Sharp wins red-flagged National FF1600 race two at Brands Hatch

Photo: Ida Wood

B-M Racing’s Jamie Sharp won a red-flagged second BRSCC National Formula Ford 1600 race at Brands Hatch.

Race one victory put Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly on pole ahead of Sharp, Morgan Quinn (Dolan) and points leader Lucas Romanek (Oldfield Motorsport).

Sharp got the jump on Kelly on lap one, while further back Ammonite Motorsport’s Elliott Budzinski passed Kevin Mills Racing’s Lucas Blakeley for fifth.

With clean air ahead of him, Sharp set the fastest lap next time around to build a lead of 0.727 seconds. He went even faster on lap three, growing his margin to 1.022s, and he kept at least a second between himself and Kelly until lap 10 when the gap between them shrank to 0.827s.

It went down even more on the next lap, and again the lap after that, until on lap 13 there was finally a battle for the lead again. Kelly tucked into Sharp’s slipstream through Clark Curve then had enough of a straightline speed advantage to jink to the outside and get alongside Sharp down the pit straight.

He went into lap 14 0.018s ahead of the long-time leader, and they ran side-by-side to Paddock Hill Bend. Sharp had the advantage there, and then there were yellow flags that neutralised their lead battle.

Those yellow flags turned into a safety car period and then red flags over the next laps, with the results being taken from the end of lap 14 after the chequered flag was waved on the lap after.

That meant Sharp took victory by 1.522s over Kelly, with Quinn a further 0.363s back in third. Romanek had a lonely run to fourth, and Blakeley – who like Sharp is making an FF1600 comeback this weekend – reclaimed fifth on lap four and then set the fastest lap.

Budzinski had been running in sixth until he had a gravelly off tha led to the race being neutralised and then stopped, with Oldfield’s Brandon McCaughan inheriting the position.

Race result (14 laps)