Scott Malvern continued his domination of Europe with two victories at Zandvoort giving him his fourth Formula Ford EuroCup victory in four, adding to his titles from Brands Hatch, Spa-Francorchamps and Zolder. Jamun Racing’s Malvern also took three Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britian wins to maintain his huge advantage in the championship standings.
Round 13
22 year old Malvern made a great start from pole position in the opening race, the Jamun Racing driver building a healthy two second lead on the opening lap in wet conditions. He continued to build his lead every lap and cruised home comfortably to take a 3.6 second win, his ninth Eurocup victory.
Behind the battle for second was the highlight of the race, with local racer Joey Van Splunteren taking on Nick McBride and Antti Buri. Van Splunteren got past McBride on the opening lap, before the Aussie regained the place soon after. LMS Racing's Buri then got in on the action, passing van Splunteren on lap two before chasing down and passing McBride on lap six with a dive at the Tarzan Hairpin.
Next time around, van Splunteren got past McBride for third, but was unable to catch Buri, the Finn taking second. Van Splunteren took third while McBride lost a couple of places late on, his Jamun team-mate Jeroen Slaghekke taking fourth and compatriot Geoff Uhrhane taking fifth, marking a great drive through the field from seventeenth on the grid after technical problems in qualifying.
McBride ended up sixth ahead of Dutch championship regular Bas Shouten, Jamun's Jake Cook and other Dutch racers Michel Florie and Steijn Schothorst. The British runners were completed by Jamun's Spike Goddard, Cliff Dempsey Racing's Neil Alberico and Enigma's Phillipe Layac, who managed to recover from a second lap tangle with Matt Parry, which instantly retired Parry's Fluid Van Diemen.
Round 14
The rain could not prevent Malvern from dominating the day's second race as like he had done in the earlier race, he led from pole position to chequered flag with ease and did not look threatened, despite an early-race safety car period.
It was Buri who was Malvern's closest challenger, after front-row starter van Splunteren stalled at the start. Malvern was 2.3s when the safert car was introduced, as a number of cars got removed from gravel traps, including Goddard.
Buri hoped th challenge at the restart, but too much wheelspin let Malvern break clear and cruise home for a 1.8s win. Buri took second ahead of Shouten, the Dutch runner coming out on top after a race long battle with Jamun pair McBride and Slaghekke. McBride took fourth, while Shaghekke ran off the track at Tarzan and only recovered to fourteenth.
Parry was fourth of the British runners, his best result of the season so far, having passed de Zille at the restart, the Jerseyman following him home for sixth overall. Alberico was next up ahead of Dutch runner Jack Swinkels, Cook and a subdued Uhrhane.
Round 15
The beginning of the weekend's final race saw Malvern lead away from pole position once again, heading the field for the opening couple of laps. However the Brit was in trouble from the start, a mysterious misfire hampering his Mygale, with a change in ECU before the race hoping to cure the problem not being successful.
As the race reached mid distance, the Dutch championship frontrunners began to come to the front, having made a smart choice to run used Dunlop tyres, in the hope the track would dry, which it did. Van Splunteren swept by on lap five to take the lead, followed by Florie and Shouten.
The Provily Racing trio cruised home to take a one-two-three for the team, a hugely popular result in front of their huge home crowd. Malvern managed to limp his car home in fourth, just half a second ahead of title rival Buri, to once again take the British series win.
In sixth was McBride, while Parry survived a late-race clash with Uhrhane to finish seventh, the JTR driver having no such luck, his miserable weekend ending in the pits with damage. Slaghekke and Cook were next up of the GB runners, ahead of JTR's de Zille, Goddard and Layac. Alberico's race ended in the gravel at Tarzan after contact with a Dutch competitor.
