Scott Malvern put the disappointments of a chequered season-opener at Silverstone firmly behind him at Oulton Park International Circuit Saturday by taking a clear, and almost completely untroubled, victory during the fourth round of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain.
Thoroughly dominant in qualifying, taking pole position for all three of the weekend’s races, the Jamun Racing 22-year-old made a great start to this afternoon’s 11-lap encounter and saw off some early attention from Dutch team-mate Jeroen Slaghekke to notch up his second win of 2011.
“Obviously Silverstone wasn’t brilliant for us but we still got a win there,” said Ilford-based Malvern. “Today, I got my head down at the start and was able to build a gap. Oulton is a circuit I really enjoy and this is a great start to the weekend.”
Championship leader Slaghekke, winner of round two at Silverstone, increased his points advantage to 14 with his third podium from the first four races. With Nick McBride finishing a close third, the Australian just 0.174 seconds adrift at the flag, round four also meant a rostrum lock-out for Jamun.
In the Scholarship Class, Cavan Corcoran kept up his faultless start to the year with his fourth win on the bounce and with it the fastest lap. Ahead of Easter Monday’s fifth and sixth rounds of the championship, the 17-year-old from Matlock in Derbyshire holds a perfect tally of 124 points - more than 40 clear of his closest challenger.
Qualifying: During this morning’s 20-minute qualifying session, Malvern came into the picture at the halfway point, hitting the top of the times just prior to a session stoppage due to a huge accident for Jamun’s Jake Cook.
Caught out by a sudden gust of wind along Lakeside, the Rotherham 17-year-old’s Mygale was pitched into a roll but he luckily emerged unscathed. The car wasn’t quite as fortunate and the resulting damage unsurprisingly prevented Cook from taking the race start - a real shame as his best time at that point still ended up being good enough for fourth fastest.
At the resumption, Malvern stamped home his authority with some searing laps and into the final couple of minutes the 2010 vice-champion had a 0.6 second gap to Slaghekke. On his final lap, the series leader halved the deficit but Malvern was untouchable.
McBride qualified third quickest, 0.3 seconds further adrift, with the luckless Cook fourth on the times, JTR’s Dan De Zille fifth and LMS runner Antti Buri sixth. Australian Geoff Uhrhane rued a problematic gearbox which seriously hampered his pace and meant the round three race winner was able to post only the seventh best lap. Corcoran took the Scholarship pole.
Round four: As the lights went out for the first of the Easter Weekend’s trio of Formula Ford races, Malvern made a great start with fellow front-row man Slaghekke getting too much wheelspin but still able to hold McBride at bay through Old Hall with De Zille, Buri and Uhrhane running in grid order too.
Further behind, Fluid’s Matthew Parry ended his race all-too soon with a visit into the barriers at the first corner following a mid-pack tangle. His Van Diemen would be going no further and the same was true of Jesse Anttila’s Ray which was tipped into the barriers half a lap later at Hill Top - a bad day for the Finn after driveshaft problems in qualifying.
No red flags were necessary for either incident and so the race continued without break. At the front nothing looked likely to immediately change but fifth placed Buri most certainly had his sights set on challenging De Zille.
As Uhrhane helped to push the Finn along, the pair began to apply some serious pressure to De Zille and on lap five his defence finally cracked with Buri slicing through on the inside at Cascades. Uhrhane tried to take advantage of the delay for De Zille too but his team-mate held firm along Lakeside and through Island Bend.
Rather than being able to pull away though, Buri came back under attack almost instantly although De Zille slipped behind Uhrhane three laps later when the Australian delivered a terrific move on the brakes into the chicane.
Back with the lead trio, Malvern managed to build a sizeable cushion and in the end he took the flag by 2.5 seconds, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process on the penultimate tour with a time of 1m 40.515s (96.41mph).
Slaghekke had his mirrors filled with the similar red Mygale of McBride and over the line they were separated by just 0.174s. Buri managed to pull away from the battling JTR duo of Uhrhane and De Zille, the latter coming back at his team-mate on the final lap but not able to find a way through.
“It was quite a tough race”, said Slaghekke, “Scott did an excellent job getting ahead at the start and he was able to pull a gap and control it. I’m quite happy with second place though.”
Third placed McBride added: “Oulton’s much more of a driver’s circuit than Silverstone, it’s very challenging. It’s a good result for the team, it’s great for them to have a one-two-three.”
Spike Goddard, the third Australian in the field, headed up the second pack in seventh place for Jamun with Cliff Dempsey’s American runner Neil Alberico in eighth - the highest placed Ray and first of the non-Mygale drivers. Frenchman Philippe Layac was ninth for Enigma ahead of Luke Williams.
Provisional resultsDunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great BritainRound 4 (of 24) Oulton Park (International) 23/4/1111 laps / 29.59 miles1 Scott Malvern GBR/Ilford Jamun Mygale 18m35.124s / 95.59mph2 Jeroen Slaghekke NED Jamun Mygale +2.598s3 Nick McBride AUS Jamun Mygale +2.772s4 Antti Buri FIN LMS Mygale +5.333s5 Geoff Uhrhane AUS JTR Mygale +7.187s6 Dan De Zille JEY JTR Mygale +7.329s12 & Scholarship class Cavan Corcoran GBR/Matlock Getem Mygale +34.739sFastest lap Malvern 1m40.515s / 96.41mph
Provisional championship standings1 Slaghekke 102 points; 2 Uhrhane 88; 3 De Zille 80; 4 McBride 70; 5 Goddard 68; 6 Buri 64 etcScholarship class 1 Corcoran 124; 2 David Moore (GBR/Tockwith) 81; 3 Jake Jackson (GBR/Crowborough) 75
Next rounds Oulton Park, 25 April
