•Closest finish of the season as Herta pips Lando Norris to final-race victory•Norris extends his championship lead

 Ricky Collard and Colton Herta joined Lando Norris on the top step of the MSA Formula Rockingham podium today, Collard keeping alive his championship hopes with a decisive win in the reverse-grid race this morning and Herta taking the closest win so far of this thrilling Ford EcoBoost-powered season, a quarter-second ahead of Saturday race victor Norris in the final race of the weekend.

With just six races remaining over which to decide the outcome of the championship, 15-year-old Norris heads on to the home straight with a 17-point lead over Collard, with a three-way battle for championship third raging between Sennan Fielding, Dan Ticktum and Herta.

ROUND 23: COLLARD SPRINTS TO VICTORY AT THE ROCK

 Ricky Collard underlined his commitment to winning the MSA Formula Championship title,  the TRS Arden driver claiming his fifth Ford EcoBoost-powered win of the season at Rockingham. After his qualifying accident and his top-eight finish in yesterday’s race, victory was exactly what the 19-year-old was aiming for and needed, and he delivered in spades.Ricky took the lead from his fast-starting team-mate Sandy Mitchell, who led the opening lap from the pole. As they swung from the banking into the tricky Deene hairpin on lap two, Collard nosed in front and quickly built a useful advantage.Though that lead was wiped out by a brief safety car period, Collard re-established his advantage at the restart and kept a second’s gap between himself and Sennan Fielding – who passed Mitchell for P2 at Deene on the sixth lap – to win by 1.8s.

“I needed to do that,” said Ricky. “To get another win under my belt is good. Sandy made a lightning start but I managed to get him after the first lap and control the race from there. I’m close to the lead of the championship again now and this is MSA Formula, so who knows what’s going to happen in the coming races…”JHR Developments driver Fielding, who started fourth on the grid behind Mitchell, Collard and Carlin’s Petru Florescu, took his 10th podium finish of the season to consolidate his championship third. Said Sennan: “It was a great race and the car felt good – we made a few changes from yesterday and that helped massively. Another strong result. My plan is to stay out of trouble and keep whacking in the points – there are still a lot of points to be grabbed even though it’s coming to the end stage of the championship.”After slipping to third, 15-year-old Mitchell resisted the attentions of Double R’s Matheus Leist to secure his first overall podium finish since his Thruxton race wins. “I had a good start and led for a lap but the tow was quite strong around the banking and Ricky managed to get me on the brakes into the hairpin,” said Sandy. “Sennan went past me at the same point; after that I managed to settle down and put in some good lap times and keep Matheus behind me. I’m really happy to be back on the podium with third place.”Mitchell also claimed the Rookie class win – his third of the season – with class points leader Dan Ticktum (Fortec) the runner-up thanks to his fifth-place finish behind Leist. Enaam Ahmed made it three Arden drivers in the overall top six.There was a great battle over seventh place disputed by Carlin team-mates Colton Herta and Lando Norris, and MBM driver Toby Sowery. From the back of the grid, Sowery shot through to 13th on the opening lap and made steady progress up to ninth and on to Norris’s tail by the sixth lap. Toby snuck past Lando at Deene on lap 11 but an attempted repeat on Colton at the same corner two laps later ended in failure and Norris was able to repass Sowery. Thus Herta took seventh at the line ahead of Saturday victor Norris, with Sowery ninth and JTR’s Indian racer Ameya Vaidyanathan 10th to record his maiden top-10 finish.Florescu dropped to the rear of the pack on the second lap and battled back to finish 11th, ahead of JHR man Jack Butel, JTR’s Dan Baybutt, and Fortec’s James Pull, who suffered a knock early on which left his steering out of kilter. Josh Smith (Fortec) and Greg Holloway (Richardson Racing) completed the finishing order, with Tarun Reddy (Double R) and Louise Richardson (Richardson Racing) both retiring with mechanical gremlins. Jess Hawkins (Falcon) suffered broken suspension after a collision, and Rafa Martins’ race ended on the opening lap after he attacked a ‘sausage kerb’ too aggressively and damaged his SWB car’s suspension – it was his incident which required the early safety car period.

ROUND 24: HERTA WINS BY A WHISKER IN THRILLING FINALE

Rockingham’s bumper BTCC crowd was treated to a nail-biting finish to the MSA Formula Championship weekend with Colton Herta claiming the narrowest of wins over his Carlin team-mate Lando Norris in the live-televised 24th round of the Ford EcoBoost-powered championship.Norris whittled away Herta’s lead to a quarter-second at the line – the closest finish of the season so far but just enough for the 15-year-old Californian to claim his third win of the year and become the third different MSA Formula winner of the Rockingham weekend. Having wrested the championship lead from Ricky Collard with his Saturday race win, Lando has boosted his advantage over Ricky to 17 points, with six races remaining in which to decide the championship outcome.Herta converted his pole position advantage into the race lead with a perfect grid getaway, pursued by Dan Ticktum and Sennan Fielding, up from fourth on the grid past Norris. Alas for Sennan he overcooked his entry into the tight Deene hairpin and hooked a wheel on to the grass, next stop the trackside barriers.Retrieval of Fielding’s stranded JHR Developments car to a place of safety brought out the safety car for two laps, and Herta handled the restart perfectly to build a lead over Ticktum of 1.1s by the end of lap four. Fortec driver Dan was powerless to prevent Colton’s getaway, not least because his mirrors were full of Norris’s car. Lando spent a couple of laps trying to find a way past and into second, achieving the feat at Deene on lap seven. “I only just made it,” said Lando. “For the two laps before I had tried there on the outside but he defended. So I think he thought I’d try around the outside again, and I tried a dummy move and then I just tucked back into the inside. I thought I was going to go straight on but I just managed to get around the corner.”By the end of lap seven Herta’s lead stood at 4.4s but it rapidly diminished thereafter as Norris claimed fastest lap of the race in his pursuit. Herta was in tyre trouble and as they entered the 14th and final lap his advantage had been cut to just eight-tenths. Norris closed on to his team-mate’s tail in the final corners but Herta hung on for the win. “One more lap and I could have challenged him,” said Lando.Yards after the finish line Colton’s car coughed and cut out. “I don’t know what the problem was,” said Colton, “and I’m thankful it came after the flag. But my main problem was tyre wear – I had a lot of that! I’m pleased to have won my third race, but I think my first was the sweetest. I’ll still take this one, though.”Ticktum’s third was under pressure for the final half of the race from Carlin’s Petru Florescu, but a last-lap effort from the Romanian to pass Dan ended up costing Petru a place to the charging MBM driver Toby Sowery. Ticktum crossed the line third overall – and the leading Rookie class finisher – with Sowery fourth (from 10th on the grid) to equal his best result of the season.Florescu held on to fifth – and Rookie second – at the line ahead of Double R’s Matheus Leist and Fortec man James Pull, seventh his best finish since Donington. Erstwhile championship leader Collard (TRS Arden) did the best he could from 20th and last on the grid, the legacy of his qualifying accident, to make it up to eighth by the finish, with Louise Richardson (Richardson Racing) and Josh Smith (Fortec) competing the top 10. Poor Tarun Reddy was on for a top-10 finish but made a fiery exit on the final lap.Dan Baybutt placed 11th for JTR, ahead of Jess Hawkins (Falcon) and Enaam Ahmed who, like his TRS Arden team-mate Sandy Mitchell, was summoned to the pits for a drive-through penalty; both men had been running in the top four before their calls came. Mitchell went on to complete the top 15, just behind JHR’s Jack Butel.