Nippers pulls out race win from under his hat in FFord Festival heat one

Photo: Ida Wood

Privateer racer Tom Nippers won the opening heat race at the Formula Ford Festival on Saturday afternoon at Brands Hatch.

He started second behind Team Dolan’s poleman Morgan Quinn, who did not make the best start going up to the crest of Paddock Hill Bend and both Nippers looked to his outside.

Pirate M-Sports’ Joey Foster thought of doing the same before going for the inside, but there was not enough room for either to be alongside through the corner.

Nippers then went for the inside at Druids, going wheel-to-wheel with Quinn again and actually getting ahead exiting the corner. But he then struggled for traction while Quinn’s wider line meant he carried more speed down the hill and led again before Graham Hill Bend.

The Cooper Straight was Nippers’ next location for an attack, while Oldfield Motorsport’s Spencer Shinner put Foster under pressure.

Shinner tried overtaking into Druids on lap two, and that allowed the top two to break away slightly before the slipstreaming strength of Foster’s Firman brought him back onto the top two’s tail.

Lap three began with Foster right behind Quinn, with Nippers and Shinner only having room to take the outside line into Paddock Hill Bend. That worked to their advantage, was they moved into first and third.

Quinn tried reclaiming the lead going back up the hill, Nippers covered the attack and it allowed Shinner to sweep past Quinn into Druids and for Foster to do the same exiting it.

David McCullough was now making it a lead six, but Nippers did not want to remain part of the group and edged away.

Quinn’s mirrors were filled by Ammonite Motorsport’s Hugh Esterson mid-race, and Nippers was able to grow his lead further as Shinner took a wide entry into Paddock Hill Bend on lap seven of 10 that baulkted Foster.

His compromised run back up the hill was in the way of Quinn, and Esterson was able to take fourth around the outside at Druids. The opportunity to reclaim a place later in the lap was lost as the debuting Birk Larsen crashed at McLaren and yellow flaged waved there for the rest of the race.

Foster and Quinn were both in attacking moods, eyeing up spaces either side of the cars immediately ahead but not having enough surplus speed or room to make an overtake.

Their best chances were down the pit straight, where they could at least draw alongside, and while Nippers won with a two-second gap there was just 0.051s between second and third and then 0.136s between fourth and fifth as they ran side-by-side at the finish.

McCullough was just behind Quinn by the end, and a young Storm Gjerdrum finished an impressive seventh.

The track had been greasy at the start, and Quinn revealed to Formula Scout that this had masked a straightline speed issue he was suffering with his engine. While it may not be fixable in time for the semi-finals, he has a replacement unit lined up to be used if required.

Maxime Lebreton was demoted from 10th to 11th by a 10-second penalty for being out of position at the start.

Heat 1 results (10 laps)