After much delay due to the deteriorating weather, Rounds 11 and 12 finally got underway late on Sunday afternoon. Surtees made up for a disappointing seventh position in the first race to storm back and claim his first victory of the series in the second. Pole-sitter Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) dropped down to ninth after making a mistake while under pressure from Sam Abay (Team Loctite) on the first lap. Abay led briefly until his team-mate Jordan Williams took the position at the first corner of the third lap. But Williams’ joy was short-lived as a drive through penalty for a jump start dropped him down the order. Surtees then carved his way through from seventh on the grid to claim the top step on the podium.
“The conditions were really tricky but the most important thing is to make sure you finish,” Surtees said. “People were falling off all around me so I just tried to pick them off one by one. I kept going and suddenly realised I was leading, so I decided to stay there!”
As well as being Rookie winner in Round 12 Surtees also received the ‘Muriel Tomlinson Trophy’ awarded to the top scoring British driver of the weekend.
Earlier in the day Jonathan Legris (Motaworld Racing) scored his first victory of the year on a sodden circuit in Round 11. The 19-year-old made a fantastic start that catapulted him from fourth to second leaving only pole-sitter Abay ahead. He chased down and passed Abay half way round the first lap and controlled the race from there on.
“It’s about time I won! I got a brilliant start and managed to drive round the outside of Abay as he aqua-planed through McLeans corner. I then pushed hard for a couple of laps to gain a gap so I could just pace myself to the end. I saw Marcus catching a little but I had enough of a lead. I really enjoy racing in the wet.”
Championship leader Ericsson caught and passed Arundel (Fortec Motorsport) with a brave move through the Craner Curves in Round 11 to finish second but could only manage fifth in Round 12, although it was enough to maintain his points lead.
“I passed Arundel in Round 11, which was very important for my championship,” commented Ericsson. “I had the lead in Round 12 but had to defend from Abay on the wet part of the circuit and I ended up losing eight places!”
Arundel now lies only five points behind team-mate Ericsson after a pair of third place finishes.
Arundel said: “In a normal dry race I’d be disappointed with third but I scored more points than Ericsson and Kral this weekend and that's all that matters. I could have pushed harder and risked more but you have to think about the points system. My approach would be different if all I had to do was charge for wins, but you have to be more sensible to win a championship.”
The series now heads to Snetterton, where the drivers will be in search of some dry weather to resume their battles in Rounds 13 & 14 of the Formula BMW UK Championship.
Results – Round 11 – 16 Laps = 31.32 miles.*
Pos Driver Nat Team Time
1. Jonathan Legris GB (Motaworld Racing) 22:38.474
2. Marcus Ericsson SWE (Fortec Motorsport) R 22:43.490
3. Henry Arundel GB (Fortec Motorsport) 22:44.983
4. Kimiya Sato J (Nexa Racing) 22:45.546
5. Josef Kral CZ (Double R Racing) 22:50.907
6. Henry Surtees GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 22:57.792
7. Daniel McKenzie GB (Fortec Motorsport) 23:01.681
8. Valle Makela SF (Nexa Racing) 23:02.659
9. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GB (Fortec Motorsport) R 23:09.900
10. Carlos Huertas COL (Double R Racing) R 23:13.110
11. Jordan Williams GB (Team Loctite) 23:14.665
12. Oliver Webb GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 23:15.367
13. Matt Bell GB (Motaworld Racing) R 23:17.842
14. Tom Gladdis GB (Team BRD) R 23:32.108
15. Sam Abay AUS (Team Loctite) 23:33.699
16. Rupert Svendsen-Cook GB (Team Loctite) R 23:45.750
Not classified:
Anthony Comas F (Victory Engineering) 15 Laps
Callum Holland GB (Nexa Racing) R 1 Lap
Fastest Lap:
Josef Kral (Double R Racing) 1m 22.412s, 85.49mph, 137.59kph
Pole Position – Sam Abay (Team Loctite) 1m 11.219s
Results – Round 12 – 10 Laps = 19.57 miles.*
Pos Driver Nat Team Time
1. Henry Surtees GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 12:48.740
2. Josef Kral CZ (Double R Racing) 12:50.880
3. Henry Arundel GB (Fortec Motorsport) 12:53.192
4. Kimiya Sato J (Nexa Racing) 12:58.098
5. Marcus Ericsson SWE (Fortec Motorsport) R 12:58.372
6. Valle Makela SF (Nexa Racing) 12:58.709
7. Sam Abay AUS (Team Loctite) 12:58.997
8. Daniel McKenzie GB (Fortec Motorsport) 12:59.327
9. Jordan Williams GB (Team Loctite) 13:01.790
10. Jonathan Legris GB (Motaworld Racing) 13:02.190
11. Tom Gladdis GB (Team BRD) R 13:02.879
12. Anthony Comas F (Victory Engineering) 13:04.749
13. Oliver Webb GB (Carlin Motorsport) R 13:11.836
14. Matt Bell GB (Motaworld Racing) R 13:13.603
15. Callum Holland GB (Nexa Racing) R 13:26.046
Not classified:
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GB (Fortec Motorsport) R 10 Laps
Carlos Huertas COL (Double R Racing) R 9 Laps
Rupert Svendsen-Cook GB (Team Loctite) R 6 Laps
Fastest Lap:
Jonathan Legris (Motaworld Racing) 1m 13.566s, 95.77mph, 154.14kph
Pole Position – Marcus Ericsson (Fortec Motorsport) 1m 10.792s
R indicates driver eligible for Rookie Cup
*Race results provisional
Championship Points Tables
Drivers
1. Ericsson (2 wins) 427, 2. Arundel 422 (1 win), 3. Kral (5 wins) 418, 4. Surtees 364 (1 win), 5. Sato (1 win) 340, 6. Legris 334 (1 win), 7. Makela (1 win) 319, 8. McKenzie 308, 9. Abay 275,10. Webb 266.
Rookies
1. Ericsson 427, 2. Surtees 364, 3. Webb 266, 4. Quaife-Hobbs 265, 5. Huertas 244, 6. Gladdis 166, 7. Svendsen-Cook 118, 8. Holland 76, 9. Butler 60, 10. Bell 30.
Teams
1. Fortec Motorsport 887, 2. Nexa Racing 671, 3. Double R Racing 665, 4. Carlin Motorsport 629, 5. Team Loctite 502, 6. Motaworld Racing 424, 7. Victory Engineering 132, 8. Team BRD 78, 9. Hyperion Motorsport 32.
Rounds 13 and 14 of the Championship will be at Snetterton on 28/29 July. |
