Win number four for Ashley Sutton at a damp KnockhillHarrison Scott increases his championship lead with second place ahead of Ricky Collard
The seemingly unstoppable Ashley Sutton Saturday afternoon racked up his fourth win in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, leading the 19th round at Knockhill from pole position to chequered flag despite some tricky conditions.
A heavy pre-race shower dampened the circuit sufficiently to make wet Dunlops the sensible tyre choice but all the drivers had to contend with unknown levels of grip around the 1.27-mile Scottish track. Sutton took it all in his stride, however: “It was a question of familiarising myself with the track – working out where the wet lines were, where the braking points were, what gear I needed to be in – then working on getting a gap and looking after the tyres as the track dried.”
Ashley’s MBM Motorsport EcoBoost Mygale edged clear of its pursuers by a second within two laps and, thanks to a series of fastest laps, by half distance he was more than three seconds clear. Sutton crossed the line 6.3s ahead to set the seal on his victory. He also collected the Scholarship class victory and the £500 cheque for so doing.
JTR’s Jayde Kruger, who started second on the grid behind Sutton, led the rest initially but was soon under pressure from championship leader Harrison Scott. A clever manoeuvre, which began at the hairpin at the end of lap six, allowed Harrison’s Falcon Motorsport Mygale to close on to the South African’s tail along pit straight and he swept past through Scotsman Corner to demote his title rival to third.
“I attacked him going into the hairpin and he had to go defensive,” said Scott. “I got a good slipstream on him and then he went defensive again into turn one and ran wide; I switched back again got him around the outside… I was pushing after that but Ashley started to drive away as the track dried and my tyres started to go away.” Harrison’s second place extends his championship lead to 19 points.
Worse was to come for Kruger – at the end of the 15th lap, Scott’s Falcon Motorsport team-mate Ricky Collard got the better exit from the chicane and outdragged Jayde on the run up the pit straight to secure third place and his third overall podium finish of the season. “I sat behind him and waited,” said Ricky. “When I knew that my tyres were at their coolest and Jayde started to slide I focused on outbraking him into the hairpin. Then I was able to edge away – it’s a great result for Falcon.”
Kruger had to settle for fourth, well ahead of his JTR team-mate Max Marshall, who lost ground on the opening lap after trying to surprise Scott through Scotsman. Juan Rosso beat his Radical Motorsport team-mate James Abbot to sixth, the latter put under late-race pressure from Richardson Racing’s Louise Richardson as she sped to the final Scholarship class place on the podium.
Chris Mealin placed ninth for Falcon and Greg Holloway was 10th in the SWB Sinter after losing time with a visit to the gravel trap at Clark’s.
The reverse-grid Round 20 is due off at 1025 Sunday at Knockhill – Max Marshall will start from the pole – with Round 21 scheduled for a 1625 start live on ITV4.
