adam Christodoulou GBR AKA Cobra 310 pts
5 Richard Singleton GBR RS Racing 262 pts
6 Jeremy Metcalfe GBR AKA Cobra 261 pts
7 Riki Christodoulou GBR Fortec Motorsport 234 pts
8 Alexander Sims GBR Manor Competition 190 pts
9 Chris Holmes GBR AKA Cobra 164 pts
10 Adriano Buzaid BRA Eucatex 155 pts
Provisional Graduate Cup Standings after Round 16 (including dropped scores)
1 Adam Christodoulou GBR AKA Cobra 328 pts
2 Richard Singleton GBR RS Racing 274 pts
3 Riki Christodoulou GBR Fortec Motorsport 234 pts ”
| 
|