| Smarts bounce into Donington for the inaugural races of the 4two cup |
 |
 |
| Saturday, 14 May 2011 09:10 |
|
The inaugural 4two cup got underway last weekend at Donington Park. The Drivers took to the grid in two races, with qualifying action early on Saturday. The lunch break featured Smart parade, with ‘smarties’ doing a lap of the track, before the first ever race took place in the afternoon. The second race of the series entertained spectators in front of the setting sun for the final race of the day. Eleven racers signed up for the first round with a very diverse grid. Youngster David Moore, part of the successful Moore family was taking on experienced GT racers Andrew Donaldson and Paul Bates. Sarah Franklin, a competitor in last year’s Trofeo Abarth 500 GB Championship was also taking the fight to the men in another pint- sized racer. In wet conditions at 10:25am on Saturday 7th May, history was made when the smart racers took to the track in the first ever qualifying session of the new series. Within a minute the red flag was waved as the number 9 car of Charlie Burt was on its side at the Old Hairpin. Once upright and after a quick visit to the scrutineer, Burt was able to resume with just minor damage to the bodywork.
David Moore was the driver to make history as the first driver to claim pole position for the UK’s first ever Smart car race. His time of 1.45.166 was over 3 seconds quicker than Funcup racer, Paul Abraham. GT driver Tom Mills and Britcar racer David Green completed the front two rows. The circuit commentators pointed out the interesting fact that the pole position time was quick enough to qualify for one of the races of the Dutch Supercar challenge which was also racing that weekend. 1 David Moore 1.45.166 In drier conditions the Smarts headed off for their first ever UK race and pole sitter David Moore was immediately under pressure from Paul Abraham going into the first corner. But surprisingly, at the end of the first lap of the 20 minute race, it was Sarah Franklin leading, Moore falling down to 3rd with an engine mapping problem. This was also going to affect the cars of Abraham, Charlie Burt, Paul Bates, Tom Mills and James Palmer. With those drivers having to battle it out further down the field, as the race progressed it was Franklin and Kayman that provided the entertainment for the crowds. Lap 4 saw them going down the Craner Curves and also up to McLeans side by side, in what proved to be an exciting battle between the female racer and the novice. Experienced driver, Paul Bates stuck his car in the gravel at the Old Hairpin but it was the novices that were showing the way; Warren Brenner and David Nash battling for 3rd and 4th, after making their way up from 9th and 10th respectively. Setting a fastest time of 1.36.724 on the last lap, Franklin claimed the first win of the series beating Kayman by 1.093 seconds to the line. David Nash completed the podium, making a mistake at the final chicane to narrowly beat Brenner, who was just 0.143 seconds behind. Sarah was ecstatic after her win: ‘I got an absolute blinding start from 6th on the grid. There was a group of three of us battling away then one of them dropped off. Move of the day was definitely the one where Howard got me at Redgate, then I just chucked it up the inside. But Howard kept me honest all the way through.’ Despite qualifying at the back of the grid, Howard showed how racy the smarts are: ‘Qualifying was bad because we didn’t have the turbo boost, so I was ten seconds off the pace. I got a great launch as soon as the lights went off and there were a few close calls during the race with Sarah, but I just wanted to finish it.’ Another novice, David Nash was surprised to have made it onto the podium: ‘I can’t believe it, from 9th on the grid to finish 3rd can’t be a bad start for my first ever race. Darren was just behind me on the grid and if nothing else, I had to finish ahead of him!’ Race two saw the drivers take to the track in the early evening and it was Charlie Burt and James Palmer that made the best starts, with race one winner Sarah Franklin failing to capitalise on her pole position.
Brief leader Charlie explained: ‘I went into the corner and somebody rammed into my back. I was going backwards and somebody hit me again and I just barrel-rolled.’ It continued under yellow flags and Moore shot off into the distance building up a sizeable lead over 2nd placed Franklin. Narrowly missing out on a podium in the first race, Warren Brenner was upto 3rd, with James Palmer and David Nash following closely behind. As with the first race, the novices were stealing the show and Nash executed a perfect passing move on Palmer to grab 4th spot. Having opened up a lead of nearly 8.9 seconds at one point, Moore had started to get the same car issues from race one. But despite this the Tockwith Motorsport driver took his maiden win, with Franklin only 1.667 seconds behind. David was pleased to have taken the top spot: ‘The car was hesitating round the right-handers in the first race which was problematic. This seemed to resolve itself for the second race, and despite starting in 9th I caught a lot of drivers under late breaking into the corners. It was fun, I’ve enjoyed it and it has been a great day.’
3rd placed Warren joked that he’d put the car in reverse after making a terrible start: ‘It was shocking, the car was jumping on the start line and everybody went past me. I thought the race was over, so I just carried on and during the race the car got better. I’m a complete novice and had a brilliant day, can’t wait for the next one!’ Race 2 results Despite the incidents, the inaugural 4two cup races were a huge success with great racing up and down the field. The cars also proved their toughness as well as their racing abilities, with all cars that crashed during the weekend still fully drivable, the two that tipped in Qualifying actually set their best times after the incidents! Even the car that Barrel rolled would have been able to race again that day with just a replacement windscreen. In most other race series an incident like that would be the end of your day, but the Smarts are both safe and tough. All the competitors seemed to join the experience and were eager to race again. The next round is at Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire on the 23rd and 24th July. By Olivia Gauch, Photos by Marc Waller Worth Checking - F1 News - Motorsport
Comments (0)
Powered by !JoomlaComment 4.0 beta1
!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved." |
