IN FR BARC CHAMPIONSHIP AT SNETTERTON
Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship front-runner Ahmad Al Harthy battled valiantly through illness over the weekend, 27th/28th June, to impressively move up the driver standings into equal second position following rounds two and three of the 2009 season.
In scorching hot conditions yesterday, Sunday, 28th June, Hillspeed’s Omani racer secured his second podium in as many outings with a fine drive to third place while in the afternoon he just missed out on another visit to the rostrum after losing third position on the final lap at the Bomb Hole.
Moving the 27-year-old into joint-second place in the title race after three of the campaign’s 13 rounds, Al Harthy did a sterling job for his Hathersage-based team all weekend and especially so considering he felt far from 100 per cent throughout the race meeting.
Shropshire teenager James Theodore secured his first points of the season with a well deserved eighth position in round two on Sunday morning before climbing from ninth on the grid up into the top six in his Liberty Properties-backed car during the afternoon race.
Following an unfortunate retirement on the opening lap of the first encounter at Sear Corner, Ellis Harkins stayed out of trouble in round three to post a career-best Formula Renault BARC finish of ninth place – coming through from 20th on the grid – while series debutant Alexander Jeffrey took an impressive 12th place in round two before an unavoidable collision ruled him out of round three.
“It’s great to see Ahmad second in the championship, especially in view of the fact we were even considering pulling him out of the race meeting as he felt so unwell all weekend”, said Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw, “It was a shame he lost third in the second race on the last lap but he did a terrific job to compete as well as he did this weekend.
“We’re delighted James scored his first points of the season. Our preparations were compromised due to a fuel-pump issue after testing but the team worked incredibly hard to get that sorted and in the races he did very well indeed.”
Ollerenshaw added: “Ellis was unfortunate to have been caught up in an incident in race one but his drive in the second race was perhaps the best we’ve seen from him. Obviously it was Alexander’s first weekend in BARC and he did a very credible job, his pace was competitive and to grab a top 12 finish on his debut was certainly well deserved.”
On Saturday, 27th June, Al Harthy qualified his Oman Air, Oman Tourist Board, Sport Oman and Sultanate of Oman-supported car in third position for both races while Theodore posted a brace of ninth position starts. Jeffrey impressed in his first Formula Renault BARC qualifying run with a pair of top 15 grid slots with Harkins lining up 19th on the grid for race one and 20th for race two.
Under very sunny skies and with temperatures well in the mid-20-degree bracket on Sunday, round two got underway cleanly at the front with Al Harthy holding third and then producing an excellent move around the outside of Don De Graaff at the Esses to grab second place. For team-mate Harkins though, the opening lap wasn’t as promising as he was forced into retirement at Sear Corner.
Following a three-lap Safety Car period due to the incident involving Harkins, the race got back underway with Al Harthy keeping De Graaff at bay while Theodore was in a tight fight at the other end of the top 10. Single-seater rookie Jeffrey made good progress and actually ended his maiden car race in 12th place, just six 10ths of a second shy of experienced rival Kourosh Khani.
Unfortunately for Al Harthy, he slipped behind De Graaff on the final lap at the Esses following a bold move from the latter but still took his second third place of the year. Theodore, meanwhile, finished in eighth after a very solid run.
At the beginning of round three, there was a threat of rain in the air but this soon passed. During the early laps places remained fairly constant but on the fourth tour a multi-car tangle at the exit of the Esses led to a disappointing retirement for Jeffrey who simply had nowhere to go with other cars stranded across the track.
The Safety Car was deployed for four laps and at the re-start on lap nine, Al Harthy managed to soak up pressure from Josh Mulholland before opening up a small gap. As the race neared its conclusion though, the Omani driver was closed down and Mulholland managed to grab third place from him three corners from the finish.
Teenager Theodore emerged from a fantastically fought scrap in sixth place to record his best finish of the campaign and leap up the driver standings a full 10 places into the top eight. Harkins drove a sensible race to come home in ninth and consolidate 12th position in the championship.
The fourth and fifth rounds of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship will take place a fortnight from now, 11th/12th July, at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire. Before then, Hillspeed’s Michelin Formula Renault UK squad will be back in action next weekend, 4th/5th July, at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in Northamptonshire for rounds 11 and 12 of the UK championship.
Provisional 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Driver Standings (after Rds2&3):=2nd Ahmad Al Harthy & Brett Parris, 72pts; 8th James Theodore, 32pts; 12th Ellis Harkins, 22pts; 18th Alexander Jeffrey, 9pts
