Matteo Ferrer (Colchester) and Alex Gill (Doncaster) each claimed their maiden wins in the Protyre Formula Renault Championship at Rockingham yesterday afternoon, Sunday, 6th April, perfectly capping off a superb opening weekend of racing.
By winning round two, and adding second place in round three, Italian driver Ferrer opened up a healthy 11 point lead in the standings for MGR Motorsport. Gill, meanwhile, starred in the third and final race of the weekend for Fortec Motorsport to seal his first victory in cars – having earlier taken second place behind Ferrer after a sensational recovery drive.
Three podiums from the season opening event in Northamptonshire, a brace of third places today added to a career-best runner-up spot from round one on Saturday, underlined a terrific start to the year for Scorpio Motorsport’s Piers Hickin (Knaphill) who is second in the championship.
Having annexed pole position for all three Rockingham races, Ferrer looked to be the driver to beat and during today’s second round he delivered an absolutely storming performance. After seeing off a wheel-to-wheel challenge from team-mate, and round one winner, Pietro Fittipaldi (Camberley) at the start, Ferrer never looked back on his way to a supreme 7.6 second success.
“I didn’t make a good start but managed to somehow stay in the lead and then just kept Pietro back and managed to pull away”, said the second year MGR racer, “From then on it was really easy sailing as he was under pressure, it was basically a test run. When everything is good, your tyres and the car, it all falls into place and it’s an easy win. I’m really happy.”
While Ferrer was untouchable out front, the battle for the remaining podium placings was highly entertaining – mainly thanks to the tremendous recovery mounted by Gill, required following a sluggish getaway.
Slipping to seventh position off the start, the 16-year-old wasted no time in battling his way back up the order by taking sixth on lap two and fifth on lap three. He then passed MGR’s Colin Noble Jnr (Penicuik, Midlothian) at Tarzan on the fourth tour with a superb late braking move on the inside.
Not finished there Gill served up an excellent pass at Deene on Fittipaldi, who had been edged back to third by Hickin on lap two, and quickly started to apply pressure to the Scorpio car. On lap nine, Gill was impossibly late on the brakes into Tarzan to grab second and seal an amazing recovery and fastest lap – all the more impressive considering he sustained front wing damage early on.
Hickin held onto third place by 0.9 seconds from Fittipaldi with Ben Barnicoat (Chesterfield) some 5.5 seconds further adrift in fifth for Fortec, just managing to keep Belgian team-mate Wolfgang Reip at bay by a mere 0.5 seconds.
Noble, who had been challenging Fittipaldi, got too close for comfort into the latter stages and lost his front wing in the process which resulted in a slip to ninth place behind Cliff Dempsey Racing’s American driver Travis Jordan Fischer and MGR’s Indian youngster Tarun Reddy. Hillspeed’s Dimitris Papanastasiou (London) lost out on a potential top 10 after a lap six spin – he finished 13th.
Gill makes it three different winners from three races
Ferrer again got away well from pole position at the beginning of round three, with Fittipaldi taking second from Gill on the run to Turn One and Hickin again running with the leaders into Deene for the first time.
Under close attention from his pursuers, Ferrer tried to defend as tight as possible through the right handed hairpin at Tarzan but as Fittipaldi was delayed, it enabled Gill to get a run on the Brazilian out of the turn and he claimed second into Brook Chicane.
Swarming all over the back of Ferrer’s car, Gill’s intentions were clear but try as he might he wasn’t able to prise open an opportunity. With just fractions of a second separating the top two, the action couldn’t be closer but Ferrer held on well under immense pressure.
Gill managed to get alongside into Tarzan on lap seven, although the leader had the line for Brook, but into Deene on lap eight the Fortec driver managed to squeeze down the inside to grab the lead. Ferrer then came under threat from Hickin for second after a short Safety Car period but during the final few tours Ferrer set fastest lap and closed back up to within 0.3 seconds of Gill at the flag.
“After the disappointment of yesterday when we had the puncture, that race was great”, said an elated Gill, “Matteo [Ferrer] made it extra hard for me to try and get by but I managed to pass him and hold on after the Safety Car. The tyres were going off a little bit at the end but Fortec did a great job with the car. It’s a fantastic way to end the weekend, hopefully there are more wins to come.”
Hickin just held off Fittipaldi for the final podium spot while Barnicoat claimed fifth ahead of impressive rookie Reddy. Noble momentarily grabbed fifth at Deene on the final lap but after going wide he slipped behind Reddy into seventh.
Greek driver Papanastasiou secured his best result of the weekend, his first in Formula Renault, with eighth place just ahead of CDR’s Canadian newcomer Patrick Dussault, while SWB Motorsport’s Atte Lehtonen completed the top 10.
“Three solid podiums and a lot of points means we’re second in the championship, which is fantastic”, said delighted third place finisher Hickin, “The weekend has been a struggle though, qualifying didn’t go too well and that meant we had to battle through so the guys at the front had already gone. Hopefully we can qualify stronger at Donington and go for some victories.”
Protyre Formula Renault now heads into a lengthy eight-week break with rounds four, five and six of the season taking place at Donington Park National Circuit over the weekend 31st May/1st June.
Along with headline sponsor Protyre, Formula Renault is additionally supported by Michelin.
Provisional 2014 Protyre Formula Renault Championship Driver Standings (after Rd3):
1st Matteo Ferrer, 89pts; 2nd Piers Hickin, 78pts; 3rd Pietro Fittipaldi, 76pts; 4th Alex Gill, 70pts; 5th Ben Barnicoat, 60pts; 6th Colin Noble Jnr, 50pts
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