NICK Wilcox (Camberley, Surrey) finished ahead of the 16-strong pack at Thruxton this weekend, conquering the difficult conditions to maintain his 2005 Formula Renault BARC Championship lead.

But the 19-year-old was kept in check by his FR 2000 class competitors Matt Russell (Harlesden, London), Denis Autier (London) and Dean Stirling (Shamley Green, Guildford) in a tight battle that saw Stirling spin off on lap four.

"Today’s race was the toughest so far this year as there was no traction at all after the shower before the start of the race," said Wilcox, who started from pole. "I had a good race and a very close dice with Dean until he went off. I’m looking forward to Brands Hatch next weekend as it’s my home track and favourite circuit we race on."

Stirling, 18, was fighting for second with Falcon Motorsport driver, Russell, when the two made contact spinning Stirling’s Team Nasamax car off the track.

"We had a really close race for four laps and it was really good fun," said Russell, who recorded the race’s fastest lap. "I got a good exit out of Complex on lap four and my front left wheel was more than just a little bit past Dean’s right but he was moving across the track. Maybe he hadn’t seen me but he hadn’t left me enough room and I wasn’t going to back down. He came across me and we wheel-banged. He went spinning off. It ruined his race. He retired."

The race was red flagged just a few laps later when Andy Skriczka (Aldershot, Hampshire) went off, leaving his Avantec Motorsport car in a dangerous position.

The decision was a shame for Pierre Renom (London) who finished fourth on the track but only recorded a fifth place result as the final classifications of an abandoned race are taken from the penultimate lap. The 41-year-old’s excellent move on Autier in the closing stages therefore did not count but he says there are no hard feelings.

"I’m not disappointed," said the Mark Burdett driver. "Denis is one of my very close friends. He gave his podium hat to my son. "The race was great. We had more cars on the grid which is a very good thing."

In the Club Class Ian Pearson (Didcot, Oxon) maintained his perfect record with another win which puts him almost home and dry in the championship with another five rounds still to race.

The 25-year-old actually finished in third place overall after qualifying fourth and says racing is most fun when it is with the "bigger cars."

"I’ve got no one to race against in the Club Class," said Pearson, who is an engineer and runs his own car. "You play occasionally with the bigger cars but it’s a bit tricky. They’re just that little bit quicker."

2005 Formula Renault BARC Championship provisional points after round 7

FR2000: 1st Nick Wilcox: 98, 2nd Matt Russell: 73, 3rd Dean Stirling: 63, 4th Denis Autier: 50, 5th Pierre Renom: 26

Club Class: 1st Ian Pearson: 118, 2nd Martin Bloss: 66, 3rd David Scott: 50, Bill Allen: 27, 5th Cameron Jackson: 25

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