Double R Racing just missed out on some more MSA Formula silverware at Snetterton 300 Circuit in Norfolk over the weekend, 8th/9th August, when an almost guaranteed podium in round 17 of the season for Tarun Reddy slipped from the Indian driver’s grasp with just a couple of laps to go.
On course for a best-yet finish of second in Sunday morning’s encounter, an unfortunate moment on the eighth tour of the 10 lap contest ultimately delivered a top five finish for Reddy. Added to eighth in round 16 on Saturday, though, as well as sixth place in round 18, he concluded the race meeting an improved ninth in the championship for the Woking squad – a rise of three places.
Team-mate Matheus Leist began the weekend with seventh position, just ahead of Reddy, in race one but an engine problem in the second race – pinpointed to head gasket failure – resulted in a disappointing retirement and the issue also prevented the South American from contesting race three. As a result, Leist has slipped from third to fifth in the driver standings.
“Tarun is making very good progress, he’s improving his pace and raced very well indeed this weekend – it’s just a shame he wasn’t able to keep hold of second place in race two as the podium was his for the taking”, reflected Double R team principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt.
“It’s not been the weekend we were hoping for where Matheus is concerned, the head gasket failure in race two ruled him out of the last race as well so he’s lost a lot of ground to the top three in the championship. Overall, we’ve had pretty good pace this weekend with both drivers so we need to continue that when we get to Knockhill in a couple of weeks but convert it into results.”
Beautiful weather on Saturday delivered great conditions for the first race with Leist lining-up in sixth position and Reddy starting three spots further back. The Indian racer made the best of lap one to climb into eighth while Leist was shuffled down to ninth position and then, on lap two, they each gained a place at the expense of Colton Herta when he had a spin, while leading, at the Esses.
Holding seventh and eighth respectively, as Petru Florescu in fifth backed-up the queue of cars containing Reddy and Leist, the order stayed unchanged until the start of lap nine when Leist managed to edge alongside his team-mate over the line.
Triggering an entertaining see-saw battle, Reddy swiftly hit back to re-take seventh position and during the last couple of laps the action was very close with Leist just managing to get back ahead of the sister Double R car on the final lap – edging the position by a mere 0.2 seconds.
Similar weather greeted competitors on Sunday morning ahead of round 17 where Reddy lined-up third on the grid with Leist alongside in fourth. Making a terrific launch from the line, Reddy held his top three placing into the first corner but Leist was unfortunately edged back to fifth.
As Reddy continued his podium charge into lap two, his Brazilian team-mate was elbowed down to 10th place after being put wide at Montreal Hairpin and then faced a very tall order to climb back up towards the lead group. Making progress nonetheless, Leist quickly moved into ninth but then the action fell under Safety Car conditions midway through lap four.
Prior to the re-start on lap seven, though, Leist suddenly slowed as smoke appeared from the rear of his car and after coaxing his Double R machine back to the pits he was forced to retire. Reddy, meanwhile, looked perfectly set for his second podium of the season as the action resumed, and even more so when Jack Barlow, running in second place, was given a drive-through penalty.
On lap eight, though, the car stepped away from Reddy on some oil at Palmer and after running wide over the grass on the outside he rejoined in sixth position. When Barlow pitted at the end of the penultimate lap to serve his penalty, Reddy claimed fifth and took the chequered flag on lap 10 a mere 0.1 seconds shy of fourth place.
Round 18 on Sunday afternoon featured only Reddy’s Double R car, with Leist sitting on the sidelines as a frustrated spectator. Starting in eighth rather than ninth, due to Leist’s non-appearance, Reddy held position after a good start and then climbed into seventh at Montreal while also thinking about challenging for sixth through the turn.
Smartly gaining the place, he ran closely behind the fifth placed car of Florescu initially before the upper order then settled down and, with no further progress possible, Reddy went on to hold sixth to the finish on lap 12.
There is now just a fortnight to wait for the next three rounds of MSA Formula action which will take place over the weekend 22nd/23rd August at Knockhill Circuit in Fife, Scotland.
2015 MSA Formula Championship Driver Standings (after Rd18): 5th Matheus Leist, 168pts; 9th Tarun Reddy, 79pts; 18th Gustavo Myasava, 19pts
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