Formula Renault BARC entrant Russell Racing just missed out on a top 10 points-scoring finish in the headline FR2000 Class at Silverstone National Circuit today, 24-year-old Mark Gillibrand coming closest to success with 11th position during round six of the campaign.The Manchester ace actually ended the second of the day’s two 15-lap races in 13th position following a great drive from 17th on the grid, but a subsequent exclusion from the results for title contenders Dean Stoneman and Ross Worswick saw Mark promoted to 11th place, just 1.6 seconds outside the top 10.Producing one of his typically rapid starts, Gillibrand gained a superb five positions on the first lap alone and after moving into 12th place on lap four, hopes were high of some potential championship points.Contact between Ollie Hancock and Aaron Steele at Brooklands on lap 10 saw Mark gain another position into 11th spot and although slipping a couple of places before the finish, he was moved back into 11th position in the amended results classification by virtue of the Stoneman and Worswick issue.Bahraini teenager Essa Mohammed, who was forced to start the race from the pitlane, came through the lower order well to finish in 18th position, 15th in class, but it wasn’t such a pleasant story for compatriot Mohamed Al A’li who came to grief on the opening lap at Luffield when contact from a Club Class runner forced him into retirement.On lap 10, Menasheh Idafar also saw his hopes end in untimely fashion after a spin into the gravel on the exit of Brooklands ruled him out of proceedings. This was a particular shame for the 16-year-old having started a superb 10th on the grid following a career best qualifying performance on Saturday.During the first of the day’s races, round five, Gillibrand was again displaying inspired form and produced another of his excellent starts. Starting an uncharacteristic 19th on the grid, after being forced out of the latter stages of qualifying due to suspension damage caused by another driver, he moved into 16th place by lap two.Menasheh unfortunately slipped a couple of positions from his grid slot of 12th, largely due to opening lap chaos at Becketts, and then on the third tour the Russell Racing duo switched places with Mark moving ahead at Copse Corner. Gillibrand then seized 13th position on lap eight with a good move on Joshua Brooks, again at Copse.Meanwhile, Al A’li was making terrific progress from 25th on the grid and on lap 12 he moved ahead of team-mate Idafar to achieve an outstanding top 15 finish, two places ahead of Menasheh. Essa concluded the race in 19th position, having started 23rd, to see all four Russell Racing cars end round five inside the top 20.Although Gillibrand has slipped to 16th in the FR2000 Class driver standings following the two Silverstone encounters, he is only seven points shy of the top 10.Commenting on the weekend’s action, Russell Racing owner Tim Russell said: “It’s been a very challenging event for our drivers but they’ve all come through it well. It was a shame not to see Mark finish in the points as he was tantalisingly close in race two.
“Having never been to Silverstone before, and with the test on Friday cancelled due to the awful weather, qualifying proved to be the first running on the track for our drivers so it was always going to be tricky, especially in the wet. Menasheh did a great job to be the highest placed Russell Racing driver though, it was a shame the races didn’t work out.“Mohamed and Essa each improved on their qualifying performances in the races and we couldn’t ask for any more than that. As each driver gets more track time they’ll only improve. We’re looking forward to getting back among the points positions at Snetterton now during the next two rounds.”There is now a three week break in the Formula Renault BARC calendar with the seventh and eighth rounds of the championship to be contested at Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk on 11th/12th August.
