Chris Middlehurst extended his lead in the Protyre Formula Renault Championship with a pulverising display at Thruxton (1/2 June).
The St. Helens-based teenager won all three races at the Hampshire venue to put 96 points worth of clear daylight between himself and his nearest title rivals. Fresh from taking his fourth victory of the season with MGR Motorsport, Chris made it five following a close-fought race with Fortecs Weiron Tan. A perfect lights-to-flag drive in round eight, notched up win number six and duly completed a stunning weekend for him. Middlehursts sheer dominance was further highlighted by his three pole positions, his subsequent hattrick of victories and setting the fastest lap in two of the three races. Chris had an amazing weekend, said MGR Principal, Mark Godwin, To use darts parlance, he checked out. Three poles and three wins plus two fastest laps shows just what an incredible time he had.However, we are not going to get carried away, there are still some areas we can improve on. Getting round seven underway, Middlehurst made a clean start to lead the field away from p1 on the grid. However, he was demoted to 2nd and then 3rd by Tan and Ivan Taranov in the Complex. Chris immediately responded by taking a place back at the Chicane.From there he eroded Tans lead and on lap five, again at the Chicane, re-took the advantage. A Safety Car period drew the sting from the action and Middlehurst was on his mettle when the race re-started. Once again, Chris found himself down to third spot in the Complex, prompting another fightback.At the beginning of lap ten, the MGR car was back in 2nd but Tan was now almost four seconds clear out front. This time the Safety car came to Chris aid, as the marshals cleared two cars that had collided from vulnerable positions. Having fended off the challenge of Jake Cook, Chris mounted a last-gasp bid for the win on the very last lap. Carrying superior speed through Church, he arrowed in on Tans rear wing and pulled alongside as the pair ran towards the Chicane. Benefiting from holding the inside line, Middlehurst got his nose in front and it was enough to snatch the win.After the breathtaking drama of round seven, the following race could have been regarded as something of an anti-climax. Chris led from pole position, albeit shadowed by Tan and Cook. At mid-distance the latter pair was joined by Taranov and their ensuing scrap allowed Chris to make the most of the clear track ahead of him, pull away and cross the finishing line some 12 seconds ahead of his pursuers.Chris had laid down the foundations for his remarkable triple with a superb triumph in round six, on Saturday. Buoyed by having set the fastest lap for all three races, Middlehurst was further aided by a number of factors. Once in the lead, the battle for second handed him an 11 second lead. A Safety Car barely hindered his progress, so much so, that he was able to set the fastest lap on the final tour.
His team-mate, Mexicos Jorge Cevallos stormed from ninth on the grid to third at the finish. It was to be a satisfying conclusion to a frustrating day, as Jorge told the Renaultsport website: From the beginning we had problem after problem. The team did a great job for the race though and gave me a great car. Third place was OK, it was good points.
Matteo Ferrer was fortunate to walk away from a monster shunt in qualifying that destroyed his car. He was struggling with the balance of the car, explained Godwin, Matteo made a mistake and went off at Goodwood, one of the fastest corners on the circuit. Mentally hes okay and thankfully, physically hes alright too. It is testimony to the Tatuus chassis that the car is wrecked but he emerged with little more than aches and bruises. With Matteo on the sidelines, Tom Oliphant completed MGRs on-track squad at Thruxton. He made steady progress throughout the two days to finish, twelfth, eleventh and ninth respectively.
In round nine he was in the same group with Cevallos that had become bottled-up behind slower drivers, as Mark explains: Jorge got stuck behind one driver who had him on the grass when he tried to pass. Tom was part of that same group and they were all running at the same pace but he just couldnt find a way past. But I think we may see Tom running higher up the order at Croft. He likes the circuit and is feeling confident. George (as the team has nicknamed Jorge) went into the weekend feeling very upbeat, but came away disappointed after his third place. We had to retire him from the second race due to problems with his wiring loom and his seventh in the final race of the weekend was not the result he deserved. Turning his attention back to Middlehurst, Godwin said: Chris demonstrated at Thruxton just what a capable racer he is. Hes driving very intelligently and has obvious pace. He knows hes still got a job to do and we need to help him finish it.
Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire hosts the series next triple-header, on 6th/7th July.
Provisional 2013 Protyre Formula Renault Championship Standings (after Rd8):1st Chris Middlehurst, 258pts; 3rd Jorge Cevallos, 141pts; 12th Matteo Ferrer, 71pts; 14th Tom Oliphant, 70pts
