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Ian does the double at Silverstone!
The single qualifying session for rounds 5 & 6 of the BARC Formula Renault championship was held in wet conditions with the drivers two best times allocating their grid slots for the two races. This different format of qualifying would hit Ian hard as he suffered a tyre valve failure after just three laps of qualifying & would line up on the grid in 28th & 29th position overall & lowly 6th & 7th position in class.
In dry conditions Ian made an excellent start & passed several cars on the run to the first corner & by the end of the first lap Ian had passed 10 cars & was up to second in class. Over the next few laps Ian crept up the order & took the class lead into the fast Copse corner on lap 4 moving him up to 15th position overall. Ian now latched onto the tail of a pack of FR2000 class cars but Ian would only make up one more place to 14th overall & winning the club class by a staggering 20 seconds after starting so far down the field.
Ian Hoped for more of the same in race 2 but after an uncharacteristic bad start he actually lost a place on the run to the first corner. Over the course of the 1st lap Ian still made up 6 places up to 5th in class & then up to 2nd in class by the end of lap 3. Ian set about catching the class leader with a succession of fast laps, taking the lead on lap 6 with a bold three abreast manoeuvre into copse corner. Ian would get up to 14 th position overall by the end of the race 11 seconds clear of his nearest club class rival. Ian commented “today’s races have been a lot of fun but really hard work. Its good to get two wins from such a disastrous qualifying yesterday”.
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