Di Resta In Control To Net Second Win Of Season

Manor Motorsport’s Paul Di Resta (Bathgate, West Lothian) took full control of the 15th round of the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit today, taking his second win of the season in dominant style.

Having got away cleanly from his NGK Laser Platinum Pole Position, Di Resta led Team Firstair’s Sean McIntosh through Paddock Hill Bend with Comtec Racing’s Westley Barber (Wimbish, Saffron Walden) getting the better of Mike Conway (Sevenoaks, Kent) after the Fortec Motorsport driver seemed to have a very sluggish start.

A four-car accident at Druids Hairpin, however involving Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Rodolfo Gonzalez (Attleborough, Norfolk), Fortec team-mates Ben Freudenberg (Northampton) and Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex) and Motaworld Racing’s Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) - brought out the red flags.

At the re-start, Di Resta got away well from the line while championship leader Conway seemed to be slow off the grid once more. The Fortec ace did manage to hold on to third position though, behind ‘Graduate Cup’ front-runner McIntosh and ahead of Barber.

While race leader Di Resta began to pull away at the front, a strong battle developed behind Team JLR’s fifth-placed Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex) involving Motaworld’s Gustavo Sondermann (Rochester, Kent), Comtec’s Susie Stoddart (Northampton) and Fortec’s Charles Hollings (Norwood, West Yorkshire).

Further down the order, meanwhile, Swedish ace Alex Storckenfeldt fought his way through the field with some excellent driving especially considering the shoulder injury he’s carrying after a karting accident two weeks ago.

The Mark Burdett Motorsport driver, who started a lowly 25th on the grid after car problems in qualifying, eventually crossed the line in 16th position to earn himself the ELF/Atol Driver of the Day award.

Back at the front it was Di Resta who took the chequered flag on lap 22 by a comfortable margin of almost 1.5 seconds from McIntosh, the Canadian’s second podium of the season, while Conway extended his championship lead even further with third position.

Barber crossed the line in fourth ahead of fifth-placed Simpson, Sondermann in sixth, Stoddart in seventh and eighth-placed finisher Hollings. Team JLR’s Daniel Clarke (Maidenhead, Berkshire) enjoyed a solid Formula Renault UK debut in ninth position with Team aka’s James Jakes (Cullingworth, West Yorkshire) rounding out the top 10.

Commenting on his victory, a delighted Paul Di Resta said: "I hope to be able to keep this kind of performance up for the rest of the year. Both myself and the team have made steps forward recently and we’ve managed to make a few things gel together which is what we needed. It was hard at the start of the year but now the results we want are coming."

Sean McIntosh said: "I’m very happy to be on the podium again and once the first lap was over I knew it’d be hard to pass here at Brands Hatch even if I’d managed to get close enough to Paul (Di Resta) to make that happen. I’m very pleased with this result, the last time I was on the podium was during round seven, and hopefully we’ll continue to build the momentum and end the season very strongly."

Mike Conway, meanwhile, commented: "I knew I just had to try and finish in-front of Westley, which I did, and that gives me an extra edge on him again in the championship race. It’s not nice for me driving to pick up points as I always want to win, but as being things didn’t go quite right in qualifying it was the right decision to play a percentage game."

Round 16 of the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin is scheduled to start at 17.30 this afternoon, Sunday, 22nd August.