After Opening Rounds

Hathersage based single-seater specialist Hillspeed made an outstanding start to its 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship campaign at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent over the weekend, the reigning Formula Renault UK Winter Champions leading the FR2000 Class of the BARC series with 17-year-old Menasheh Idafar.Achieving a career first pole position during qualifying on Sunday, 23rd March, the emerging British-born Bahraini racer went on to achieve a brace of podium results yesterday, Easter Monday, 24th March, and is now three points clear of nearest rival Ash Davies – a near dream start to the championship for the Hillspeed star.Team-mate Ahmad Al Harthy secured two very strong points finishes himself with sixth place in round one and fourth position in round two. The Omani 26-year-old’s excellent weekend sees him leave Brands Hatch fifth in the championship, eight points behind series leader Idafar.For Essex-based 17-year-old Michael Lyons, the first of the two Brands Hatch encounters resulted in a terrific debut points finish with 10th position – having started 16th on the grid – while in race two he came home in 14th place. Tied on points with Brett Parris, Lyons is joint 13th overall in the FR2000 Class standings.With all three Hillspeed drivers having scored points in the most difficult conditions, snow falling throughout round one, the team is rightfully delighted with its weekend’s work and especially so considering prior to the Brands Hatch races it was unknown if Al Harthy and Idafar would actually be permitted to take part due to a clerical error with entries.Speaking on Hillspeed’s outstanding start to 2008, team principal Richard Ollerenshaw said: “What a fantastic start to the championship! We came to Brands Hatch and didn’t know whether we’d get to race or not but then we end up with all three drivers scoring points and Menasheh leading the standings.“I’m absolutely delighted with our performance this weekend, the drivers have had everything thrown at them in terms of the conditions, stoppages and re-starts but they handled it brilliantly. The full spectrum of things you probably wouldn’t even expect to happen over the course of a season have happened in one weekend.“We’re really looking forward to Rockingham now next month where we aim to build on these results and continue strongly. There are a lot of good drivers and teams in the championship so we’re by no means underestimating the challenge. But starting the year like this has given everyone at Hillspeed a lot of confidence.”Both races were affected by two stoppages, round one first seeing red flags at the end of lap two following an on-track incident. At that point Idafar was fourth, having started in seventh place, Al Harthy was up to a superb eighth from 15th on the grid and Lyons had been equally electrifying in ninth position, having started in 16th spot.At the re-start, with the snow getting heavier and more persistent, Idafar got off the line well and moved into the top three while Al Harthy climbed into the top six but Lyons slipped unfortunately to 11th position.As the race entered lap six, red flags were shown once again and this time the race result was able to be declared due to the sufficient distance covered. Idafar recorded his third career Formula Renault BARC podium, and first in the full championship, and Lyons had made his way into the top 10 for a deserved points finish.Al Harthy had actually got ahead of fifth-placed Aaron Steele on lap five but with the result having to be counted back to the end of the fourth tour, the Omani racer had to settle for fifth. Race two was a similar story to the first with a brace of stoppages although conditions had thankfully improved enough for it to be a dry race. Starting from his maiden pole position, Idafar’s getaway was compromised when Ash Davies made a jump-start from fifth on the grid to lead.Slotting into third place with team-mate Al Harthy in fourth, further behind Lyons was in 12th position. The first red flag was shown on lap four due to a car off the track at Paddock Hill Bend. Following the re-start, Idafar and Al Harthy were third and fourth again while Lyons was making progress and moved into the top 10.Unfortunately, contact from a rival at Druids Hairpin on lap three forced the Felsted based youngster wide and ended up putting him off-line for the entry to Graham Hill Bend, the result seeing several cars nip through and push him down to 14th place.On lap seven, the race was stopped again and the result confirmed as Idafar in third again for his second podium of the day, Al Harthy in fourth and Lyons in 14th position.While taking the opportunity to test its drivers over the coming weeks, Hillspeed will next be in competitive action at Rockingham International Super Sports Car Circuit in Northamptonshire on 19th/20th April for rounds three and four of the 2008 season.