Photo: Ida Wood
Team Dolan’s Jason Smyth moved closer to the United Formula Ford title with two victories at Brands Hatch on Saturday.
The first of two rounds on the circuit’s shorter Indy layout (forming the Champions of Brands season) is often used by drivers to prepare for the FFord Festival at the venue, and race two awarded the Peter Rogers Trophy.
These factors contributed to a 25-car entry list featuring returning stars of the category.
Smyth set a 50.267s lap in qualifying to claim race one pole, and his closest rival was Jordan Dempsey.
The 25-year-old Irishman is a BRSCC National and Northern Irish FF1600 champion, Walter Hayes and Martin Donnelly Trophy winner, and beyond FFord has been Chinese Formula 4 champion and come seventh in the Formula Regional Asian Championship.
He was driving for B-M Racing, whose regular driver Rory Smith was 0.02s behind in third. GB4 race-winner Alex Walker, returning to FFord with TEAM, was 0.42s off pole and 0.037s ahead of Dolan’s Morgan Quinn in fourth place.
Drivers’ second-best laptimes set race two’s grid, and Smyth earned another pole by 0.195s over Smith. Dempsey trailed by 0.218s in third, and Quinn beat Walker to fourth by 0.034s.
Despite the circuit’s tendance for slipstreaming, Smyth was able to romp away up front until a safety car period caused by Ben Miloudi retiring eradicated his 2.447s lead and he had to fend off Smith.
Dempsey could not match Smyth early on, and was overtaken by Smith on lap five. Smith was able to stay in Smyth’s tow following the restart, spending two laps within 0.2s of him before the gap grew back up to 0.47s by the end.
Walker held position in fourth, and Quinn lost out to Charlie Mann on lap one but was back into fifth after the Mann Motorsport driver and TM Racing’s Felix Fisher retired on lap four. He got alongside Walker at the finish.
Those retirements also lifted Smyth’s title rival Tom Nippers to sixth.
Race two was fairly similar, although this time Smith kept in Smyth’s tow through the first five laps. The leader then began to pull away, and was 1.726s clear when the safety car came out on lap 14 after team-mate Adrien Laissac made a mistake on his own that sent him into retirement.
Smyth nailed the restart on lap 17, creating a 0.483s margin that Smith made very small inroads into to finish the 21-lap encounter 0.363s behind.
Dempsey faced no pressure in third before the safety car period, but after it had Quinn trying to get by.
Nippers climbed three spots, with his last-lap overtake on Fisher earning him sixth by 0.062s.
Results round-up
Race 1 (22 laps)
1 Jason Smyth Team Dolan [Van Diemen RF00/JL12] 20m07.165s
2 Rory Smith B-M Racing [Medina Sport JL18] +0.470s
3 Jordan Dempsey B-M Racing [Medina Sport BH22] +1.414s
4 Alex Walker team unknown [Van Diemen JL12] +1.989s
5 Morgan Quinn Team Dolan [Van Diemen RF99] +2.012s
6 Tom Nippers [Van Diemen RF01] +2.229s
7 Spencer Shinner Oldfield Motorsport [Van Diemen JL13] +3.649s
8 Adrien Laissac Team Dolan [Van Diemen BD19] +4.274s
9 Anthony Amato Ammonite Motorsport [Ray GR22] +5.890s
10 Ricky Simpson TM Racing [Ray GR20] +9.690s
Pole: Smyth, 50.267s
Fastest lap: Smyth, 50.548s
Race 2 (21 laps)
1 Smyth 20m02.932s
2 Smith +0.363s
3 Dempsey +2.429s
4 Quinn +2.635s
5 Walker +6.920s
6 Nippers +7.425s
7 Felix Fisher TM Racing [Ray GR14] +7.487s
8 Charlie Mann Mann Motorsport [Ray GR20] +8.319s
9 Amato +9.237s
10 Shinner +9.297s
P: Smyth, 50.406s
FL: Smyth, 50.486s
Championship standings
1 Smyth 274 2 Nippers 170 3 Quinn 158 4 Mann 137 5 Amato 133 6 Shinner 120 7 Maris Schulte 81 8 Laissac 75 9 Chris Middlehurst 58 10 Smith 58