Formula Renault BARC

Webster Takes Thruxton Poles As Morris Struggles

2 Mins read

Josh Webster Dominated Qualifying At Thruxton - Photo Credit: Simon Paice

 

Josh Webster became the first man to break Seb Morris' stranglehold on qualifying in the 2012 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship with a pair of poles for Rounds Six and Seven at Thruxton, with championship leader Morris finishing well outside the top ten.

The twenty minute session began with MGR Motorsport's Webster and Hillspeed's Kieran Vernon proving to be the early pacesetters. They were soon joined at the top of the timesheets by Scott Malvern, who had been quickest in the fifteen minute practice session earlier in the morning.

Malvern got to within a tenth of a second of Webster's best at one stage, however the 2011 series vice-champion replied with a time of 1min 12.857s, becoming the first driver to break the 1min 13s barrier.

No-one could better the time and with Webster also setting the fastest second best time, he will start both races from pole position, with Malvern joining him on the front row for both. Going third quickest to continue his impressive start to the season was Jake Dalton, the MGR Motorsport driver being 0.469s off pole.

A superb fourth quickest for Mtech Lite was Jorge Cevallos, with his team-mate Sean Walkinshaw going sixth fastest to cap off a great session for the team. Splitting them in fifth was MGR's David Wagner, while slipping to a disappointing seventh after his strong early times was Vernon.

Diego Menchaca was the fastest Fortec Motorsport car in eighth, ahead of team-mate Martin Cao and Antel Motorsport's Raoul Owens. The last of the drivers within a second of pole position was Chris Middlehurst in eleventh, while a surprising 1.407s off the pace was Morris.

The three time race winner this season will line up sixteenth on the grid for the two races, with the team making frantic changes to the car ahead of this afternoon's encounters. It was a bad session overall for the team, with Laura Tillett having a huge accident at Noble, heavy impact with the barrier tearing her car into two.

 

Round Seven Grid (Top Ten):

1. Josh Webster (1:12.876s)

2. Scott Malvern (+0.276s)

3. Jake Dalton (+0.469s)

4. Jorge Cevallos (+0.605s)

5. David Wagner (+0.621s)

6. Sean Walkinshaw (+0.660s)

7. Kieran Vernon (+0.693s)

8. Diego Menchaca (+0.944s)

9. Martin Cao (+0.949s)

10. Raoul Owens (+0.956s)

 

Round Eight Grid (Top Ten):

1. Josh Webster (1:13.057s)

2. Scott Malvern (+0.140s)

3. David Wagner (+0.513s)

4. Sean Walkinshaw (+0.632s)

5. Jake Dalton (+0.646s)

6. Kieran Vernon (+0.687s)

7. Jorge Cevallos (+0.703s)

8. Macaulay Walsh (+0.827s)

9. Diego Menchaca (+0.859s)

10. Chris Middlehurst (+0.879s)

 

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Simon is an experienced journalist and PR officer, who has worked in the national motorsport paddocks for over a decade, primarily on the BTCC support package.
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