Photo: Lydden Hill
Team Dolan’s Jason Smyth won both United Formula Ford races at Lydden Hill last Saturday to extend his points lead.
The short and undulating circuit in Kent [pictured top] is usually used for rallycross, and FF1600 cars were able to lap in under 50 seconds.
There was a test session for all the drivers to familiarise themselves with the venue, and Smyth went fastest with a 47.637s lap. He led Ammonite Motorsport’s Anthony Amato by 0.209 seconds, and Oldfield Motorsport’s Connor Willis by 0.25s.
The pace was lowered to 43.469s by Smyth in qualifying, with his fastest lap coming early on. His closest rivals also set their quickest times in the first half of their run plan, with Tom Nipppers lapping 0.084s shy of Smyth on his fifth lap of 21.
Dolan’s Morgan Quinn also failed to improve after his fifth lap and was 0.11s off pole in third, and Amato was 0.429s back in fourth. A second covered the top nine, and there was 4.377s between Smyth and Mark Adkins in 17th and last place.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set race two’s grid, and Smyth’s 42.526s on his fourth lap earned him another pole by just 0.05s over Nippers. He had 0.3s and 0.459s gaps respectively to Quinn and Amato, and Charlie Mann was fifth.
Four drivers failed to make the start of race one, and Smyth had Nippers on his tail through the first seven laps. He then began to pull away, but was not a second clear until lap 11, and the gap then stabilised at 1.2s until lap 16 when Nippers’ pace began to worsen and then he retired.
When his car came to a stop with two laps to go, it left Smyth with an 8.8s lead over Quinn which he managed to the finish.
Amato had kept Quinn at bay for the first 16 laps, but once he was passed by the Dolan driver he was quickly gapped and he finished 0.759s behind him in third. That was because Mann had stuck with them, and was able to pressure Amato in the remaining laps.
Willis overtook Dolan’s Laissac for what would become fifth with three laps to go, and team-mate Spencer Shinner was a lonely seventh.
Innes Hickman was the only driver to miss race two, which was more clearly dominated by Smyth. He had a 0.437s gap after lap one, with Nippers, Amato and Quinn close together behind.
Their battling allowed Smyth to break free, and he was one second ahead of Amato after lap two. That became 2.557s, then 3.341s, and 4.2s after lap five. Just 0.377s covered second to fourth at that point.
Amato dropped behind Nippers and Quinn on lap seven, and Quinn took second on lap eight. Smyth had 6.9s in hand by then, and pulled further away to win the 25-lapper by 9.442s.
Nippers was just 0.138s behind Quinn, and Amato was fighting them until five laps to go when he got gapped as they tried to lap traffic.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Jason Smyth Team Dolan [Van Diemen RF00/12] 15m00.420s
2 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan [Van Diemen RF92] +8.719s
3 Anthony Amato Ammonite Motorsport [Ray GR22] +9.478s
4 Charlie Mann Mann Motorsport [Ray GR20] +9.777s
5 Connor Willis Oldfield Motorsport [Van Diemen JL13] +10.154s
6 Adrien Laissac Team Dolan [Van Diemen BD19] +10.623s
7 Spencer Shinner Oldfield Motorsport [Van Diemen JL13] +12.333s
8 Maris Schulte Oldfield Motorsport [Van Diemen JL13] +16.857s
9 Klaus-Dieter Haeckel Auto Haeckel Motorsport [Van Diemen RF91] +30.306s
10 Gerhard Hauschulte Auto Haeckel Motorsport [Van Diemen RF91] +32.816s
Pole: Smyth, 43.469s
Fastest lap: Smyth, 44.261s
Race 2 (27 laps)
1 Smyth 20m04.881s
2 Quinn +9.442s
3 Tom Nippers [Van Diemen RF01] +9.580s
4 Amato +15.875s
5 Mann +16.047s
6 Willis +16.267s
7 Shinner +20.567s
8 Schulte +25.626s
9 Haeckel +1 lap
10 Adam Fathers AF Racing [Ray GR16] +1 lap
P: Smyth, 43.526s
FL: Smyth, 43.961s
Championship standings
1 Smyth 204 2 Nippers 136 3 Mann 124 4 Quinn 118 5 Amato 109 6 Shinner 94 7 Schulte 74 8 Laissac 62 9 Chris Middlehurst 58 10 Willis 36