Last year’s championship runner-up, Scott Malvern, today made his first step towards going one better in the 2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with a dramatic victory in the opening round at Silverstone. But it was a very narrow win indeed for Malvern on his debut in one of Jamun Racing’s Mygales - at the chequered flag just 0.077s separated the Essex racer from his closest challenger, Australian ace Geoff Uhrhane.
He was delighted to open his account with a win, particularly since his Ford Duratec-powered car was not handling completely to his liking: “I had a massive oversteer problem,” said the Ilford-based 22-year-old, “so I am delighted. It’s possibly a damper fault - we shall have to investigate - but it made getting away from the rest of them really difficult. My mirrors were filled for the entire race.”
It was indeed a vintage Formula Ford battle at the front of the 19-car field, with four cars in contention for victory throughout and at least another three in close company for the duration. There were three different leaders in the opening three laps and Malvern and Uhrhane swapped top spot on numerous occasions.
The first of those leaders was Malvern’s Jamun team-mate Jeroen Slaghekke, the Dutch driver making the most of his maiden pole position. But with the top 13 cars on the grid separated by less than a second in qualifying, there would be no shortage of pursuers ready to depose him from top slot.
So it proved on the second lap, when Malvern, whose handling imbalance had first shown itself in qualifying, leaving him a frustrated third on the grid, passed both Uhrhane and Slaghekke to take up the running. Jeroen was swiftly elbowed to the back of the leading train as Uhrhane took the lead from Malvern, with Nick McBride’s Jamun Mygale up to third ahead of Dan de Zille (JTR) and Antti Buri (LMS). Jersey driver de Zille was the next to fall from contention (“I got squeezed and spun,” he said), which allowed Slaghekke back into fifth and Buri on to McBride’s tail.
As Nick defended third from Antti, so Scott and Geoff were able to separate their lead battle very slightly from their pursuers, and a great fight to the flag it proved to be. Time and again Uhrhane would pull alongside and past Malvern at the BRDC Clubhouse and into Luffield, only for his Jamun rival to repass down the Pits straight and into Copse.
Handling problem or not, Malvern had the edge going into the final lap and managed to hold off his Aussie rival by a whisker. Uhrhane, who will start both of Sunday’s races from the pole, said: “I hope very much to be able to reverse this result tomorrow by putting a few more moves on Scott and breaking his advantage.”
Less than a second covered the top four at the line, McBride fending off Buri to take the last spot on the podium. “It was a tough race, but clean,” said Nick, “and the most important thing was to finish it and score some points.”
Slaghekke recovered from his early-race disappointments to establish a Formula Ford lap record for the Silverstone National circuit and take the additional point for fastest lap on his way to fifth, a second clear of his team-mate Spike Goddard, who pinched sixth from JTR’s Tristan Mingay on the final lap.
The first non-Mygale finisher was Finland’s Jesse Anttila, who gave the new works Ray an encouraging championship debut with eighth spot, ahead of Jake Cook’s Jamun Mygale and the Enigma/RV Mygale of Frenchman Philippe Layac. De Zille recovered from his spin to collect 11th.
Twelfth overall and the Scholarship class victor was Derbyshire driver Cavan Corcoran, whose Getem Racing Mygale overcame the Tockwith Motorsport Ray of early class leader David Moore on the fifth lap and then pulled clear to beat him by 12 seconds.
Californian Neil Alberico placed 13th in his Cliff Dempsey Racing Ray, while Matt Parry, making his car-racing debut in the Fluid Van Diemen, was 14th after a first-lap bump from another car sent him spinning. Moore placed 15th, with Jake Jackson (Ray) and David Ellesley (Juno) completed the finishing order.
Provisional resultsDunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great BritainRound 1 (of 24) Silverstone (National) 9/4/1119 laps / 31.141 miles1 Scott Malvern GBR/Ilford Jamun Mygale 18m 43.119s / 99.81mph2 Geoff Uhrhane AUS JTR Mygale +0.077s3 Nick McBride AUS Jamun Mygale +0.406s4 Antti Buri FIN LMS Mygale +0.824s5 Jeroen Slaghekke NED Jamun Mygale +1.778s6 Spike Goddard AUS Jamun Mygale +2.876s etc12 & Scholarship class Cavan Corcoran GBR/Matlock Getem Mygale +16.908sFastest lap Slaghekke 58.200s / 101.38mph Est Rec
Provisional championship standings1 Malvern 30 points; 2 Uhrhane 27; 3 McBride 24; 4 Buri 22; 5 Slaghekke 21;6 Goddard 18 etc. Scholarship class 1 Corcoran 31; 2 David Moore (GBR/Tockwith) 27; 3 Jake Jackson (GBR/Crowborough) 24.
