Photo: Ida Wood
Morgan Quinn and Tom Nippers won in round five of the United Formula Ford season at Castle Combe.
The series headed to the track on the same day as the venue’s own FF1600 championship, and attracted an 11-car grid while the locally-run alternative had 24 cars on track.
As is often the case, the high-speed nature of the circuit led to tight margins at the top in qualifying and Quinn beat Team Dolan team-mate Isaac Canto da Silva to race one pole by just 0.155 seconds. Nippers was 0.319s behind in third, and Charlie Mann qualified fourth.
KMR Sport’s Alex Kite and Swift Cooper’s Robert Hall were on double duty by also racing in Castle Combe Racing Club FF1600, but the extra track time did not prove advantageous as they qualified fifth and sixth. Hall was in the new Swift SC24.
There was plenty of drama on race one’s opening lap, as Hall retired and Canto da Silva went off then had his weekend end at the side of Tower Corner. That meant yellow flags waved nearby for two laps, as Quinn led Nippers and Kite.
Mann was the fastest driver on track, and on lap four went side-by-side with Kite then successfully got past. Quinn had a wobble up front but stayed in the lead, and at the end of the lap Mann attacked Nippers too.
There was momentarily a five-car lead fight, but the bunching effect then allowed Quinn to pull clear on lap five. By lap eight Nippers had closed back in, but not by enough to attempt a move, and then when Mann tried overtaking Nippers on lap 10 that put both under pressure from Kite.
Nippers went down the inside of Quinn at the esses on the penultimate lap, but Quinn got back ahead to win by 0.307s. Mann was 0.45s behind Quinn in third, and had the fastest lap, and Kite was only 0.586s away from victory.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it was hoing to be, from stat to finish,” said Quinn, while a “knackered” Nippers called the race-winning pass “a great move”.
“It was a really close race at the front. The four of us had a really good scrap,” Mann commented. “We made some changes to the car after quali which improved it a lot.”
Race one’s finishing order set the grid for the shorter race two, putting Quinn on pole again. Ben Cox passed Pribyl for fifth on lap two, but the position was reclaimed at the esses on lap six. In the meantime, Mann and Nippers had traded second place before the latter pulled away.
On lap seven, Kite overtook Mann with a move that took several corners to complete and Nippers went around the outside of Quinn at Tower for the lead. There was a four-car fight going into the last lap, and Kite took the lead through Quarry.
Nippers demoted Quinn to fourth, then got passed by Mann. Quinn went down the inside of Nipper at Bobbies but ended up clashing with Kite, ending both of their races. Nippers and Mann met the chequered flag 0.18s apart in first and second, with Pribyl in third.
“It’s cliche, but I honestly can’t get a word out right now,” a tearful Nippers said after taking victory. “It was crazy. Quinn had a great move aound the outide of me, but I just about held it.”
Pribyl also found making the podium emotional. “It’s been a constant battle between myself and myself,” he explained. “Been a long weekend for me, so being able to finish on a high note like that is exactly what I needed.”
A track limits penalty applied post-race dropped Mann to fourth behind Cox.
Results round-up
Race 1 (13 laps)
1 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan 15m42.117s
2 Tom Nippers +0.307s
3 Charlie Mann Mann Motorsport +0.450s
4 Alex Kite KMR Sport +0.586s
5 Jason Pribyl PWR1 Racing +4.366s
6 Ben Cox Oldfield Motorsport +6.933s
7 Adam Fathers AF Racing +31.245s
8 Klaus Dieter Haeckel Auto Haeckel Motorsport +53.236s
9 Gerhard Hauchulte Auto Haeckel Motorsport +54.421s
Ret Isaac Canto da Silva Team Dolan
Pole: Quinn, 1m10.718s
Fastest lap: Mann, 1m11.189s
Race 2 (9 laps)
1 Nippers 10m54.295s
2 Pribyl +3.001s
3 Cox +3.118s
4 Mann +5.180s
5 Haeckel +36.019s
6 Hauschulte +38.694s
7 Fathers +59.948s
Ret Quinn
Ret Kite
P: Quinn, 1m10.779s
FL: Nippers, 1m11.047s
Championship standings
1 Quinn 148 2 Pribyl 127 3 Mann 99 4 Cox 98 5 Nippers 84 6 Jason Smyth 72 7 Canto da Silva 62 8 Haeckel 60 9 Fathers 59 10 Andrew Rackstraw 58