Photo: Ida Wood
Team Dolan’s Jason Smyth became United Formula Ford champion by going unbeaten around Brands Hatch’s Indy layout today.
He set a 49.980s on his final lap of qualifying to take pole for the Bert Ray Memorial Trophy, race one of the day, by 0.349 seconds.
Tom Nippers was second fastest, by just 0.015s over Dolan’s Morgan Quinn, and B-M Racing’s Rory Smith was 0.44s off pole in fourth. Chris Middlehurst made it three Dolan drivers in the top five, a further 0.057s back, and a second covered the top 12 in the 28-car field.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set the grid for race two, the Martin Down Trophy, and Smyth comfortably claimed another pole. This time his margin was 0.303s, with Nippers earning second by 0.022s over Quinn in an identical top six.
Middlehurst, Quinn and Smith had all been on provisioinal pole before Smyth went fastest almost seven minutes into qualifying and lowered the pace a further two times.
Smyth dominated the 20-minute race one, winning by 7.45s and lapping seven drivers. Smith was “super pleased with my first lap” as he rose to second via a switchback move on Quinn amid “standard FFord first lap” drama involving Nippers and Middlehurst.
They clashed after Nippers went over some oil which meant he “locked up and collected Chris”. He dropped to seventh and Middlehurst to 27th. Smyth was first to go over the oil and “had a bit of rallycross” as he lost grip.
Smith pulled away from Quinn, but after encountering lapped cars his gap was reduced in the race’s second half from several seconds to 0.4s by lap 18 of 24. Quinn began pressuring two laps later, but Nippers (who had been in fourth since lap seven) then get involved.
He went side-by-side through Paddock Hill Bend on lap 21 with Quinn, who braked late into Druids but still had Nippers alongside. Quinn held third but then they encountered a slippery surface flag and Nippers dived down the inside at Clearways.
On the penultimate lap Quinn locked up into Paddock Hill Bend as he braked super late trying to reclaim third, but was unsuccessful.
Middlehurst recovered to 14th, but a loose panel from the clash meant he got a black-and-orange flag and then the black flag on lap 19 at which point he headed to the pits and ended his race.
Lapped traffic also influenced the super close four-car fight for sixth. Alex Walker led Spencer Shinner, Charlie Mann and Hugh Esterson. The front pair and the rear pair started lap 16 side-by-side, and Esterson got past Mann after taking the outside line through Druids.
Shinner dived down Walker’s inside at Paddock Hill Bend next time by and was alongside through to Druids. He looked to have got ahead exiting the corner but an agressive move meant Walker was ahead on the inside into Graham Hill Bend. They were then wheel-to-wheel through to Clearways, but Shinner edged ahead by 0.16s.
Walker tried repeating Shinner’s move when they then reached Paddock Hill Bend but Shinner placed his car in the right place to prevent a pass. He tried the opposite on lap 22, then got back ahead on lap 23 as they navigated a lapped car.
Adrien Laissac won his battle for 10th with Darwin Smith, who was unusually in a modern car rather than a Van Diemen RF90.
Walker retired on lap one of a wet race two that started early, and the safety car was out for two laps.
When racing resumed, Smyth led Smith and Nippers. Quinn was fourth, but then dropped to 12th and had to go on a recovery drive to get back up to fifth.
There was only three laps of racing before the safety car returned, then the same occurred after the next restart. At that point Mann was fourth, and Esterson had just fallen from fifth to 22nd.
Two laps remained when the safety car headed back to the pits, and Quinn cleared Darwin Smith for sixth as Smyth kept Smith at bay to seal victory and the title. Middlehurst missed the race due to a wrist issue.
Results round-up
Race 1 (24 laps)
1 Jason Smyth Team Dolan [Van Diemen RF00/JL12] 20m23.003s
2 Rory Smith B-M Racing [Medina Sport JL18] +7.450s
3 Tom Nippers [Van Diemen RF01] +8.954s
4 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan [Van Diemen RF99] +9.213s
5 Connor Willis Oldfield Motorsport [Van Diemen JL13] +15.830s
6 Alex Walker Wayne Poole Racing [Van Diemen JL12] +22.069s
7 Spencer Shinner Oldfield Motorsport [Van Diemen JL13] +22.244s
8 Hugh Esterson Ammonite Motorsport [Ray GR18] +22.816s
9 Charlie Mann Mann Motorsport [Ray GR20] +23.242s
10 Adrien Laissac Team Dolan [Van Diemen BD19] +27.984s
Pole: Smyth, 49.980s
Fastest lap: Smyth, 50.259s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Smyth 20m05.506s
2 Smith +0.687s
3 Nippers +1.818s
4 Mann +2.614s
5 Quinn +2.654s
6 Darwin Smith team unknown [Ray GR22] +3.032s
7 Willis +3.543s
8 Ben Powney PA Motorsport [Jamun M92] +4.708s
9 Laissac +5.697s
10 Shinner +6.107s
P: Smyth, 50.040s
FL: Nippers, 59.699s
Championship standings
1 Smyth 408 2 Nippers 261 3 Quinn 243 4 Mann 187 5 Shinner 176 6 Anthony Amato 167 7 Willis 126 8 Chris Middlehurst 122 9 Laissac 119 10 R Smith 116