Fortec Motorsport’s Duncan Tappy (West Ewell) climbed onto the top step of the podium for the third time after winning round four of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship at Rockingham on Sunday, 22nd April. His team-mate Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield) scored the first podium finish of his car racing career in second place, with Dean Smith (Wolverhampton) completing a Fortec one-two-three.
Tappy started the race from pole position and comfortably led away from the line. Christodoulou immediately came under pressure from Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s fast-starting Richard Keen (Amersham) who climbed from fifth to briefly hold second before Christodoulou fought back to regain the place.
AKA Cobra’s Adam Christodoulou (Lichfield) also climbed two places to fourth but the best start came from Eucatex’ Adriano Buzaid (Oxford). From 15th on the grid, the Brazilian went to the outside at Deene hairpin and picked his way past a line of cars to find himself sixth at the end of the first lap.
Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Will Bratt (Banbury) was looking to repeat his podium finish from earlier in the day. But an incident with Manor Competition’s Alexander Sims (Peterborough) resulted in a rear puncture for Bratt, forcing him into retirement. Sims later received a formal reprimand from the Clerk of the Course. Manor Competition’s Kris Loane (Kesh, Co Fermanagh) also pitted on the opening lap but was able to rejoin one lap down.
Tappy immediately built a commanding lead, which stretched to 2.5s after just five laps. As Adam Christodoulou challenged Keen for third place, it not only allowed Dean Smith to close the gap from fifth but also gave Tappy and Riki Christodoulou the opportunity to increase their advantage over the rest of the field.
After Smith passed Adam Christodoulou on lap four, he set about closing the gap to Keen and the final podium place. Buzaid remained sixth ahead of Fortec’s Ryuji Yamamoto (Northampton), AKA Cobra’s Jeremy Metcalfe and Eurotek Motorsport’s Jordan Oakes (Hopton). Sims headed a group of four cars running in close formation including Ryan Borthwick (Hawick), Nathan Caratti (London) and Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Sho Hanawa (Skegness).
As the group approached Deene hairpin on lap six, Borthwick made a bold bid for Sims’ 12th place and was just able to brake enough to make the corner, neatly moving inside the Manor car. On the following lap, Smith caught and passed Keen, the Scorpio driver opting to settle for a solid fourth place with a faster car gaining on him.
Sims almost lost a further place on lap 10 but was just able to close the door on Caratti at Tarzan hairpin. However, he was unable to hold Caratti at bay on the following lap, the Australian taking 13th place. With just four of the 16 laps left, Smith managed to catch Riki Christodoulou in second place, while Buzaid passed Adam Christodoulou for fifth behind Keen.
With Tappy’s lead growing to almost eight seconds on the penultimate lap, it was left to his team-mates Riki Christodoulou and Smith to fill the final two podium slots. Smith spotted a gap as the pair rounded Turn 1 and approached Deene hairpin. But as vigorously as he attacked, Christodoulou defended equally strongly and held his line in the corner, resulting in damage to Smith’s front wing. Christodoulou went on to finish second, almost 2.5s ahead of Smith.
Commenting on his third victory in four races, Tappy, whose winning margin of 6.648s would have been bigger had he not slowed to begin his celebrations as he crossed the line, said: “This is the perfect way to win a race from my point of view. I knew I had to get my head down early and build up a lead in the first half of the race and after that it was a case of looking after my car. It was nice to have some breathing space and the car was just a joy to drive today because it was so well set-up.”
Following his first-ever car racing podium having had a hugely successful karting career, second-placed Riki Christodoulou said: “I tried to pass Duncan around the outside at the first hairpin and although that didn’t work I held onto second place and it was a fairly straightforward race for me. I thought I had enough of a gap to Dean but he caught me in the closing stages. I didn’t want to drop a place down the podium though so I held my line when he was looking to pass. His car got damaged slightly but it’s just racing and I’m sure it will still be friendly in the team.”
Third-placed Smith said: “I did the best that I could today but just didn’t quite get the luck at the start of the race that would have helped me challenge for the win. I made a couple of mistakes over this weekend so although many people would regard this as a good result, it’s not on the level that I know I can achieve this season.”
Tappy now leads the Championship by 24 points after four of 20 rounds. Rounds five and six are at Hampshire’s high-speed Thruxton circuit on 5th/6th May. The results of round four remain provisional pending technical and judicial procedures.
Drivers’ Championship standings after Round 4 - provisional
1 Duncan Tappy GBR Fortec Motorsport 128 pts
2 Dean Smith GBR Fortec Motorsport 104 pts
3 Adam Christodoulou GBR AKA Cobra 91 pts
4 Jeremy Metcalfe GBR AKA Cobra 82 pts
5 Riki Christodoulou GBR Fortec Motorsport 78 pts
6 Richard Singleton GBR Manor Competition 66 pts
7 Will Bratt GBR Apotex Scorpio Motorsport 49 pts
8 Chris Holmes GBR AKA Cobra 43 pts
9 Alexander Sims GBR Manor Competition 41 pts
10 Ryuji Yamamoto JPN Fortec Motorpsport 40 pts
Graduate Cup standings after round 4 – provisional
1 Adam Christodoulou GBR AKA Cobra 91 pts
2 Riki Christodoulou GBR Fortec Motorsport 78 pts
3 Richard Singleton GBR Manor Competition 66 pts
For all the latest Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar
