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Ian does the double at Croft!
Ian suffered from his usual Yorkshire bad luck at rounds two & three of BARC Formula Renault championship held at the Croft circuit.
The first of Saturdays qualifying sessions passed without a hitch with Ian securing pole position for his class in difficult windy conditions. The second qualifying session was where things started to go down hill with Ian suffering a rear suspension failure on only his second flying lap resulting in a wild high speed trip across the run off area. Ian managed to keep the car under control & park it safely without any extra damage. Despite setting a time that would still be fourth fastest in class on only his first flying lap with cold tyres, Ian did not complete the required three laps to qualify himself for the race. Ian was going to need two other drivers to drop out before the start of the second race to allow him to start from the pit lane.
There was still the first race to take care of and the team set to work on repairing Ian’s stricken car. Ian lined up for the first race in his class pole position but 21st overall out of the 32 competitors. Ian made a good start and moved up several places off the start but it became clear early on in the race that the car had some handling issues related to the overnight repair work. Ian was coming under some quite serious pressure for his class lead, however a succession of fast laps (as fast as the car would go at the time) allowed Ian to build a cushion of a few seconds, that allowed him to ease off a bit and nurse the car home for a class win & a maximum score.
For the second race some luck finally went Ian’s way, two cars failed to complete the warm up lap and Ian managed to start the race as second reserve from the pit lane. Ian quickly dispatched of the first reserve that stalled in front of him as he set off after the pack of 30 cars passing two club class competitors on the first lap and getting up to fourth in class by the half way point of the race, still a massive 12 seconds behind the class leader. With four laps to go Ian was up to third and only eight seconds behind the leader, this would quickly change to second with Ian starting the last lap only three seconds off the class lead. Despite a big push on the last lap and setting his fastest lap of the race, Ian could only get within one second of the class lead and would have to settle for second place.
After the race Ian was handed the class victory due to the winning driver on the road starting out of place on the grid & receiving a ten second penalty. Ian commented “I’m happy with how I drove today, but it seems a bit hollow to win like that. I’ve had some dreadful luck this weekend so I’ll take the rough the smooth”
Ian’s next race is at Oulton Park in Cheshire on the 16th June.
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