Walker-Hansell and Howson convert poles to wins while Rookie winners are Hankey and Legris.
Simon Walker-Hansell (Carlin Motorsport) and Matt Howson (Filsell Motorsport) mirrored their qualifying results as both drivers scored a win from pole. On top of that, to make it an even better weekend, they both claimed a second place. It was the Australian Motoaworld Racing driver Nathan Antunes who completed the podium for race one, while for race two it was Ireland's Niall Breen (Barwell Motorsport).
For Matt this second win of the season has promoted him to the top of the points table, so he now leads on 65 points, with Stian Sørlie (Fortec Motorsport) second on 62 and Nathan third on 56. Before the weekend Stian and his team-mate, Sam Bird, had been joint leaders, but both had a bad time at Rockingham. Sam suffered most. He was involved in a collision in race one and having to park his car on the side of the track due to a mechanical problem in race two was the final straw for him - he is now fourth in the points.
In the Rookie Cup it was Euan Hankey (Barwell Motorsport) who took the win in race one - his third of the season - while in race two it was Jonathan Legris (Pegasus Motorsport International) who took the win, despite a car that was not easy to drive and suffering from a lack of practice laps on the Friday.
Simon was ecstatic after both races saying: "Race one was one of my hardest ever races, especially as Matt was always in my mirrors. In the second race he got the best start, I felt I could have perhaps got him at the re-start after the safety car pulled off, but outbraked myself in the chicane so decided to be sensible." Matt was also happy, especially after a bad weekend at the previous race: "The track was very slippery in both races and we were both pushing very hard. For me the important thing was to get points, and these two results were just perfect."
Simon made no mistake at the start of race one leading Matt into the first corner. And finishing the first lap over two seconds ahead. However, behind them all was not calm as Sam Bird (Fotec Motorsport) and Duarte Felix da Costa (Carlin Motorsport) collided, which ended up with Sam retiring. While Duarte was able to continue, a lap later he then collided with Paul Rees (Team SWR Pioneer), whose car then stopped on the track near that of Sam. This time the Safety Car was employed to clear both cars away and Duarte retired in the pits. When the car pulled off at the end of lap eight Matt got the perfect start and stayed in the lead until the end of the race. Oliver Turvey (Team SWR Pioneer) was not able to repeat his 2004 success by winning the race, but he was able to move up from 12th on the grid to fifth.
For race two the tables were turned with Matt getting the good start and Simon following in his tyre tracks. The Safety Car was deployed again to retrieve Sam's car and when racing resumed the two cars were side by side going into the chicane. However, Matt held the line and stayed there to the end. There were again battles behind with third place hotly contested by a variety of drivers including Jonathan, Oliver Turvey (Team SWR Pioneer) and Niall who took the honours. Dean Smith (Nexa Racing) and Stian had a tussle which saw contact between them as they came down the pit straight. There were some good drivers through the field with Lars Viljoen (Team SWR Pioneer) moving up from 20th on the grid to 7th and Joe Osborne (Nexa Racing) completing his first incident free weekend.
The crowd was also entertained by ETCC champion Andy Priaulx doing demonstration runs in his BMW Team UK BMW 320i, the BMW Le Mans winning V12 LMR and the BMW WilliamsF1 Team car. His quickest lap in the F1 cars was nine seconds quicker than the Rockingham official lap record.
This week the Education and Coaching drivers will visit the BMW WilliamsF1 Team factory to listen to the team's Technical Director, Sam Michael, talk about vehicle dynamics. While there they will also learn about marketing and sponsorship.
Results - Round 5 - 15 Laps = miles.
