Piers Hickin has ended Pietro Fittipaldi’s spell of eight race wins in a row with a dominant display in the first Protyre Formula Renault race at Croft Circuit.
The first start, which was delayed because of a fault with the starting lights, lasted only two laps before a red flag called an early end to proceedings thanks to a tangle between Patrick Dassault and Tarun Reddy which saw the young Indian collide with the barriers at Sunny Out and call an early end to his race – if not his day.
On the restart Fittipaldi, who had jumped to first place on the initial start, was beaten by Scorpio Motorsport’s Hickin going into Clervaux and shot off into a strong lead.
Behind the leading pair, who both beat the nine year old lap record, was Matteo Ferrer and Alex Gill who were squabbling for the third place on the podium that highlighted much of the second half of the reduced to 12 laps race.
In fifth TJ Fischer in the Cliff Dempsey Racing car was keeping Colin Noble honest and through some strong blocking manoeuvres managed to keep the MGR Motorsport car behind.
Keeping fort at the rear of the field was SWB Motorsport’s Jack Butel who made his race debut in North Yorkshire at the circuit.
Coming into the final laps, the almost two second lead Hickin had generated at the front of the field was being rapidly diminished by Fittipaldi and going into the Complex on the final lap, Hickin was fortunate not to completely lose control having had a wobble under braking which almost saw the Brazilian stick his nose up the inside.
Out of the hairpin it was clear Fittipaldi’s mega run of races was not going to continue and had to settle for second place which has seen him solidify his grasp on the championship.
