Tio Ellinas delivered a thoroughly dominant performance at Rockingham in Northamptonshire (Saturday) to not only bag his first Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain victory, but also claim pole position, fastest race lap and a new lap record.
The 18-year-old Cypriot, who won the Grand Prix Shootout scholarship last year to earn this season’s drive with the JTR squad, laid down a strong marker during qualifying to take the round 11 pole position by 0.146 seconds from Scott Pye.
Smoking his tyres at the start, Ellinas just managed to hold the lead through the banked Turn One from Pye, and that was the closest anyone got to challenging the Mygale driver. Building a comfortable lead over the course of the 14 laps, Ellinas won by almost four seconds to seal a memorable maiden victory.
After the race he said: “I’m really happy to have won. I was trying to do every lap like a qualifying lap to have a good gap. I pushed to the limit and managed to get a good advantage so I could focus ahead instead of having to look in my mirrors. It’s been a perfect weekend so far, hopefully we can do the same tomorrow.”
Finnish racer Antti Buri enjoyed a strong run to second place, his third podium of the year, with an impressive drive for Enigma Motorsport. Lining up third on the grid, he held on to his placing and, after pressuring championship leader Scott Malvern through Turn One on lap two, Buri made his move into Deene Hairpin to take second place.
Malvern, who qualified fifth, wasn’t able to match the pace of the top two and slipped further behind on lap five when Pye grabbed third at Deene. Malvern then came under serious attack from Jake Cook, a battle which raged to the finish with Malvern’s CDR Ray holding on by a mere 0.7s from the Cook’s Getem Mygale.
While the top three became quite spread out as round 11 progressed, Malvern, Cook, reigning Scholarship Champion Dan Cammish and Dan de Zille delivered some close, wheel-to-wheel action.
First-year single-seater racer Cook continued to show excellent promise for Getem Racing with his fine fifth place result, having started seventh on the grid, and during the second half of the encounter he was able to edge away from Cammish, whose mirrors were full of de Zille’s Minister International Mygale.
Sixth place wasn’t quite enough to keep Cammish in the championship top three though; Buri’s runner-up spot moved the Finn seven points clear. Malvern’s substantial advantage at the top of the standings, meanwhile, has been reduced by a mere two points.
The remainder of the top 10 comprised Josh Hill in eighth, Emil Bernstorff and Jeroen Slaghekke, the Dutchman crossing the line 0.1s ahead of returning 2006 champion and Century Motorsports boss Nathan Freke, who was deputising for the injured Chrissy Palmer.
Tristan Mingay took the Scholarship Class spoils at the wheel of his Ray, well clear of series newcomer Ashley Grant, to seal his fourth win of 2010. Luke Williams had qualified quickest in class but a lap four spin at Deene led to retirement and also means he slips behind Mingay in the standings.
For round 12 of the championship, which takes place at Rockingham today (Sunday), Ellinas starts from pole once more, with Pye alongside him on the front row of the grid. Buri and Malvern share row two, with De Zille and Cammish on row three.
Provisional results
Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great BritainRound 11 (of 25) Rockingham 17/7/201014 laps / 27.16 miles
Pos Driver Nat/Home Team/Chassis Time1 Tio Ellinas CYP/Larnaca JTR/Mygale 19m 05.359s / 85.36mph2 Antti Buri FIN/Masku Enigma/Mygale +3.751s 3 Scott Pye AUS/Mount Gambier Jamun/Mygale +9.533s4 Scott Malvern GBR/Ilford Cliff Dempsey/Ray +15.384s 5 Jake Cook GBR/Rotherham Getem/Mygale +16.135s 6 Daniel Cammish GBR/Churwell JTR/Mygale +18.606s Scholarship class: Tristan Mingay GBR/Hailsham Raysport/Ray +48.307sFastest lap: Ellinas 1m 21.058s / 86.15mph Record
Provisional championship placings1 Malvern 270 points; 2 Pye 229; 3 Buri 201; 4 Cammish 194; 5 Josh Hill (GBR/Mygale) 172; 6 Ellinas 169 etcScholarship class 1 Mingay 202; 2 Luke Williams (GBR/Juno) 178; 3 Dani Domit (MEX/Mygale) 168
