Australian Scott Pye took a lights-to-flag victory in the first Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain race, giving him the perfect start to his 2010 campaign.
The 20-year-old won the ten lap race at Oulton Park by 5.4 seconds in his Jamun Racing run Mygale car with Briton Scott Malvern in second.
“The plan all weekend was to get out front, get away and control things from there. We knew the pace was in the car so it was just down to me to do it. I knew I had to get a gap early on and the guys behind me were having a bit of a battle, so that helped me to get away,” said Pye after the race.
“The car came on really early but it stayed pretty perfect all the way through. I hope the weather holds off for Monday, but either way I’ve just got to try to get away and do my own races.”
Starting his first season of racing in the UK, having finished third in last year's Australian Formula Ford series and made an appearance at the Formula Ford Festival Pye took pole position – from where he will also start the second and third races of the opening weekend – late in the qualifying session and was barely challenged in the race once he had beaten car racing rookie Tio Ellinas to the first corner.
Pye's task was made slightly easier as Cypriot Ellinas, driving for JTR, battled to keep Malvern behind him, a fight he would ultimately lose, slipping back into the clutches of Pye's Jamun teammate Josh Hill.
The two fought through Old Hall down the hill to the left-hander at Cascades, former Ginetta Junior driver Hill trying to hold on round the outside but with two wheels on the grass his Mygale spun luridly across the track before he was able to rejoin, though down in sixth place. Kevin Mills Racing driver Daniel Cammish took his chance to pressure Ellinas, eventually taking the final podium spot with two laps left.
Ellinas would finish fourth, ahead of Kieran Vernon, in the sole survivor of the three Fluid Motorsport Van Diemens, Hill and 2009 Ginetta Junior runner-up Jake Cook.
The Schloarship Class was won by Luke Williams with Mexican JTR driver Dani Domit in second.
The remaining two races of the opening race weekend will take place on Monday April 5.
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
