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.
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