Josh Webster bounced back from disaster in Round Seven of the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship to record his fifth podium finish of the season in Round Eight, meaning the Fortec Motorsport driver leaves Croft just a single point off the top of the driver standings.
The weekend's first qualifying session saw the 17 year old pick up a puncture early on, restricting his track time, leaving him fifth on the grid for the opening race. The Stowmarket-based racer make amends in the second session though, a superb lap of 1min 21.014s giving him his first pole position of the season.
The MSA Academy headed into the opening race hoping for a podium finish, but his hopes were shattered at the first corner when he was collected after contact between his Fortec team-mates Archie Hamilton and Kieran Vernon, sending him into the gravel and out of the race.
The DNF wiped out his 19 point championship lead and left him waiting nervously between the races as his team raced to repair the massive damage the rear of his FR 2.0 car received. The Fortec mechanics, with some assistance from SWB Motorsport, were able to fix the car and get Josh out for the second race.
Webster produced a good start, but lost out to rival Dino Zamparelli at the first corner, leaving him in second. The Nine Telecom Group, Admiral Group, Integra ICT and Flying Saucer-supported racer pressured the leader throughout the race, but he had to settle for second, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.
Webster commented: “The team did an absolutely amazing job, the guys from SWB came down as well to help out and it was really good to see – I can't thank them enough for getting the car repaired. In race two, I made a mistake of braking a little bit too early for the first corner at the start but to get fastest lap and second place is great, especially after what happened in the first race!”
