Third Successive Victory For Ollie Hancick
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Apr 21, 2008
Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock (Hook) picked up his third successive victory by winning round four of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship on Sunday, 20th April. In damp but drying conditions at the overcast Rockingham International circuit, Hancock made a late move to overhaul HS Motorsport/Antel’s long-time leader Brett Parris (Southampton), with Hillspeed’s Menasheh Idafar (London) collecting his fourth podium in four races.
Now in his second season of car racing, Muzz Race teenager Steven Durrant (Rayleigh) scored his first victory in Club Class, a category for cars built prior to 2000. He led home round three winner Fraser Smart (Kilsyth) and Heuthsports of Royston’s Edward Heinzelmann (Royston) who joins Smart with four podium finishes from four races.
The race was restarted after an accident for Double M Racing’s Ellis Harkins (Barry) on lap two when he slid wide on the uniquely banked Turn One and hit the concrete wall. When the red flag came out, Hancock had risen three places from sixth on the grid, while Russell Racing’s Aaron Steele (Chatham) had surged from 12th to sixth. As the race had run less than two complete laps, the cars re-formed in their original order.
At the restart, pole-sitter Parris made a second clean start and built an early advantage over fellow front-row starter Idafar. Mark Burdett Motorsport’s German racer Johannes Seidlitz (Skegness) had moved into third ahead of Hillspeed’s Ahmad Al Harthy (Hathersage), as Taro Motorsport’s Ash Davies (Conwy), Triple D’s Nathan Coulter (Hillsborough) and Club Class runner Steve Hanselman (Mayland) all retired on lap one. Steele was caught up in the melee at Deene Hairpin, dropping him to last place.
The opening lap saw a great tussle in midfield between Welch Motorsport’s Kourosh Khani (Corby) and Boulevard Team Racing’s Joshua Brooks (Spilsby). The pair swapped places several times on the opening tour before a spin for Brooks on the slippery infield section saw him fall behind.
As Parris built a four-second lead after four laps, Hancock passed Al Harthy and took advantage of a slip by Seidlitz to claim third place and close on Idafar. The following lap saw Hancock pass Idafar and, just behind, Alpine Motorsport’s Isa Yousif (Southampton) pass Al Harthy at Tarzan hairpin. Seidlitz, having dropped to 12th, was now back up to ninth.
Club Class leader Durrant had made a brilliant start and was lying as high as 15th overall in the early stages, a cushion of three FR2000 Class cars between himself and Smart in second place. By the midway point of the reduced 12-lap race he had a buffer of more than 20 seconds over Smart, who was unable to match the 17-year-old’s pace.
Pearson Engineering Services’ Ian Pearson (Didcot) continued his troubled day, following a spin in round three, with a minor spin out of eighth place exiting Tarzan. He was able to rejoin but down in 14th place where he would eventually finish. Lap six also saw Tempus Sport’s Mohammed Al A’Ali (London) out-brake himself at Tarzan, running into the gravel but far enough from the track to avoid causing a second race stoppage.
Lap eight proved to be crucial to the race outcome as Parris encountered backmarkers, which allowed Hancock to reduce his deficit to the leader by two seconds in a single lap. Two laps later, Hancock got his man by carrying more speed through Chapman Curve and cutting to the inside at Pif Paf to take the lead.
Meanwhile, Mark Burdett Motorsport duo Seidlitz and James Dixon (Stockbury) were dicing with Hillspeed’s Michael Lyons (Felsted). Although Lyons led the group for much of the race in sixth, lap nine saw Seidlitz pass on the banked Turn One with Dixon following his team-mate through later in the lap. After a failed attempt to regain the place at Tarzan, Lyons hit back on the final lap to grab seventh place.
