Renault Super One Latest
Lincoln schoolboy Jack Harvey won the Super One Renault Formula JICA Championship on Sunday by just a single point from Oliver Rowland (Penistone, S Yorkshire).
Despite Rowland winning both championship races in the concluding meeting at Rowrah, Cumbria, a run of four wins and a further three podium finishes earlier in the season were just enough to give Harvey an unexpected title win in the highly competitive series.
The Lincoln Minster School pupil’s championship ambitions were boosted by a mid-season run of form. He said: “At the start of the season I just wanted a top 10 finish, then after the first race I thought the top five. After round three when I won both finals I thought ‘I want to win the championship’.”
The title was by no means assured as Harvey struggled in the first points-scoring final race at Rowrah, starting eighth on the grid after a difficult morning. He moved into fifth position at one point but dropped back to seventh by the end of the race.
His chief rival Rowland led the race comfortably from pole position, with Scott Jenkins (Bristol) second and Jordan Chamberlain (Newport, Gwent) taking third place after a string of overtaking moves that brought him up from ninth on the grid.
Tom Joyner (Braintree) held his fourth grid place at the end of the race, but was involved in a close battle for the top six places, with Jordan Lennox-Lamb (Bedford) moving up from seventh on the grid to fifth at the end of the race and James Godbehere (Doncaster) slipping back from third on the grid to sixth.
“After the first race I was pretty downhearted,” said Harvey. “But we worked out if I had a good result in the next final I could still do it, so I went for the best result I could and that took the nerves away.”
In the second final, Harvey shot off the grid gaining a place in two of the first three laps and moved into second place on lap seven. James Godbehere redeemed his first final by moving back up to third and the leading trio ran in close formation, with Harvey having a look at taking Rowland’s lead on lap 18.
Rowland firmly resisted Harvey’s challenge, but second place at the end of the race was just enough for Harvey, winning the championship by a point once each karter’s two worst results were ‘dropped’ from the scores to give the final standings.
Renault Formula JICA provisional championship results:
1st – Jack Harvey, 474pts; 2nd – Oliver Rowland, 473pts; 3rd – James Godbehere, 440pts; 4th – Jordan Chamberlain, 436pts; 5th – Scott Jenkins, 430pts; 6th Gary Thompson (Dublin), 396pts.
