Porsche Carrera Cup GB Star Euan Hankey has taken victory in round two of the 2010 Protyres Formula Renault BARC Championship at a sun drenched Brands Hatch in Kent.
As in round one, Ginetta Junior Graduate Mitchell Hale took pole position with Hillspeed's James Theodore alongside him, with Hankey lining up on the second row of the grid.
At the start, Theodore made the better getaway and took the lead into Paddock Hill for the first time, after Hale made a bad start which demoted him down to sixth position. Wright decided to try and be Fernando Alonso but was caught out by the Clerk of the Course and had to serve a drive through penalty for his jump start.
At the end of the opening lap of twenty two, Theodore was leading Hankey, Reilly and Anglo Motorsport's Danish racer Krogh, who had a fifteen hour drive to the circuit due to the flight restrictions caused by the Icelandic volcano.
Theodore was keen to make up for his mistake during the opening round, and started to pull away leaving Hankey to defend from the eager Reilly.
Hale was on a recovery drive and by the end of lap seven had made it up to fifth position, while his Fortec Motorsport team mate Josh Webster and SWB Motorsport's Andrew Jarman were both running solidly in the midfield.
By the half way stage, leader Theodore had built up a second and a half gap over the chasing pack and had nothing to worry about, unlike Hankey who was under pressure for his second position. He had to use all of his experience to keep the flying Reilly behind.
The battle for second then became the battle for the lead as the race leader developed a mechanical failure and was forced to retire. This promoted Hale to third as he had found his way past Krogh.
Up at the front, Hankey had to make his car the widest Formula Renault car on track to defend from Reilly, which gave Hale the chance to catch up the lead duo and create a situation of three for the lead. Dane Krogh was slowly slipping down the field as Webster and a recovering Powell passed the Anglo Motorsport car and broke into the top five.
Hankey managed to hold on for victory in race two of the season, with Reilly less than seven tenths of a second behind. Hale took the extra two points for the races fastest lap en route to third place, with Webster fourth and Powell fifth, a storming recovery drive from the Chipping Norton youngster, who stalled on the grid with a clutch chain snapping.
Speaking after the second race, double podium finisher Hale said: “Round one was a really close race with James [Theodore] just making a mistake at Clearways to allow me to close and pass at Paddock Hill. After my poor start in round two I was determined to try and get a podium place so just kept battling and thankfully it paid off to complete a really good weekend for me.”
Hankey, the race two victor, said: “I got a good start but thought the race was Theodore's until he just started slowing allowing me to take the lead. After that I had to work hard to keep Reilly in my mirrors which were made worse by the fact that one had been damaged. He kept coming closer but was never quite near enough to get by and I was able to hang on to take the win.”
Fellow double podium finisher Reilly added: “I'm really pleased with my move in round one around the outside of Paddock Hill and also the battle in round two with Euan and Mitchell. I was trying to attack and defend at the same time which is never easy. Overall it's been a great start to my championship.”
Race Two Results:
- Euan Hankey: 17:02.284
- Joseph Reilly: + 0.649
- Mitchell Hale: + 1.027
- Josh Webster: + 8.940
- Alice Powell: + 9.577
- Kasper Krogh: + 11.114
- Andrew Jarman: + 12.753
- James Birch: + 23.887
- Jake Rattenbury: + 30.419
- Jack Piper: + 30.997
Driver Standings after Round One:
- Mitchell Hale: 61 Points
- Joseph Reilly: 53 Points
- Euan Hankey: 44 Points
- Alice Powell: 40 Points
- Andrew Jarman: 32 Points
- James Birch: 29 Points
- Luke Wright: 28 Points
- Kourosh Khani: 27 Points
- Kasper Krogh: 26 Points
- James Theodore: 22 Points
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
