Oulton Park sparks return to form for Jarman
TXM Recruit sponsored Andrew Jarman received a much needed boast to his Championship campaign with a season best 8th place finish on Saturday 28th at Cheshire’s Oulton Park circuit for Round 5/6 of the BARC Formula Renault Championship.
After a hectic two weeks for Andrew’s SWB Motorsport team to rebuild his Formula Renault in time after the damage caused during Brands Hatch (Round 3 / 4), Andrew was keen to reward the team and his supporters for their efforts with a solid points finish.
Due to noise restrictions at Oulton Park, qualifying and rounds 5&6 took place on Saturday with the fastest two laps from qualifying deciding the grid positions for each race.
With limited running on Friday due to shaking down his newly rebuild Formula Renault and a string of red flags which stopped the sessions, Andrew and his SWB Motorsport team decided on a gambled setter for Qualifying in order to improve the car’s balance.
Speaking after qualifying Andrew commented:
“We struggled with the car on Friday and decided to go radical for Qualifying, overall the balance of the car was much improved but with only 20 minutes available I wasn’t able to get the best of the new setup and adapt my driving style which put us well down the grid. It’s possible to overtake here and our starts always help so there is still a chance for good points”.
Race 1:
Starting on the outside of row 10 for Race 1, Andrew made great start, moving up 4 places by the 2nd corner and by lap 4 he was into 10th place when a heavy crash at Turn 1 brought out the red flag.
After a long delay the race restarted with only 3 laps to run, once again Andrew made an impressive start to maintain his position. Chasing down the leading pack in front, as Andrew started the final lap, two drivers collided at the hairpin resulting in another red flag to stop the race.
With just 1 lap to go the result were declared with Andrew finishing a season best 8th overall.
Race 2:
Starting again on 10th row, Andrew got away well again, moving up 14th as he started the 2nd lap. Approaching the end of the lap 3 drivers in front collided exiting the fast Druids bend sending debris across the track which once again brought out the Red flag stopping the race.
As Race 2 got underway with only 5 laps remaining, Andrew got away well, making two places up into Island Bend. Heading up the hill Andrew took another place into Knickerbrook chicane putting him up to 11th from 20th on the grid.
Approaching the fast druids corner, Andrew was tucked close behind the 10th place driver preparing to make a move when he lost down force and ran wide. After an amazing recovery to avoid the gravel trap Andrew managed to recover, dropping to 15th.
Despite catching back up with the group in front, with only 2 laps remaining, Andrew was unable regain the places lost and cross the line to finish 15th overall.
Commenting after Race 2 Andrew said:
“It’s been a crazy day today, so many red flags and incidents but overall I’m very pleased to get some solid points on the board after the difficulties of Brands. I really enjoyed both races today despite losing places in Race 2, to come from 20th to 8th has to be one of my best performance since moving into single seaters”
“I was pushing hard in Race 2 and wanted to make the top 8 again but ran wide when I got too close to the driver in front into Druids and lost aero but you have to try these things and I was lucky to recover back to 15th”
“I have to thank everyone at SWB Motorsport for getting me to Oulton Park and all my sponsors TXM Recruit, Railcare, Raildoor Solution, Albatros, Danbro and Podium Motorsport for their continued support”
Round 7/8 of the 2011 BARC Formula Renault Championship will take place at Croft Circuit, North Yorkshire on July 24th.
