15 July, 2007: The British Formula Ford Championship welcomed a new victor today at Brands Hatch, Richard Tannahill claiming a brace of race wins at the wheel of his Kevin Mills Racing Van Diemen.

They were not only the 21-year-old Ulsterman's maiden championship victories but also the first for the recently introduced Van Diemen chassis, and they brought to a halt championship leader Callum MacLeod's stranglehold on victory.

MacLeod - who won his seventh round at Brands on Saturday - could manage no better than a fourth and a third today, with one of his outings blighted by a controversial collision.

The season-long needle match between Jamun Racing's MacLeod and the JTR team's Nick Tandy continued with renewed vigour in the first of today's races, Nick out-dragging his pole-sitting rival Callum at the start to establish an early lead through Paddock Hill Bend.

For four laps they fought tooth and nail for victory, Tandy pulling every trick in his repertoire to keep the championship leader's Mygale behind. MacLeod nosed alongside at corner after corner, but it was not until the completion of the fourth lap that he managed successfully to edge ahead.

Tandy was having none of it however, braking later at the end of the pits straight in a bid to regain the advantage. Alas at this point their duel became too physical, MacLeod closing the door with Tandy's foot still in it and the pair colliding, with Nick's Ray flying off into the gravel trap. MacLeod was able to restart after the fracas but his lead was long gone.

Said an uninjured Tandy: "It was an unnecessary accident and a big impact - not that I knew much about it at the time. All I could see was the sky for most of it."

The chief beneficiary was Tannahill, who had made rapid progress from sixth on the grid to displace Linton Stuteley, James Nash and Sarah Playfair to move up to third by lap three. Richard was handed the lead on a plate and had no hesitation in making the most of it, rapidly putting some daylight between himself and the pursuing Stuteley.

His break away was fortunate as late in the race Tannahill started to suffer gear selection problems and Linton was able to close on to his tail and challenge for victory. Richard held him off by just five-hundredths at the flag; he was delighted to have claimed not only his maiden BFFC win but also the first for the 2007 Van Diemen: "It's great to get a win at last… Once Nick and Callum touched it was just a case of keeping my head and getting on with the job."

Nash brought further joy for the Kevin Mills Racing team with a deserved third place, his sixth podium finish of the season. MacLeod, who had slipped back to eighth, fought back to fourth by the end, assisted on the final lap when his team-mate Jay Bridger slithered off at Hawthorns. It was a bitter disappointment for the Kent driver after he had held MacLeod at bay for several laps.

Post-race, MacLeod was excluded from the results for his role in the collision with Tandy, but was reinstated by the stewards after a successful appeal.

Sarah Playfair, who had started an excellent third on the grid once again, placed fifth ahead of Adrian Campfield, David Brown, Takashi Nagase, Marcus Weller, and visiting Dutch driver Henk Vuik.

Matt Dobson collected his fifth consecutive Scholarship Class victory after his only class rival, Spain's Marcello Conchado, lost time in the pits.

The third race of the weekend was the most exciting of the season thus far, prompted in part by relatively lowly grid slots for MacLeod (fourth) and Tandy (25th) and both men's determination to improve.

Tannahill led from the pole with Stuteley, Nash and MacLeod in hot pursuit and showed superb defensive form as he came under attack. Stuteley tried his hardest to dislodge the Van Diemen from top spot and then, in the latter stages, MacLeod had a go also. Neither man could unseat him, however.

MacLeod was beaten back to third three laps from home by an on-form Stuteley, Callum mindful of the need to preserve his championship lead rather than go all-out for glory. At the line Tannahill was seven-tenths clear of Stuteley with MacLeod just ahead of Nash for third.

Tandy's progress through the field was spectacular: he picked off nine cars on the opening lap and made it into the top 10 by lap four. Eighth was as high as he would reach, however, his Ray expiring three laps from the end following its punishing day.

Campfield capped his most successful championship weekend with fifth ahead of Brown, Playfair, Nagase, Norwegian guest Anders Krohn, Bridger and Dutch duo Rogier de Wit and Francesco Pastorelli. Dobson made it a hat-trick of Scholarship Class wins.

Provisional results
British Formula Ford round 11 (of 25)
Brands Hatch 15/7/2007. 12 laps / 27.61 miles
1, Richard Tannahill, UK/Coleraine, Mills/Van Diemen, 18m45.757s
2, Linton Stuteley, UK/Stevenage, Getem/Mygale, +0.050s
3, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, +1.067s
4, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun/Mygale, +4.556s
5, Sarah Playfair, UK/East Lothian, Jamun/Mygale, +5.807s
6, Adrian Campfield, UK/Godalming, Celre/Mygale, +5.913s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson UK/Colchester/Van Diemen 18th overall +51.905s
Fastest lap: MacLeod 1m31.875s / 90.15mph

Round 12 / Brands Hatch 15/7/2007. 12 laps / 27.61 miles
1, Richard Tannahill, UK/Coleraine, Mills/Van Diemen, 18m44.797s
2, Linton Stuteley, UK/Stevenage, Getem/Mygale, +0.748s
3, Callum MacLeod, UK/Northampton, Jamun/Mygale, +0.810s
4, James Nash, UK/Newport Pagnell, Mills/Van Diemen, +1.370s
5, Adrian Campfield, UK/Godalming, Celre/Mygale, +1.702s
6, David Brown, UK/Glasgow, Mills/Van Diemen, +4.008s
Scholarship class: Matt Dobson UK/Colchester/Van Diemen 21st overall +57.204s
Fastest lap: MacLeod 1m31.844s / 90.18mph

Links  |    Teams area   |    Archive  |    Site map  |