Clark wins Protyre Series opener at Oulton Park

Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Kieren Clark (Royston) took the honours in the opening round of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Cheshire’s Oulton Park Island circuit on Saturday, 23rd May. The 20-year-old former Formula Renault UK driver claimed a lights-to-flag victory together with the fastest lap to earn maximum Championship points.

Reon Motorsport’s Dino Zamparelli (Bristol), who joins the single-seater series after winning the Ginetta Junior Championship last year, secured second place with Ahmad Al Harthy (Derby) taking third for Hillspeed. Steven Durrant (Basildon) crossed the line as the Privateer Cup winner but was subsequently excluded from the race due to a technical non-compliance promoting Andrew Jarman (Northampton) as the leading privateer.

Clark leads from the front...

Dry but cloudy conditions greeted drivers as they lined the grid for round one and the start of the 2009 season. Following the day’s earlier qualifying session, Clark headed the field as pole-sitter with Zamparelli alongside him on the front row.

As the lights went out for the start of the 15 lap race, Clark made a superb start to lead the field into Old Hall followed by Zamparelli. A good start by Clark’s team-mate Joe Crook (Hailsham) saw him move from sixth on the grid to third by the end of the first lap with Antel Motorsport’s Brett Parris (Southampton) in fourth and Al Harthy, who had started on row two, dropping down to fifth.

By the first few laps, Clark had already developed a lead over Italian born Zamparelli while behind the front runners Crook was working hard to defend the challenges of Parris allowing Al Harthy to catch.

Shortly after, as Crook and Parris jostled for position, Al Harthy was able to slip by both drivers to take third with Parris also getting ahead of the 21-year-old to leave him fifth.

In the midfield, contact at Cascades between Hillspeed’s James Theodore (Telford) and Tempus Motorsport’s Callum Holland (Quainton) saw both cars spin with Theodore unable to continue and Holland rejoining well down the order.

As the leading pair pulled away, the battle behind for fifth and sixth places intensified with Welch Motorsport’s Kenny Andrews (Spalding) eventually getting the better of Crook to take the place. Meanwhile, Alpine Motorsport’s Josh Mulholland (Randalstown), who had slipped down the order, was now up to sixth place after working his way through the field. Tempus Motorsport’s Don De Graaff (Weybridge) was also running well despite starting 16th on the grid.

Out in front, Clark continued to push, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 10 with a time of 1min 23.088s (96.44mph average), earning him two extra Championship points. The same lap also saw Crook spin at Knickerbrook dropping him down to 11th place and moving Mulholland into sixth behind Andrews in fifth.

As the race entered the final stages, Clark had now developed a sizeable cushion over Zamparelli with the rest of the field also spread out. There was still a great battle taking place thought between Andrews and Mulholland with each driver vying to be inside the top five.

The chequered flag belonged to Clark who crossed the line with a 5.458s lead, leaving Zamparelli to take second with Al Harthy in third and Parris in fourth. Andrews just did enough to hang on to fifth ahead of Mulholland while De Graaff crossed the line in seventh after making up an impressive nine places.

Commenting after his win, a delighted Clark said: “I got a fantastic start off the line although the first few laps were really tough with Dino [Zamparelli] pushing hard. I just concentrated on being consistent and managed to pull away and build a comfortable lead. Oulton Park is one of my favourite tracks and it’s great to come away with a win.”

Second place Zamparelli, said: “I got away well from the line but Kieren [Clark] was just too quick and I couldn’t catch him. I’m pleased with the result though and really enjoyed the race.”

Third place Al Harthy added: “I think I could have been challenging for the lead if it hadn’t have been for the traffic on the first lap which slowed me down. It’s great to be on the podium and I’m looking forward to the next rounds at Snetterton.”

Rounds two and three of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship take place at Snetterton circuit on 27th/28th June.