PYE CHAMPION AS ELLINAS WINS DRAMATIC FINALE

Scott Pye won the 2010 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain in a dramatic final round of the season on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this afternoon to become the first non-European winner of the coveted title since the turn of the Millennium.

Australian Pye, driving a Mygale for the Jamun Racing team, moved to the head of the driver standings following a dominant victory in Saturday's 24th round and second place today - behind JTR's Tio Ellinas - means he takes the title by 19 points from erstwhile championship leader Scott Malvern. He is Jamun’s sixth consecutive champion.

"It's difficult to put into words - to win the championship is absolutely fantastic," said an elated Pye. "Our season started on such a high at Oulton Park with a win, and to finish on the podium here at Brands as champion is an amazing way to cap a brilliant year.

"Our main goal is British Formula 3 next year. I'd really like to try to follow in Daniel Ricciardo's [2009 British F3 Champion] footsteps I guess, and try to win that championship."

With 12 race victories, 18 podiums in total and 16 pole positions, it's been a truly outstanding season for the 20-year-old from Mount Gambier. Huge credit must go to his season-long rival Scott Malvern though, the Cliff Dempsey Racing driver just missing out on the title in only his second year of circuit racing.

Ending the campaign as a deserving vice-champion with a hard-fought third place in today's encounter, the 21-year-old from Ilford in Essex also has his sights set on British F3 for 2011 - but there's a lot of hard work lying ahead to raise the required budget.

He said: "I pushed 110 per cent all year; the team and I have worked so hard as we've been on the back foot from the start. The Ray isn't developed entirely, certainly not as much as the Jamun Mygales are, and I've been fighting against Scott, who is a lot more experienced than me. Congratulations to him, though, he's a deserving champion.

"Overall I've had a good year, a very good year, and I'm hoping I've impressed the right people and done enough to try to secure the funding to go into F3 next year - that would be the ideal route for me."

Cypriot racer Ellinas ended his first year of competition in cars in perfect style, a superb victory in today's outing giving him his third success of the campaign and marking him out as very much one to watch.

Pye led away well from pole position at the beginning of round 25 but Malvern made an even better start to rocket up from fifth on the grid into third by the time he reached Paddock Hill Bend.

He then sliced through into second past Jamun's Emil Bernstorff on the run to Druids but as the two title rivals diced over the lead, Pye was forced wide and Bernstorff snuck through to take the lead from Malvern.

Pye recovered in fourth behind Minister International's Dan de Zille, who started third, but the order quickly changed as Bernstorff dropped back to fifth on lap two leaving Malvern out front ahead of de Zille, with Pye third and Ellinas fourth.

De Zille's race came to an early conclusion on the third tour out of Paddock when an attempted pass for the lead around the outside of Malvern led to him running wide through the gravel into the barriers.

This left Malvern and Pye together in first and second with Ellinas challenging hard in third but as the leaders crossed the line into lap five, Pye nosed ahead and held on at Paddock to keep Malvern behind before the ever-present Ellinas then got ahead of Malvern's Ray mid-lap.

As Pye and Ellinas started to pull clear at the front, Malvern came under pressure from a train of cars and, at Graham Hill Bend on lap seven, the great F1 champion's grandson, Josh Hill, saw his podium challenge disappear as Malvern moved across - Hill running off on to the grass and eventually finishing eighth.

Daniel Cammish grabbed third and then Malvern fell back further into fifth behind Bernstorff on lap nine, but the erstwhile points leader fought back at Paddock on the 10th tour and, a lap later, he moved back into the top three when Cammish ran extremely wide at Druids Hairpin.

Malvern held on for the next couple of laps to take his 14th podium of the year with JTR's Cammish just 0.2s behind in fourth and Jeroen Slaghekke coming through to fifth ahead of Bernstorff. James Tucker shaded Hill at the line by a mere 0.036 seconds to seal seventh with Antti Buri ninth for Enigma and Invitation driver Pieter Schothorst finishing 10th for the Geva Racing squad.

The decisive moment for the lead came on lap nine, when Ellinas went around the outside of Pye at Westfield: a stunning piece of driving. Although Pye applied pressure to the finish he took no any risks in the knowledge that the 2010 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain title was his.

"I tried to pressure Tio into making a mistake but I didn't want to force him to make a mistake as I had too much on the line," said Pye. "That 13th win would have been brilliant but, credit to Tio, he did a great job and pulled a good move on me to take the lead."

Ellinas added: "After I got up to third I could see the two ahead were battling hard over the championship so I backed off a little bit in case they came together. They had a good fight and were battling hard but when I got into second behind Scott Pye, I knew I had a chance at winning. It's a perfect way to end the season."

In the Scholarship Class, Raysport's Tristan Mingay - who was crowned champion during Saturday's penultimate round - took the spoils in the final race of the campaign with a 12th place finish just 0.078s adrift of Antel's Frenchman, Philippe Layac.

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