Michael Lyons takes double victory In Historic F1 At Nurburgring

Michael Lyons continued his outstanding run of success in the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship at the Nurburgring in Germany over the weekend, 10th/11th August, with two superb wins in the 41st staging of the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix event.Hot on the heels of a remarkably successful outing at the Silverstone Classic two weeks ago, where he also claimed a double victory, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) Rising Star once again shone at the wheel of his RAM Williams FW07 his maiden historic F1 wins at the Nurburgring.Although just missing out on pole position for Saturdays encounter by a mere 0.2 seconds, largely after being held up by traffic, the Lyons Racing Team driver held second place over the course of the opening lap before grabbing the lead into the first turn on the second tour.Controlling from the front thereafter, Michael eased to an eventual winning margin after 16 laps of some 15 seconds. He also comfortably posted the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m37.221 seconds (171.74 km/h).Lining up on pole position for Sundays race, with the grid formed from the finishing order of the first contest, the Essex youngster led from the off and again scorched into the distance to open up an advantage of 15 seconds.Although a late Safety Car period eroded his huge lead, Michael made a perfect re-start and over just one final racing lap he managed to win by three seconds. As in race one, he posted the fastest lap this time with an effort of 1m37.621 seconds (171.03 km/h).Having made his first ever competitive appearance in an historic F1 car at the Nurburgring back in 2007 when he was just 16-years-old, Michael was thrilled to have tasted success at the famous German track. He received his winners trophies from former BMW Motorsport Director, ex-team principal of the BMW Sauber F1 team, Dr Mario Theissen.We didnt use new tyres in qualifying, in retrospect we should have, but I did get baulked as well by traffic which was a little bit frustrating we were quick enough for pole, explained the 22-year-old, I managed to get the lead of the first race at the start of lap two and then pulled away, we also had fastest lap by more than a second.I was leading race two by the same margin but then we had the late Safety Car. I judged the re-start just right, caught the others napping, and won by three seconds. Its great to carry on the winning momentum from Silverstone, overall it was a really good weekend. Nurburgring was the first place I ever raced an F1 car when I was 16, so its fantastic to finally win there.Further success for the Lyons Racing Team, and the family as a whole, came in the form of a double class podium for Ensign MN177 racer James Hagan who finished second in class in race one, before adding third in class in race two.Michaels dad Frank, piloting his usual Hesketh 308E, took second ahead of Hagan in race two after finishing fourth in class in the opener. Mum Judy, meanwhile, was third in her class in the second outing after an unfortunate non-finish for her Surtees TS9 in Saturdays race.Zandvoort in The Netherlands will host the next two rounds of the FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship over the weekend 31st August/1st September. One week later, Michael will return to action in his contemporary racing career with rounds 11 and 12 of the International GT Open taking place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on 7th/8th September.


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