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22nd April
- Pearson Resumes Dominant Form of Last Season
Ian opened the
new season as he left las season - by dominating the Club Class
field in the opening round of the Formula Renault BARC Championship
at Silverstone on Saturday, 22nd April. The reigning Champion
finished an impressive seventh overall, beating several FR2000
Class drivers, who race in more sophisticated cars, to take
a commanding early lead in the Championship.
The 26 year old
finished eight places ahead of his nearest Club Class rival
Andrew Webb (Solihull), with Mark Terr (Chatham, Kent) in 16th
overall. Pearson also set a new lap record on the 1.64 mile
circuit with a time of 58.342s (101.13mph), shaving more than
half a second off his own record from 2005.
But it was far
from plain sailing during the one-day meeting for Ian, who experienced
technical problems with his Tatuus RC98/Renault car in both
qualifying and the race. A fault with his dashboard meant that
he could not see his rev counter and was having to judge himself
when to change gear. Despite this, he qualified 11th overall,
just 0.9 seconds off the FR2000 class pole time and then demonstrated
his overtaking abilities by moving up the field as high as 6th
overall.
His lead was
such that Ian could afford a 360-degree spin on the penultimate
lap. "I was trying hard to hold onto 6th place, I went
into the corner two abreast with another car forcing me I had
to hold a tighter race than I would of liked and the car just
got away from me."
A delighted Ian
said after the race "It's a great way to start the season
and I couldn't ask for any more. The problem with the dashboard
made the race slightly awkward, but I know the circuit quite
well so it was something I couold cope with."
Pearson heads
the Club Class standings with 15 points for the win, plus one
bonus point each for pole position and fastest lap. Webb is
in second place with 12 points whilst Terry is third with 10.
The next round
of the Championship is in just four days time at Snetterton
circuit in Norfolk on Saturday 28th April.
Club Class Standings
after Round One - Provisional
1 Ian Pearson
- GBR - 17 pts
2 Andrew Webb -
GBR - 12 pts
3 Mark Terry - GBR
- Reon Motorsport - 10 pts
4 Lee Larman - GBR
- 8 pts
5 Bob Pearson -
GBR - 6 pts |
