Donington Park Race Report
Qualifying
Another fiercely close battle for pole took place at Donington Park. Jack Smith was the first driver to break into the 1:19s with Arttu Nieminen taking that down to a 1:19.5 shortly after. Jaap Wagenvoort was looking incredibly racey splitting Nieminen and Jack early on in the session with a 1:19.7, Clank Hughes would manage to pip 2nd place by just .014. Nieminen had pushed the goal post out to a 1:19.3.
Oscar Wlliams then lowered that to a 1:19.2 grabbing first. Sammy Salem also breaks into the 1:19's just ahead of Jack's lap time, dropping him down to 5th and with another impressive lap by Salem to improve to P3, edging out Hughes and Wagenvoort. Jack improved his attempt to snap up P3 with 3 minutes left posting a 1:19.4. Oscar lowered the provisional pole to 1:19.196 with all eyes on Nieminen to see what his response was in the dying minutes of Qualifying, replying to Oscar's lap with a 1:19.165 and retaking the provisional pole with just over a minute left.
Oscar crossed the line with just under 30 seconds left before the flag dropped, allowing him one last flying lap. As the final laps are put in Wagenvoort would improve his time but would start P6 and Hughes sneaked into P3. It was down to the wire for Oscar's lap, he crossed the line with a 1:19.070 taking pole.
Race 1
It was wheel to wheel going into turn 1, Oscar managing to keep ahead of Nieminen. With Hughes and Salem in the gravel trap, Jack slipped into 3rd place. The pack getting away relatively cleanly behind. Alex Cochrane working his way up to 8th on Lap 2 just ahead of Martijn Van T Land. Richard Tippet had worked his way up into 11th from 17th with Tim Draper ahead closing out the top 10. Oscar and Nieminen pull out a small lead over Jack, staying consistently around 1 second as the trio continue to edge away from an impressive Joseph Cotes, the debutant battling with Wagenvoort in 4th and 5th.
An off for Jordi Lowijs allows Richard to close in on him and apply a bit of pressure for 10th, but a slow spin at the hairpin drops Richard back down to 14th just ahead of Stefano Amodei and new entrant Robbe Kinable, who was recovering from a spin of his own. Wagenvoort and Cotes battle had been shaping up nicely as the Inforward driver reeled in the series rookie to under half a second but still unable to overtake at this stage. Alex and Van T Land continued their battle for 7th, with Alex getting an amazing drive off of the final corner and making a move into the first corner taking away 7th briefly only for Van T Land to come back and retake the position in the run down the hill and the pair resumed their wheel to wheel battle.
Wagenvoort tried a move into the chicane on Cotes, but still could not find a way past despite being the faster of the two. Alex would find his way past Van T Land in the down hill section in a carbon copy move of what VanT Land had done the previous lap to him. A struggling Mario Linde found himself taking a trip through the gravel trap dropping down to 19th. Tim Draper having stuck to the battling Alex and Van T Land and always a very calculating driver manages to squeeze his car just ahead of Van T Land but loses the rear of his car with Van T Land taking avoiding action and both off at high speed and releasing Alex.
Cotes was just about keeping Wagenvoort behind and after some wheel banging and overly aggressive defence, Wagenvoort is still behind the American for a couple more laps as Wagenvoort closes up again, this time there is some minor contact on the rear of Cotes which sends him off track and Wagenvoort into 4th and promoting Mex Jansen, another impressive debut entry into 5th. Richard who had been quietly running around after his earlier spin, started to struggle from lack of grip having another dismal spin at the hairpin as other drivers also began to struggle with tyres. Cotes continued to drop further back as Draper recovery saw him easily overtake for 8th. Nieminen suddenly made a mistake and spins out from 2nd, allowing Jack through but luckily for Nieminen the gap to Wagenvoort meant he would remain on the podium for now at least.
Heading into the final lap the main battle for 8th, 9th and 10th was hotting up. Salem chasing down Van T Land who in turn was now on the rear of Cotes and making a pass taking 9th, with Salem now on his tail, Cotes is unable to defend from an excellent dive into the chicane and takes a trip on the grass, allowing Salem to get that all important 10th place for the reverse grid pole in Race 2. But up ahead it's Oscar who leads a Vermin 1-2 finish after a faultless drive. Nieminen is able to maintain 3rd and vital points.
Race 2
Salem got a good get away with Draper dropping a place to Alex allowing him into 2nd. Oscar having started 10th is caught up in some mid pack action dropping down to 14th, Richard had a good start gaining a few positions before Linde connects with the rear wheel of the Vermin car sending both off track. Nieminen already is up to 4th by the end of lap 1, followed by Douglas Falcon, Wagenvoort, Cotes and Jack all very close nose to tail. Cotes attempts a move on Wagenvoort, only to clip the grass and drop back into Jacks sights. Jack and Oscar would do a position swap as Oscar made his way back up, putting Oscar right on the rear wing of Cotes, who leaves the door wide open and Oscar takes to the inside only to have Cotes close the door and bang wheels, sending him off track and behind Jack, only to then out brake himself into turn 1 and lose another position to Lowijs.
Nieminen challenged Alex for 2nd place, with Alex defending brilliantly at the hairpin, but only delaying Nieminen getting past with a brilliant move around the outside of Alex into turn 1. Alex comes back at Nieminen, fighting hard to regain the position with an excellent succession of corners all over the rear of the Toto Rosso, losing traction out of the hairpin, Alex has to settle into 3rd. The fight for 4th between Draper, Wagenvoort, Oscar and Jack now down to less than a second between the four of them. Wagenvoort having to defend from Oscar who tries a move around the outside of the final turn, giving him the inside line into turn 1 and making the pass stick, with Wagenvoort following closely down the hill, Jack having a run on Wagenvoort at this point. Oscar takes his line but is collected by the nose cone of Wagenvoort, careening both drivers off track and forcing Jack to narrowly avoid being collected up in the chaos. Oscar drops down to 15th.
Jack who gained 5th on the road from the collision, had now set off and closed back in on Draper. As the Vermin driver lined up his car, Draper ran wide then locked up and suffered a Disconnect, denying us a battle but promoting Jack to 4th, steadily moving up the field. Van T Land had a spin at the Hairpin after some contact with Falcon, dropping both outside the top 10. Nieminen had been pumping in the fast laps to close in on his teammate Salem and in a text book team call, Salem let Nieminen past for the lead of the race. Jack had closed the gap down on Alex for 3rd, ensuring 3 laps of wheel to wheel racing from both.
An impressive race from Lowijs who was now in 5th having closed the gap to Alex and Jack due to their fight. Jack would find a way past down the hill and around the outside, the "never surrender" attitude of Alex would see him try to come back at Jack but just run a bit wide and drop onto the gravel, allowing Wagenvoort and Lowijs through into 4th and 5th respectively. Oscar decided to retire his car with a few laps to go, classifying him in 15th which still earned him a single point. Richard who had been having a quiet recovery race was catching Linde but was short fuelled and had to coast it over the line in 14th. As Nieminen took another win in the series heading Toto Rosso's 1-2 finish after a brilliant performance from Salem, with Jack grabbing the final podium spot after a long and hard race.
The results now show Oscar 11 points behind Nieminen in the Drivers championship and Vermin Racing Team 2nd in the team championship.
You can watch the full race replay here:
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