17 August, 2008: Tim Blanchard boosted his British Formula Ford Championship title hopes at Silverstone today with a win and a second-place finish at the wheel of his Jamun Racing-prepared Mygale. The Australian, whose Silverstone win was his third of the year, has now narrowed the gap between himself and season-long championship leader Wayne Boyd to 36 points with three rounds remaining.

The other Silverstone race was won by Dane Marco Sorensen, who took not only his maiden British Formula Ford win but also the first of the season for Van Diemen and the Fluid Motorsport team.

For Boyd, whose 13th and most recent win came at Spa-Francorchamps in June, it was not a weekend to remember. The Ulsterman was on the back foot for the whole meeting after a problems in testing on Friday; he qualified only seventh in his Jamun Mygale and finished race one seventh, delayed by a clash with another car. Third place in race two was some compensation for Wayne.

Race one belonged to Blanchard from the lights… He guided his Mygale into the lead with an impeccable start from the pole and by the second lap was two seconds clear of his team-mate, Brazilian Victor Correa, who had lifted second from Chris Maliepaard's Getem-run Mygale on lap two.

While Blanchard held his advantage steady at around three seconds, Correa was holding off a train of battling Fordsters all eager to deprive him of second. Maliepaard was his closest challenger, with Sorensen close behind after a good start from eighth on the grid. Matt Hamilton and Linton Stuteley were in the mix also, until Matt's JTR Mygale was called to the pits for a stop/go penalty for jump-starting; coincidentally his car suffered gearbox problems and Matt called it a day.

Blanchard crossed the line three seconds ahead of Correa and said: "It was a great race: the guys behind were all fighting each other and that made it nice and easy for me."

Maliepaard held on for third and his seventh podium of the season despite major pressure from Sorensen's lap record-breaking Van Diemen, with James Cole lifting fifth from Stuteley four laps from the end. Boyd, whose contact with Hamilton on the second lap lost him 12 places, fought back to seventh ahead of Rogier de Wit. Garry Findlay took ninth and the Scholarship Class some 13 seconds clear of his nearest class rival, Alex Jones. Adrian Campfield, David Brown and Glen Wood rounded out the top 12, with Jones 13th, just in front of Chrissy Palmer's Ray.

Correa and Maliepaard rocketed into an early lead in race two but their fireworks lasted only as far as Abbey, where they both ran wide and slithered down the field. Boyd, who had started from fourth this time, collected the lead ahead of Blanchard and Stuteley, with Sorensen a close fourth and threatening the top three.

Boyd's tenure on top lasted until the fourth lap, when Blanchard passed him under braking at Becketts. Sorensen pushed Wayne back to third at Brooklands on the same lap and then stuck it to Blanchard at Becketts two laps later to take a hard-earned lead. The fight seemed to go out of Tim as the Dane popped in a string of fastest laps; by flag fall he was nearly three seconds behind the jubilant Marco, who said: "It's just fantastic to take my first win and to be the one who gets Van Diemen's first win of the year…"

Blanchard was philosophical: "I stuffed up my start and managed to get back in front, but then I didn't have the pace to stay with Marco today. He drove well and he and his team deserve the win."

Boyd had a fight on his hands with his team-mate Cole to hang on to third but managed to do so; James's fourth equalled his best finish of the year. Hamilton claimed fifth and Stuteley sixth, ahead of Campfield, Brown, de Wit and the two early spinners, Maliepaard and Correa. There was a late-race moment for Findlay but he managed to regain the track without losing the lead of the Scholarship Class and finish 12th overall, just ahead of Jones, Palmer and Felix Scott.

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