WITH DONINGTON DOUBLE
Reon Motorsport’s Dino Zamparelli (Bristol) produced two stunning drives during rounds six and seven of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Donington Park on August 8th/9th to secure a double victory and end Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Kieren Clark’s (Royston) unbeaten run. The 16-year-old former Ginetta Junior champion claimed two lights-to-flag victories around the 1.9573-mile National circuit to move him into fifth place in the drivers’ standings.
Runaway Championship leader Clark endured a poor weekend by his standards with a second (round six) and fourth place, although the 20-year-old still leads the title race with a margin of 62-points over new nearest rival Alpine Motorsport’s Josh Mulholland (Randalstown) who picked up two third places. The final podium place went to Antel Motorsport’s Brett Parris (Southampton).
Meanwhile in the Privateer Cup, Oxford racer Steven Durrant (round six) and Andrew Jarman (Northampton) took a win apiece with Jarman now extending his lead to 18-points.
Zamparelli scores double...
Following Saturday’s qualifying session, British/Italian racer Zamparelli lined the start grid for round seven as pole-sitter with Mulholland alongside him and Clark in unfamiliar territory on row two.
As the lights went out for the start of the 14-lap race, both front-row drivers made good starts with Zamparelli just holding on to the lead as the field all went safely through Redgate. Parris also made a good start which saw him move into second after squeezing passed Mulholland on the opening lap, as did Clark dropping the Northern Ireland driver to fourth. In the midfield, Antel Motorsport’s Archie Hamilton (Hook) – grandson of Le Mans star Duncan – was running well in fifth followed by Welch Motorsport’s Kourosh Khani (London) and Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Joe Crook (Hailsham).
By the early stages, Zamparelli was already showing his confidence out in front while behind Parris was working hard to keep Clark in his mirrors which in turn was allowing Mulholland to catch. Khani had also been able to gain a place to move into the top five.
French racer Pierre Renom – competing in his first race meeting this year – had also been running well as the leading privateer driver until a spin at Goddards ended his race and allowed Jarman to take his place.
Lap seven saw the Safety Car deployed to retrieve the car of Crook who had earlier spun at Starkeys allowing the field to bunch up and undoing Zamparelli’s healthy lead.
Racing resumed three laps later with the new race distance increased to 17 laps. Despite having never led a race until this weekend, Zamparelli timed the restart to perfection to lead from Parris once more followed by Clark and Mulholland with the battle for second, third and fourth places producing a three-car train. Out in front, the single-seater racer was certainly not phased and a few laps later he set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1min 09.229s (101.78mph average).
Behind him, Clark tried to make a move on Parris for second going into the chicane but outbraked himself allowing the waiting Mulholland to slip by into third. Clark tried to retake the place as the two went into Redgate but with Mulholland holding the racing line the Royston racer was forced to yield.
In the midfield, Bamboo Engineering’s Don De Graaff (Weybridge) had also been able to make up a place from Hamilton to move into sixth with Hillspeed’s Ahmad Al Harthy (OMA) in eighth and team-mate James Theodore (Telford) running strong in ninth.
With the chequered flag in sight, Zamparelli, who had developed more than a five second lead, slowed briefly to wave to his team before taking a deserved lights-to-flag victory. Parris, relieved not to have Clark in his mirrors, crossed the line in second to equal his best finish this year with Mulholland just keeping Clark at bay to take third. Khani rounded off the top five and his best result of 2009 while Jarman enjoyed a relatively straight forward race to take the privateer win.
Clark’s unbeaten run ends...
Sunday’s earlier round six saw the first three drivers line up in identical positions to round seven. As the lights went out, Zamparelli made a good start as did De Graaff from row three on the grid.
As the field emerged from Redgate, Zamparelli led followed by Clark, who had got ahead of Mulholland, and De Graaff in fourth. By the end of the first lap though, De Graaff had judged to have jumped the start by the Clerk of the Course, handing him a drive-through penalty as a result.
After the opening few laps, Zamparelli was looking strong as race leader and already pulling away from Clark. In the midfield, Al Harthy, Parris and Crook were all running well while behind them a great battle was developing between Khani and Theodore for eighth and ninth places.
Out in front though Zamparelli was continuing to press developing almost a three second lead over Clark with Mulholland in third and De Graaff in fourth although the 18-year-old was still yet to serve his drive-through penalty. In the battle for the privateer cup, 19-year-old Durrant was leading from Jarman followed by Renom.
Lap nine saw contact at the Esses between Hillspeed’s Alex Jeffrey (Glasgow) and Falcon Motorsport’s and Championship newcomer Jack Piper (Norwich). With their cars in a dangerous position, the Clerk of the Course was forced to deploy the Safety Car the following lap.
This allowed the field, in particular the pursuing car of Clark, to close up before racing resumed on lap 12 with the original 14-lap distance extended by two laps. Once again Zamparelli made a good start to lead although with a much smaller cushion over Clark who had earlier set the fastest lap of the race and earning him two extra championship points. Mulholland lay in third followed by Al Harthy in fourth after De Graaff had served his drive-through penalty dropping the returning driver down the order.
As the race entered the final few stages, Khani and Theodore were still battling for position with the Telford driver eventually getting the better of Khani. Fifth-place Parris was also not content with his place and after a good run out of the chicane on lap 15, the 20-year-old was able to get passed Al Harthy at Redgate on the final lap.
There was little Clark could do though to catch Zamparelli on his final lap leaving the rookie racer to secure his first win of the season and ends Clark’s unbeaten run of five straight wins. Mulholland finished third with Parris in fourth and Al Harthy rounding off the top five. Durrant held on to take the privateer honours.
Commenting after his double victory Zamparelli said: “I’m delighted with the two wins and it’s given me a massive confidence boost going into the next rounds at Brands. The car has been running well all weekend and credit has to go to the team and engineers. Kieren has been running strong too all season but this weekend we’ve managed to get the better of him and gain back some points.”
Commenting on his weekend, Championship leader Clark said: “I’d said earlier in the season that the rest of the field was getting quicker and this weekend certainly showed that. I’m still pleased to come away with more points though as it’s not just about winning.”
Commenting on his two third places Mulholland said: “I’m a bit disappointed Clark was able to get the jump on me in round six but it was a good race and I’m pleased to get on the podium. In round seven it looked like I’d just missed out on another podium until Clark left a gap when he tried to take Brett [Parris] which allowed me through and complete a good weekend for us.”
Second place in round seven Parris added: “Kieren has shown great pace all season so it wasn’t easy keeping him behind me throughout most of round seven. When Josh [Mulholland] was able to get passed him it was a welcome relief for me and gave me breathing space to concentrate on bringing the car home.”
Rounds eight and nine of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship take place at Kent’s Brand Hatch Indy circuit on 22nd/23rd August.
2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship provisional drivers’ standings – round 7:
1st Kieren Clark GBR Apotex Scorpio Motorsport 222pts 2nd Josh Mulholland GBR Alpine Motorsport 160pts 3rd Brett Parris GBR Antel Motorsport 158pts 4th Ahmad Al Harthy OMA Hillspeed 154pts 5th Dino Zamparelli GBR/ITA Reon Motorsport 148pts Privateer Cup standings – round 7: 1st Andrew Jarman GBR 55pts 2nd Steven Durrant GBR 37pts 3rd Alex Craven GBR 20pts
For all the latest Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk
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