King secures fifth for Atech Reid GP at Croft

Oscar King secured fifth place for Atech Reid GP in Sunday's second Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship race at Croft, finishing two places ahead of Cypriot Tio Ellinas. Despite losing two laps in the pits, Dan Wells finished eighth while yesterday's race winner Jack Hawskworth was one of many caught out by the tricky conditions spinning out of third place, four laps from home.The 15 lap race started on a reasonably dry track and at the lights, Ellinas made the most of an incident between two cars ahead to move into third, with Hawksworth holding position in sixth. Going into the first corner Wells suffered front wing damage later requiring a pit stop for replacement, with King able to maintain position.Weather though was to play a major role in the outcome of the results, with rain falling three laps in and resulting in several cars spinning off. This allowed Hawksworth to move up to fifth, with Ellinas closing down the gap to second place. However on lap five the unfortunate Cypriot was hit by Oliver Rowland, requiring a pit stop for a replacement front wing, dropping him down the order. A further incident later in the race dropped him seventh, where he finished at the flag, although he maintains second in the points table.Behind, Hawksworth managed to get up to third place and challenging for second, but with the track conditions deteriorating and several cars spinning out, the weather finally caught out the Bradford racer on lap 11, his race over on the spot. Wells rejoined two laps down after his pit stop but was unable to make much progress through the field, finishing eighth. Through all the confusion, and despite being taken out twice by other cars, King drove a steady race, running consistently fourth fastest, and moving through the order to finish fifth at the flag.Oscar King: "The race was pretty good although a little crazy when the rain came. I made a good start but then made a mistake and lost a place and then lost some time as the tyres dropped temperature. When the rain came I got tapped a few times and spun off twice, it was really crazy, I'd make up places then drop down again. But overall I'm happy with my race pace, I think from lap five onwards I was running comfortably fourth fastest and so I'm pleased to take fifth, although it wasn't quite as satisfying a result as the Oulton one. I enjoyed myself though!"Tio Ellinas: " I'd made a good start and got into third place when I was t-boned by Oliver Rowland dropping me down the order. I had the normal line and he just came from too far back into the side of me. Then later I collided with Hill, which damaged my front wing and required a replacement. So, to come back to seventh was a pretty good result and keeps me in the championship hunt. It was pretty bad out there, quite crazy, but hopefully we can bounce back to a good result at Snetterton."Dan Wells: "I got a good start and managed to get the jump on Oscar but unfortunately at the first corner it was pretty chaotic and I was backed up into another car, allowing Oscar back, and he just clipped my wing. So I had to pit for a replacement, losing me two laps, and when I came back out, it was pretty crazy. It was a very tricky race, it was confusing as you couldn't see who was where and who had pitted or been lapped and no blue flags in places to warn me. I'm looking forward to Snetterton though, I've tested there with the team, so there'll be no need to learn the track or anything and hopefully we can get a good result."Jack Hawksworth: "It's a bit disappointing obviously after the result of yesterday but it was a pretty crazy race. I made a good start and for the few first laps we were held up behind another car but then I was in third and pushing hard to take second place. At the chicane I simply lost the rear of the car and went off. It's a real shame as we had good pace, running comfortably second quickest and I really feel we could have had second place. The team did a great job all weekend, and I'm now looking forward to the next rounds and some more good results."Team Principal David Hayle: "Sadly the results do not necessarily reflect the pace and performance of the drivers today. All of them had a good race pace and were very unlucky that due to the weather in most cases they didn't enjoy the results we know they're capable of. Hopefully we can put all we've learnt this weekend to good use for the next rounds of the series and gain some more strong results at Snetterton."The Atech Reid GP team now enjoys a seven week break until rounds 11 and 12 of the 2011 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship at Snetterton, Norfolk over the weekend of 6/7 August.

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