Irishman Patrick Hogan (Killiney, Co Dublin) surged past pole-sitter James Sutton (New Barnet, Hants) at the first corner to take control and win round two of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship at Brands Hatch Indy yesterday. The AKA Lemac star made the most of his place on the front row of the grid to drive around the outside at Paddock Hill Bend and proceeded to drive a flawless race to take the chequered flag by 2.872s and move into second place in the Drivers’ Standings.

Sutton, on pole for the second successive race after two superb qualifying sessions on Saturday, held off the efforts of Manor Motorsport’s Cheng Cong Fu (Oxford) who finished third, less than half a second behind. Jeremy Metcalfe (Fleet, Hants) celebrated his 18th birthday with a fifth place to accompany his earlier podium but was unable to pass Fortec Motorsport’s Sebastian Hohenthal (Northampton) for fourth.

Hogan showed great temperament to hold his nerve around the outside of the fearsome first corner at the 1.22-mile Kent circuit and stretched his lead to a relatively considerable 1.2s by the end of lap two. The Ulsterman continued to extend his lead by a few tenths of a second per lap until he led by just over 2.1s by the midway stage. Although Sutton clawed back a little of the gap, he was unable to mount a challenge as Hogan cruised to the fourth Formula Renault UK victory of his career.

Close racing throughout the field saw a number of overtaking attempts and Duncan Tappy (Epsom, Surrey), driving for Rochester-based Jamun Racing, thrilled the home crowd by passing Nexa Racing’s Valle Makela at Surtees. Carrying great speed from Cooper Straight, Tappy pushed the car to its limit to claim 14th place.

The battle for the B4 Group Graduate Cup grabbed fans’ attention as Fortec Motorsport’s Fabio Onidi (Northampton) came under pressure from Nexa Racing’s Daniel Roos (Bishop’s Stortford). On lap 10 of the 24-lap race, Onidi pushed too hard in his attempt to stay ahead and spun at Druids, dropping to finish 19th and allowing Roos to take the lead in the Graduate Cup Standings with a fine eighth place.

The battle among the podium placeholders intensified as Cheng found some speed in the closing five laps and moved to within 0.4s of Sutton. But the victor of Round One resisted the Chinese driver’s pressure to retain second place and finish the weekend as the Championship leader.

Cheng’s charge gave Hogan the breathing room to open a three-second lead and a smooth drive from the 21-year-old, in just his fourth season of motor racing, saw him home. Commenting on his superb start, Hogan explained: “I’ve always been pretty fast out of the blocks and when I got the jump on James, I knew I could stay ahead. I’ve learned so much in the last four years and made a massive step forward this year in particular. I’m now able to go out and get on the pace straight away and when I got in the lead, I showed what I could do.”

Sutton, 20, was delighted to secure his second podium of the day, saying: “I couldn’t ask for a lot more from the weekend and if someone had said I’d be leading the Championship at this stage I’d be gobsmacked. I just had a bit too much wheelspin on the start and Paddy drove an excellent race so I couldn’t really threaten his position.”

McLaren-sponsored Cheng pointed to an improved qualifying session as the foundation for his third place, saying: “I’m more than happy with this result and it’s just a shame I couldn’t set a better time in the first qualifying because that really affected my result. All I could do was put the pressure on James but he never made a mistake so I had to settle for third.”

Sutton leads the Drivers’ Standings with 62 points, Hogan lies second with 59 points and Metcalfe is third with 48 points. The Championship now takes a four-week break before resuming with rounds three and four at Oulton Park in Cheshire on 13th/14th May.

Drivers’ Standings after Round Two - provisional

1 James Sutton              Fortec Motorsport                               62 pts

2 Patrick Hogan              AKA Lemac                                     59 pts

3 Jeremy Metcalfe                       AKA Lemac                                     48 pts

4 Cheng Cong Fu                    Manor Motorsport                               43 pts

5 Sebastian Hohenthal            Fortec Motorsport                               42 pts

6 Richard Keen                Position 1 Racing                               38 pts

7 Will Bratt                              Scorpio Motorsport                            32 pts

8 Sam Bird                              Fortec Motorsport                               25 pts

9 Josh Fisher                          Coles Racing                                     22 pts

10 Franck Mailleux                       Manor Motorsport                               21 pts

B4 Group Graduate Cup Standings after Round Two – Provisional

1 Daniel Roos                         Nexa Racing                                     20 pts

2 Fabio Onidi                           Fortec Motorsport                               14 pts

3 Dean Smith                          Coles Racing                                     9 pts

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