| Round
11: Rockingham 17 July 2010
ELLINAS TAKES
SUPERB MAIDEN WIN AT ROCKINGHAM
17 July 2010:
Tio Ellinas delivered a thoroughly dominant performance at
Rockingham in Northamptonshire today (Saturday) to not only bag
his first Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain
victory, but also claim pole position, fastest race lap and a new
lap record.
The 18-year-old
Cypriot, who won the Grand Prix Shootout scholarship last year to
earn this season's drive with the JTR squad, laid down a strong
marker during qualifying to take the round 11 pole position by
0.146 seconds from Scott Pye.
Smoking his tyres
at the start, Ellinas just managed to hold the lead through the
banked Turn One from Pye, and that was the closest anyone got to
challenging the Mygale driver. Building a comfortable lead over
the course of the 14 laps, Ellinas won by almost four seconds to
seal a memorable maiden victory.
After the race he
said: "I'm really happy to have won. I was trying to do every
lap like a qualifying lap to have a good gap. I pushed to the
limit and managed to get a good advantage so I could focus ahead
instead of having to look in my mirrors. It's been a perfect
weekend so far, hopefully we can do the same tomorrow."
Finnish racer Antti
Buri enjoyed a strong run to second place, his third podium of the
year, with an impressive drive for Enigma Motorsport. Lining up
third on the grid, he held on to his placing and, after pressuring
championship leader Scott Malvern through Turn One on lap two,
Buri made his move into Deene Hairpin to take second place.
Malvern, who
qualified fifth, wasn't able to match the pace of the top two and
slipped further behind on lap five when Pye grabbed third at Deene.
Malvern then came under serious attack from Jake Cook, a battle
which raged to the finish with Malvern's CDR Ray holding on by a
mere 0.7s from the Cook's Getem Mygale.
While the top three
became quite spread out as round 11 progressed, Malvern, Cook,
reigning Scholarship Champion Dan Cammish and Dan de Zille
delivered some close, wheel-to-wheel action.
First-year
single-seater racer Cook continued to show excellent promise for
Getem Racing with his fine fifth place result, having started
seventh on the grid, and during the second half of the encounter
he was able to edge away from Cammish, whose mirrors were full of
de Zille's Minister International Mygale.
Sixth place wasn't
quite enough to keep Cammish in the championship top three though;
Buri's runner-up spot moved the Finn seven points clear. Malvern's
substantial advantage at the top of the standings, meanwhile, has
been reduced by a mere two points.
The remainder of
the top 10 comprised Josh Hill in eighth, Emil Bernstorff and
Jeroen Slaghekke, the Dutchman crossing the line 0.1s ahead of
returning 2006 champion and Century Motorsports boss Nathan Freke,
who was deputising for the injured Chrissy Palmer.
Tristan Mingay took
the Scholarship Class spoils at the wheel of his Ray, well clear
of series newcomer Ashley Grant, to seal his fourth win of 2010.
Luke Williams had qualified quickest in class but a lap four spin
at Deene led to retirement and also means he slips behind Mingay
in the standings.
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