Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Will Bratt (Banbury) won his third race in a row in round nine of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship at Oulton Park Island circuit on Saturday, 23rd June. Fortec Motorsport’s Dean Smith (Wolverhampton) finished second with Eucatex’s Adriano Buzaid (Oxford) earning his first podium finish of the season in third. Smith now leads the drivers’ standings by eight points.
Qualifying saw Smith take pole position by 0.44s ahead of Fortec team-mate Duncan Tappy (West Ewell). Buzaid and Bratt lined up on the second row, with AKA Cobra’s Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet) and RS Racing’s Richard Singleton (Conwy) on row three.
Tappy made a poor start from the outside of the front row and was swamped by the time he reached the first corner, Old Hall, ending up seventh at the end of lap one. By contrast, his team-mate Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield) made up two places on the opening lap to lie sixth, just behind his cousin, Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield) of AKA Cobra.
Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Sho Hanawa (Skegness) and Manor Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) both went off the circuit at Knickerbrook chicane on lap one, with Sims dropping to the back of the field. Meanwhile, Fortec’ s Ryuji Yamamoto (Northampton), who started last after a spin in qualifying, made up three places on the opening lap to lie 17th between Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Daniel Ivarsson (Skegness) and Formula Renault UK debutant Paul Rees (Oxford).
On lap two, Smith set the first of three successive fastest laps, ultimately halving the deficit to Bratt by the end of lap five. The leading duo opened a clear advantage over Jeremy Metcalfe and Adriano Buzaid, who himself was well ahead of the next group of cars led by Richard Singleton.
Singleton, running as an independent driver after starting the season with Manor Competition, held fifth place ahead of Riki Christodoulou, Tappy and Adam Christodoulou. On lap four, Sims suffered another spin, briefly halting his attempt to catch Rees.
News came through on lap five of a drive-through penalty for third-placed Metcalfe, caused by a false start. However, before he even got a chance to serve the penalty, a problem with his gear lever ended his race as he retired in the pit lane, promoting Buzaid to third.
By the midway point of the 15-lap race, Smith had reduced Bratt’s lead to just 0.3s but was finding it difficult to pass as Bratt kept his speed high where necessary, preventing his pursuer from challenging at the overtaking zones. Bratt’s team-mate, Richard Keen (Amersham) was pressurising Borthwick Motorsport’s Ryan Borthwick (Hawick), closing up under braking for Old Hall on each lap.
Entering the second half of the race, Riki Christodoulou began to edge away from Tappy and reduce the gap to fourth-placed Singleton. His good work was undone by an error on lap nine when he spun at Cascades and fell to 14th place. In the confusion caused by Christodoulou’s spin, Borthwick passed AKA Cobra’s Nathan Caratti (London).
Once he found a clear track ahead of him, Tappy increased his pace at set his fastest laps of the race in quick succession, reeling in fourth-placed Singleton by several tenths of a second per lap.
Meanwhile, Smith crossed the start/finish line just 0.26s behind Bratt, the closest margin of the race, forcing the leader to defend into both Old Hall and Cascades. Smith’s overtaking attempts failed to materialise and he lost momentum allowing Bratt some breathing space.
At the start of the final lap, first and fourth positions were both in the balance but Bratt and Singleton responded to the pressure and held on to their places. For Singleton, the reigning Formula Renault BARC champion, it was his best result of the season.
Commenting on his victory, Will Bratt said: “To win from pole position at Croft was great but to do it from fourth on the grid is even better. I just stayed relaxed at the start and went to the outside of Dean at Old Hall. I knew I had to hold my position strongly and managed to get the lead. My car was great in the first half of the race but became more difficult to drive later on so I’m very happy to take the win. ”
New Championship leader Dean Smith said: “It’s frustrating to finish second because I know we had the pace in the car to win the race. I qualified 0.4s ahead of everyone else but once you are behind another car it’s difficult to pass. The good thing for me is that Duncan finished behind me so I’ve got the lead in the championship. ”
Adriano Buzaid said: “I learned a lot in the first races of this season but wasn’t doing very well in the championship. Now I need to score more points for the championship and this is a good way to begin. The start at Oulton Park is very difficult because the cars are closer together on the grid but I got away cleanly and the car was set-up really well for me. ”
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