1 Simon Walker-Hansell (GBR) (Carlin Motorsport) 30:10.0382 Matt Howson (GBR) (Filsell Motorsport) 30:10.8833 Nathan Antunes (AUS) (Motaworld Racing) 30:15.5004 Stian Sørlie (NOR) (Fortec Motorsport) 30:15.8795 Oliver Turvey (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 30:16.0986 Dean Smith (GBR) (Nexa Racing) 30:17.1447 Ross Curnow (GBR) (Promatecme/Soper Sport) 30:18.2468 Euan Hankey (GBR) (Barwell Motorsport) R 30:21.3359 Jordan Wise (GBR) (Nexa Racing) 30:24.43410 Niall Breen (GBR) (Barwell Motorsport) 30:27.05411 Jonathan Legris (GBR) (Pegasus Motorsport Int) R 30:29.20012 Matt Harris (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 30:32.28113 Callum MacLeod (GBR) Filsell Motorsport) 30:34.52014 Michael Meadows (GBR) (Master Motorsport) R 30:34.59115 Edward Hoy (GBR) (Mark Burdett Motorsport) R 30:37.10616 Dominique Cauvin (Motaworld Racing) R 30:40.11317 Joe Osborne (GBR) (Nexa Racing) R 30:43.65018 Aaron Steele (GBR) (Mark Burdett Motorsport) R 30:47.09219 Lars Viljoen (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 30:47.763
Not ClassifiedDuarte Felix da Costa (POR) (Carlin Motorsport) 5 laps Paul Rees (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 4 lapsSam Bird (GBR) (Fortec Motorsport) 3 laps
Fastest LapMatt Howson (Filsell Motorsport) 1m 38.934.052s, 88.89 mph, 143.06 kphPole Position - Simon Walker-Hansell (Carlin Motorsport) 1m 59.639s
Results - Round 6 - 15 laps = miles
1 Matt Howson (GBR) (Filsell Motorsport) 29:25.6422 Simon Walker-Hansell (GBR) (Carlin Motorsport) 29:27.6223 Niall Breen (GBR) (Barwell Motorsport) 29:34.5274 Duarte Felix da Costa (POR) (Carlin Motorsport) 29:35.4675 Nathan Antunes (AUS) (Motaworld Racing) 29:42.6526 Jonathan Legris (GBR) (Pegasus Motorsport Int) R 29:44.7897 Lars Viljoen (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 29:49.9738 Dean Smith (GBR) (Nexa Racing) 29:53.0229 Euan Hankey (GBR) (Barwell Motorsport) R 29:55.473 10 Matt Harris (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 29:55.59211 Ross Curnow (GBR) (Promatecme/Soper Sport) 30:00.55512 Callum MacLeod (GBR) Filsell Motorsport) 30:01.53513 Dominique Cauvin (Motaworld Racing) R 30:01.77814 Joe Osborne (GBR) (Nexa Racing) R 30:04.21715 Michael Meadows (GBR) (Master Motorsport) R 30:17.426
Not ClassifiedAaron Steele (GBR) (Mark Burdett Motorsport) R 16 lapsOliver Turvey (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 15 lapsPaul Rees (GBR) (Team SWR Pioneer) 15 lapsStian Sørlie (NOR) (Fortec Motorsport) 13 lapsEdward Hoy (GBR) (Mark Burdett Motorsport) 11 lapsJordan Wise (GBR) (Nexa Racing) 5 lapsSam Bird (GBR) (Fortec Motorsport) 0 lapsNot classified
Fastest LapMatt Howson (Filsell Motorsport) 1m 38.790s, 89.02 mph, 143.27 kphPole Position - Matt Howson (Filsell Motorsport) 1m 58.479s
R indicates driver eligible for Rookie Cup
Championship Points Tables
Drivers1. Howson 65 (2 wins), 2. Sørlie (2 wins) 62, 3. Antunes (1 win) 58, 4. Bird 52 , 5. Walker-Hansell (1 win) 41, 6=. Curnow and Smith 37, 8. Keen 33, 9. Felix Da Costa 21, 10. Hankey 19, 11=. Breen and Wise 13, 13. Turvey 8, 14=. Legris and Viljoen 6, 16=. Harris and Meadows 5, 28. Leon 3, 19. Macleod 2.
Rookies1=. Meadows (2 wins) Hankey (3 wins) 90, 3. Steele 48, 4. Legris (1 win) 47, 5. Cauvin 41, 6. Hoy 40, 7. Osborne 36.
Teams1. Fortec Motorsport 115, 2. Filsell Motorsport 66, 3. Carlin Motorsport 62, 4. Motaworld Racing 58, 5. Team SWR Pioneer 52, 6. Nexa Racing 50, 7. Promatecme/Soper Sport 37, 8. Barwell Motorsport 32, 9. Pegasus Motorsport International 9, 10. Master Motorsport 5.
B
