Middlehursts holds off Cooper and Quinn in FFord Festival heat two

Photo: Ida Wood

Chris Middlehurst held off Luke Cooper and Morgan Quinn to win the second Formula Ford Festival heat on Brands Hatch’s Indy layout.

TM Racing’s Tom Hawkins had the made the most of a tyre advantage in a wet qualifying session to take pole, and while he made a good launch he then wriggled up the hill at the end of the pit straight as he tried to go up the gears.

Drawing alongside him was Swift Cooper driver Cooper, but there was not enough room on the outside for him to make a pass down into Paddock Hill Bend. Going down to Graham Hill Bend they were both passed by Middlehurst, and the first lap ended with him leading Hawkins, Cooper and Dolan team-mate Quinn.

Lap two began with wheel-to-wheel action, with Middlehurst staying ahead while Cooper took second place before Druids. Hawkins and Quinn ran side-by-side into Graham Hill Bend and the latter had to back out of a move, allowing the top two to break away.

Hawkins found himself hung out on the outsideline going into lap three, while those around him benefited from an extended slipstream and he got passed by Quinn before Paddock Hill Bend and then also by Ammonite Motorsport’s Hugh Esterson and Pirate M-Sports’ Joey Foster.

There was a sideways moment for Foster at Clearways, and up front Middlehurst attempted to break the tow to Cooper.

Quinn set successive fastest laps as he homed in on the top two, and Foster got into fourth by passing Esterson at Druids on lap five.

The top four began to close up, with Cooper carrying a lot of speed into Graham Hill Bend on lap six to pressure Middlehurst who then slid through Clearways and stuck to the inside line down the pit straight so Cooper had to go the outside if he wanted to pass.

But before Cooper could make an attempt, Quinn was filling his mirrors and attempted a pass at Paddock Hill Bend on lap eight. He almost went into the rear of Cooper’s car at Druids, allowing Foster to close in through the next few corners.

Lap nine began with Foster only 0.756 seconds off the lead, and the gaps between the four remained stable until the final lap when a triple slipstream enabled Foster to cross the line just half a second behind winner Middlehurst.

Cooper finished 0.145s short of victory, with Quinn right behind. Esterson was fifth, Hawkins held off Ammonite’s Anthony Amato for sixth and PA Motorsport’s Ben Powney took seventh place.

Race result (12 laps)