Ed Brand turned up the temperature on his fellow Super One Rotax title aspirants with a searing performance in Scotland (26 June).
Sebastian Vettel’s co-combatants in Formula One may be queuing up to already concede defeat to the brilliant young German, but Strawberry Racing’s Brand still believes he has a fight on his hands – despite claiming his fifth win of the campaign.
Like the Red Bull ace, Ed now has a seventy point advantage and knows that he is firmly in control - but modesty forbids talk of lifting the crown, just yet.
“My winning margin (at Larkhall) was just a kart length. It was a really close race. With three rounds remaining I need a few more good finishes and hopefully I can hold (my lead) to the end. However, so much can happen and for now, I’m focusing on taking each race at a time.”
Brand certainly gave the rest of the field hope when he could only post the fourth-fastest time during qualifying. Normal service was swiftly resumed in the first of his two heats with victory, but any premature celebrations were dashed with a 4th in the second.
His scores from the two preliminary races gave him a second row grid position for the first of the day’s two finals. “I dropped to 7th at the start but worked my way back up to 3rd by the end” was his simple description of his dramatic fight to maintain his perfect record of finishing on the podium in each of the series’ points-scoring finals this year.
As the main final got underway he held on to his initial 3rd place, but keen not to let John Stewart exploit his ‘local’ knowledge of the Lanarkshire circuit and get away, Ed made an incisive move for 2nd and from there shadowed Stewart.
“With three minutes to go I took the lead. The pace had dropped so I thought ‘I need to get to the front, otherwise the 3rd-placed driver will catch us’. John knew I was coming through and gave me enough room. From there we worked together and pulled away. It was clever driving from him and meant good points for us both.”
He added, “It is thanks Strawberry Racing, who have given me such a fantastic kart and engine to put me in this position. That said, leading the Championship now is one thing but to lead it after the chequered flag has fallen at the last race, that’s what matters most.”
Ed now has a four week break before the fifth round (23/24 July), held at the challenging Buckmore Park track in Kent.
